A simple healthy recipe for Asian Slaw – easy and crunchy, this vegan slaw can be made ahead and is delicious alongside miso salmon, or these easy salmon cakes, ginger tofu, or stuffed into tacos or added to buddha bowls—a great way to add more cruciferous veggies into our everyday meals. See our 25+ Amazing Cabbage Recipes!
This Asian Cabbage Slaw is easy to make and packed full of flavor! A wonderful excuse to purchase one of those stunning cabbages at the farmers’ market. It’s also a fantastic way to use up all the stray veggies in the fridge- that remaining half cabbage, the stray carrot or parsnip, or the leftover bell pepper.
If you are part of a CSA or shop at the farmers market, many of the veggies you’ll find there can be added to this slaw – like kohlrabi, turnips, beets, or brussels sprouts. Such an easy, useful way to add more veggies into our everyday diet.
How to Make Asian Slaw! | video
Why I love this recipe: The Asian Slaw Dressing!
The Asian Slaw Dressing is the best! Not only is it made with accessible ingredients you most likely have in your pantry, it seems to have the right balance of sweet, tart and depth with just a little heat. And of course, you can personalize it even further to your own tastes.
Asian Slaw Ingredients!
- Cabbage (any type will work here- purple, green, napa, etc) and/or other shreddable veggies- carrots, bell pepper, snow peas, kohlrabi, jicama, broccoli “slaw”, etc.
- Cilantro – adds so much flavor here!
- Scallions- or sub-thinly sliced onion
- Olive oil and toasted sesame oil
- Rice wine vinegar –rice wine vinegar is milder than most other vinegars and less acidic.
- Sweetener- maple syrup, honey, brown rice syrup, or agave
- Soy sauce (or GF alternative like Braggs or Coconut Amino Acids)
- Fresh garlic
- Fresh ginger
- Salt
- Chili paste (optional)
Time-saving Slaw Tips
- If short on time, many grocery stores offer gourmet “slaw mixes” already pre-shredded! These are perfect for this recipe: brussel sprouts slaw, broccoli slaw, carrot slaw… you get the idea. It’s a basic recipe designed to be used as a base for your own creations.
- To save time, use ginger paste (in a tube) and garlic paste if you like!
What I love about this easy Asian Slaw is if I’m in a hurry, I know I can grab a bag of slaw mix from the grocery store, and whip this up in 10 minutes- a healthy, light salad that goes with so many things. The leftover slaw stays crunchy and seems to even get better with time.
What to serve with Asian Slaw
- Salmon Cakes
- Japanese Salmon Rice Bowls
- Chicken Katsu (or Tofu Katsu!)
- Simple Baked Miso Salmon
- Seasoned Japanese Rice with Furikake
- Teriyaki Salmon with Baby Bok Choy
- Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken
This is also a great way to use up stray veggies in the fridge, incorporating more nutrients into the slaw- salad turnips, kohlrabi, jicama, radishes… pretty much anything crunchy!
Other Recipes you may enjoy:
- 26+ Amazing Cabbage Recipes
- Warm Red Cabbage Slaw
- Kohlrabi Slaw with Cilantro, Jalapeño and Lime
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Ginger Dressing
- Lebanese Slaw (Salatet Malfouf)
- Lemony Kale Slaw
- Mexican Slaw with Cilantro and Lime
- Thai Noodle Salad with the BEST EVER Peanut Sauce
- Miso Eggplant
Hope you are having a great week, finding the beauty in what surrounds you. Even if it is simply in the face of cabbage, a beautiful, giant edible flower full of healing nutrients.
xoxo
Print
Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw (w/ BEST Asian Dressing!)
- Prep Time: 20
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Salad, vegan, slaw, dressing
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw with the Best Asian Dressing! A simple vegan slaw with that can be made in 20 minutes and made ahead! Serve this alongside fish, tofu, or chicken or stuffed into tacos, topped onto burgers, or added to buddha bowls.
Ingredients
- 1 lb shredded cabbage -roughly 6-7 cups (see notes)
- 3 scallions, sliced
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped (or sub Italian Parsley)
Asian Slaw Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1–3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (start conservatively add more to taste at the end)
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons honey (for vegan-substitute maple syrup or agave)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or GF alternative like Braggs or Coconut Amino Acids)
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced ( use a garlic press)
- 1 tablespoon ginger, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or chili paste ( optional)
Optional toppings:
- Toasted sesame seeds
- roasted, crushed peanuts or cashews
Instructions
- Toss slaw ingredients together in a large bowl. Add cilantro and scallions.
- Whisk Asian Slaw Dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Pour dressing into slaw and toss well. Taste, adjust salt, honey and sesame oil to taste.
- Garnish with sesame seeds and/ or nuts.
Notes
- Feel free to Substitute shredded carrots, bell pepper, snow peas, broccoli slaw, shredded Brussels sprouts, for part of the cabbage. ( For example, I’ll often do 5 cups cabbage, 1 cup carrots, 1 cup bell pepper)
- Salad will keep up to 3-4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 179
- Sugar: 14.9 g
- Sodium: 297.9 mg
- Fat: 11.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 18.6 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0.3 mg
This salad is full of flavor. Delicious!
This is the kind of simple, inspired recipe that makes me want to eat more veggies. Love <3
Thank you!!! glad you enjoyed!
Came out perfect! I really love the Taco Slaw, so simple but so much flavor.
So glad you liked it- yes the taco slaw is tasty!
Love the dressing. Addicting!
Easy and delicious!
Delicious and easy – I added shredded chicken and pistachios and made it a meal. Everyone loved!
Made this salad to have as a side to portabella burger. YUMMY!!
So simple and so healthy and.,delicious. Love ?
Great crowd pleaser for our July 4 bbq. Equally loved by our vegan, carnivorous and coconut allergic guests.
Just made it and it’s delicious. Think it will only get better as it marinates. Yum.
A number of years ago I had a recipe for Asian slaw with a wonderful dressing but unfortunately misplaced it. I was also disappointed in any other Asian slaw recipe I came across. Until your recipe. The colors in this slaw are so pretty and the dressing is amazing! Thank you!
I love this recipe. The sauce makes it..deelicious!!!!
Easy and delicious!
Love all your recipes.
Thanks Deb!
I made the Asian Slaw yesterday and we it was very good. The dressing was the best that I have had.
Tried this recipe and loved the dressing!
Easy and quick to make 🙂
Awesome- thanks and glad you liked it!
I added a little Asian Hot Mustard for a bit more pep and it was fabulous! Thanks for the recipe.
Sounds good!
I wanted a fresh healthy slaw recipe and after quite a bit of looking stumbled upon this fantastic blog. I made this for a large gathering and it was fantastic and very well received. Thank you for this recipe and the beautiful blog. I now have a new go to place for fresh and delicious meals.
This is one of my favorite asian salad dressings.
Love this recipe – so crisp and fresh! And because anything including ginger gets a thumbs up from me, the dressing adds a delicious finishing touch…Yum!
So glad you like it Tania! Great to hear!
Simple, tasty, beautiful colors. Makes a perfect weekday lunch!
I really liked this recipe. The dressing was spot on. I also made peanut sauce for those who might like that as an option. I made a huge batch of this so we had leftovers for days. I repurposed the veggies for stir fry and they worked great.
A super healthy and very tasty salad. Enjoyed by the whole family.
Thanks so much Catherine, glad you enjoyed it!
Divine! I added a bit of long thread coconut to the sesame seeds before toasting and added to the topping…. yum!
Delicious!!
Hi Sylvia,
I am a french reader,I find your blog really inspiring! I have already made a lot of recipes and they are always perfect! Thank you so much!
I have a question, do you have a recipe for the salmon cakes? or they are store-bought?
Yes, I just put in the link and here it is! Simple Salmon Cakes