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Asian Spinach Salad is perfect served as a main dish or as a side salad. It’s easy to prepare ahead and just toss right before serving.
I love a good spinach salad and I have lots of favorites here on the blog. This Strawberry Spinach Salad is one I make over and over again, especially in the summer. In the fall and winter this Winter Spinach Salad is a favorite. This Chicken Pasta Spinach Salad is perfect for parties, BBQ’s or cookouts.
I first served this salad years ago at my mom’s Vintage 80th Birthday Party. It is a perfect salad to serve at a luncheon.
One of my favorite all time luncheon salads is this Pasta Spinach Salad and today’s recipe is a delicious Asian variation of it. I gave the salad a fun flavor twist with the addition of sesame oil and soy sauce in the dressing and the crunch of water chestnuts and bean sprouts.
I love the flavor and the texture of the pasta with the spinach. The dressing is delicious and the salad is great with or without the chicken, you could even add in some sliced beef like this Grilled Korean Beef.
Make Ahead Salad
When I am putting on a party where I am doing all the food I try and prep as much as I can the day before. This salad is perfect for that!
- Pasta – Cook the pasta to al dente the day or night before and keep refrigerated in an air tight container.
- Chicken – Cook and shred your chicken ahead of time so it is ready to go. Keep refrigerated or frozen until ready to use. This Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken is a favorite way to prep chicken and I also love shredding my chicken in the Instant Pot, the slow cooker or the microwave.
- Dressing – The dressing will easily keep for 5-6 days in the refrigerator. Don’t dress the salad until right before serving though.
How to Make Asian Spinach Salad
With all the main components of the salad prepared ahead of time all you have to do right before serving is assemble it and toss. The ability to prepare most of this salad ahead of time makes it a great one to serve at a luncheon, a party or a large group. I’ve fed this salad to a group of over 200 women and it was a huge hit!
The salad can be served as a main course with the chicken or as a side salad without it. It is a perfect summer time meal. It would also be delish with some mandarin oranges added in. There are lots of great textures in the salad – the crunch of bean sprouts, water chestnuts and sunflower seeds!
Some of my other favorite main dish salads:
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Asian Spinach Salad Recipe
Asian Spinach Salad
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz. spinach baby spinach
- 8 oz. bowtie pasta cook, strain, cool
- 2 Tbsp. Sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup Sunflower seeds
- 1 8 oz. water chestnuts
- 3 chicken breasts grill and cut into bite size pieces
- 1 cup bean sprouts
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup Canola oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice vinegar unseasoned works too
- 1 tsp fresh garlic minced
Instructions
- Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, drain
- Mix salad ingredients together in a large bowl: spinach, cooked bowtie pasta, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, water chestnuts, chicken breasts, and bean sprouts
Dressing:
- Combine Canola oil, sugar, salt, sesame oil, soy sauce, Seasoned Rice vinegar (unseasoned works too), sesame oil, minced garlic.
- Store dressing in refrigerator until ready to use, Return to room temp before adding to salad.
Nutrition Facts:
Originally posted July 26, 2010
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mpotter says
Why is sesame oil listed twice in the dressing section? Different measurements.
Leigh Anne says
sorry about that – fixed it!
Ian Jones says
Leigh Ann and Jennifer, I think sesame seed oil and sesame oil must be the same product as I have only ever been able to find the latter. If you can get hold of it it’s definitely worth using it in the recipe- when I made the dressing without it the flavour was noticeably different. A great recipe though- thanks for posting!
Barbara says
I fed this to a Relief Society meeting last week and everyone loved it – thanks for the recipes, I also made the Pink Lemonade Cake but must have done something wrong, it was very firm, weighed a ton, maybe something with the cake flour?
Emily says
This looks delicious, I think I will make it with the leftover Asian Chicken I have!
Debbie says
I made this last night and it was great! I only needed half of the dressing though. I will make it again.
Leigh Anne says
Debbie, Glad you enjoyed it. Ii had a lot of dressing left over too but just used it on a salad the next couple of nights.