Cabbage Salad with Honey Lime Dressing — {easy meal idea}
This cabbage salad uses a store-bought rotisserie chicken to create a quick, easy, and healthy meal. Your whole family will love it.
Does anyone else default to a rotisserie chicken on grocery shopping days? Ummm….I don’t know about you, but I can only do so many things in the day.
3 loads of laundry + going to the park + making dinner = done for the day.
Play date + one load of laundry + shower = done.
Cleaning the house + making dinner = done.
3 freelance projects + running errands + making a friend dinner = done.
Going to the zoo = done.
Or whatever. You get the point. I do shower on days other than play date days, for the record. Usually.
Grocery shopping nearly maxes me out some days so I need a quick dinner to fall back on. I mean—all those people! And for pete’s sake…STOP standing in the middle of the aisle staring off into space! Move left or right. Pick a lane. Grab something and move on. Not that difficult people. And then there is the parking lot, don’t even get me started. Please try not to run my children over. And please, please, please…just put your carts away. ESPECIALLY if you don’t have kids waiting in the car. What’s your excuse?
Rant over….long story short, I love rotisserie chickens but we rarely ever eat them as is. I used to buy one every Sunday night for Ben and E so I could go about my usual with my popcorn + smoothie dinner, but these days I actually cook a Sunday dinner! I know! Regular ol’ Susie homemaker here. So the rotisserie chicken typically ends up in a salad or pasta of some sort, or a sandwich or soup. The possibilities are so fun!
We loved this salad made of crunchy cabbage, mandarin oranges and a great honey-lime dressing. Lots of great veggies and fresh flavors. I think your whole family will love it!
If you’re looking for more great recipes that you can use making a rotisserie chicken, try my enchilada flatbread or bbq chicken burrito bowls.
Cabbage Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
This cabbage salad uses a store-bought rotisserie chicken to create a quick, easy, and healthy meal. Your whole family will love it.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh snap peas
- 2 cups shredded green cabbage
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1-2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 15-ounce can mandarin oranges, (reserve 2 tablespoons juice for dressing, then drain)
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 4 cups shredded or diced cooked chicken
- 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons light olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons juice from a 15-ounce can of mandarin oranges
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Sriracha to taste, optional
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup chow mein noodles for topping, optional
Directions:
- Bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add snap peas and return to a boil. Once boiling again, drain and move a bowl of ice water so that they retain their color. Drain again once cooled.
- Meanwhile, to a very large bowl, add both types of cabbage, green onions, mandarin oranges, shredded carrot, chicken and cilantro. Add snap peas when they are done cooking.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine olive oil, lime juice, mandarin orange juice, honey, sriracha and salt. Whisk until combined and pour over salad. Toss to combine everything, top with chow mein noodles and serve immediately.
Verdict: One of my favorite meals with rotisserie chicken.
Husband’s take: He’s not a huuuuuge cabbage fan so next time I make this I might sub out half of the cabbage with some romaine but other than that, he really liked the salad. E (my three-year old) kind of picked her way through it but loved the chow mien noodles and the carrots.
Changes I would make: None are necessary but like I mentioned, I might sub out some of the cabbage for romaine or leaf lettuce for my husband’s sake. If you’re vegetarian, this salad would be great with black beans or tofu in place of the chicken!
Difficulty: A bit of prep time to chop all the veggies and get the meat off of the chicken but totally doable!
Hi, I'm Rachel! This site features a wide variety of recipes with one common thread: easy preparations. I love creating accessible and delicious food that will please the whole family. Hope you enjoy! (
Love all the colours in this! Such a pretty salad.
Thanks Katrina! I think the purple is what makes it really pretty :)
I love this idea for a quick weeknight dinner! And since my picky husband probably wouldn’t eat it I’d have plenty of leftovers for lunch during the week too :) Great colors, it’s gorgeous!
Thanks Tracey! It’s great leftover!
This salad looks so good…and that honey lime dressing! Yum!
I’m so with you on the grocery store carts. I really want to give people tickets for not putting them in the cart return. Geez!
Thanks Bridget! I think tickets are a great idea! I have two small children and I still manage to get my cart in the corral — why can’t other people?
I love salads like this!!! I have a tendency to eat giant quantities of them… ;-)
Me too! But the best part is that you can! And still not feel like you need to be hoisted out of your chair afterwards, lol.
Beautiful recipe, Rach. I pinned to my Fall Entertaining and Recipes board. Perfect – and healthy!
Thanks for the pin, Sandy!
You are super woman and super awesome! I’m with Liz… I can put down more than my share of a salad like this! Flavor-packed awesomeness!
haaaaaaaaaaaa far from super woman! I think you hold that title actually…right?
I am so with you on the rotisserie chicken thing. And the grocery shopping. I don’t know why, but I am seriously worn out by meijer. Glad I’m not alone. :) And seriously, this salad looks great!
Haha — we’re two peas in a pod. :)
You’re so funny! Grocery shopping is a love/hate experience for me…confession though…if my kids are with me, Im terrible about running to put the cart away, I hate leaving them alone to long. I always feel incredibly guilty about it though!
This salad sounds wonderful, I need to start eating more of them! LOVE the dressing!
This looks absolutely terrific-yum!
This is what I SHOULD be eating. Hmmmm.
Are you kidding me? You’re pregnant with twins. Skip the salad and have a bowl of ice cream. ;)
To be honest we either eat left overs or pick up Costco pizza on grocery night. Grocery shopping is exausting. We hit 3 stores; Costco, grocery store and farmers market. Thankfully my husband goes with me to help reign in the fussy 3 year old who most likely missed her nap in hopes of heading out early. Your salad looks fantastic and I love cabbage, so it is perfect for me!
What a great lite salad. I usually get one rotisserie chicken at least every other week just because it is so easy to pull apart and put it in recipes.
Thanks for the recipe. I just made it for us for lunch. I added some soy to the dressing and next time may also add some ginger and rice vinegar. We all enjoyed it!
Ahh! I can’t believe you made it already! That makes me so happy. :) I was going to put ginger in it originally but totally spaced and left it out. Soy would be great too!
I am all over the rotisserie chicken! Just picked up some last night to make enchiladas. And yes, people who don’t put their cart away need to get fined. Like maybe a pie in the face.
And this salad, love the colors and flavors!
We go on kicks where we LIVE on rotisserie chicken. They are so good and so easy!
I love this salad – everything about it. Cabbage in salad is one of my favorite! Hope you all are feeling better!
You did all that in one day?!! Yeesh, I’m tired just reading about it ;} So funny, I just posted a Chinese salad and commented on how I had resorted to rotisserie chicken for similar reasons, well mostly because I’m lazy and it’s still waaaaay too hot here in Phoenix to turn on my oven.
haha no way, each of those were examples of a single day. Saying that if I go to the zoo…I have no energy to do anything else and am done for the day. Hahaha — no super woman here! Sorry that was confusing. It’s supposed to be 92 here in MI tomorrow! Craziness.
Being a caterer I bank on those delicious grocery store chickens!! I love cabbage especially in a salad! This salad looks sooo good!
Omg. I’m sort of a grocery store snob…and in a effort to save money I’ve been shopping at less than desirable locations. Everything about it irritates me, especially the other shoppers. GAH. Love this simple salad and YES, those rotisserie chickens are lifesavers!
This looks so tasty– I want to make a big batch and just take it for lunch everyday. Yum!
You know yesterday when I was at Trader Joe’s I picked up a prepared greek salad and it was so good.
They had a nice layer of romaine and then underneath a layer of cabbage.
So tasty.
Anyways, it made me think I need to make more cabbage slaws and salads! Just like this!
I love it too! Adds such a great crunch. Unusual for a Greek salad, sounds great.
fun salad! i looove rotisserie chickens. so easy :)
Made this yesterday. Didn’t use the noodles, added more carrots and doubled the dressing. It was a huge hit with my family. Tasty and healthy. Thanks for sharing :)
Glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know :)
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