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 you’ll 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, but it also seems to have the right balance of sweetness, tartness, 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 cabbage – or other shreddable veggies- carrots, bell pepper, snow peas, kohlrabi, jicama, or use a broccoli “slaw”. You’ll need 6-7 cups total for this recipe.
- Cilantro – optional, but adds so much flavor here as a beautiful color.
- Scallions- I love the flavor of green onions here; chives would also work, or sub-thinly sliced red onion in a pinch.
- Olive oil and toasted sesame oil – for richness.
- Rice wine vinegar –rice wine vinegar is milder than most other vinegar and less acidic. We use unseasoned rice vinegar– if yours is “seasoned” you may need to cut back on the sweetener here!
- Sweetener- maple syrup, honey, agave, sugar, or coconut sugar
- Soy sauce (or use a gluten-free alternative like Braggs or Coconut Amino Acids)
- Fresh ginger and garlic- use fresh grated ginger and garlic, or ginger paste and garlic paste. I do not recommend ground ginger powder.
- Chili paste (optional) or chili flakes.
How to make Asian Slaw
- Slice the cabbage finely and add it to a large bowl. Add cilantro and scallions if you like.
- Whisk Asian Slaw Dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Pour the Asian dressing into slaw and toss well. Taste, adjust salt, honey and sesame oil to taste.
- Garnish with sesame seeds!
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.
- If you like, you can use ginger paste (in a tube) and garlic paste in a tube to save time!
Storage and Make ahead
This Asian slaw recipe will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can prep the cabbage up to 3 days ahead as well as the dressing and toss before serving- leaving the sesame seeds off until serving.
What to serve with Asian Slaw
- Thai Turkey Burger w/ Crunchy Asian Slaw
- Seared Ahi Tuna Salad
- 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
- Thai Fried Rice
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!
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
More from Feasting At Home
Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw (w/ BEST Asian Dressing!)
- Prep Time: 20
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6
- 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
- 2 – 2 1/4 lb cabbage – shredded-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 sugar, maple syrup, honey, or coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or GF alternative like Braggs or Coconut Amino Acids)
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated, or use ginger paste
- 1 garlic clove, grated or use garlic paste ( garlic is optional, adds punchy flavor)
- 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
I made this for my family for dinner tonight. They loved it! I will be making this again.
Made this and topped with chopped cashews. It was very tasty and loved the crunch. Only serves four so double if you have more or want leftovers. Will make this again for certain. Great recipe and good instructions too. Thank you.
Perfect Jacquie!
Can you make the day before?
You could Amy, yes! But if you want it extra crunchy leave dressing on the side until serving.
Amazing!!!!!
Whole family loved it.
Excellent no more boring slaws
This is definitely a must try! So love it! Plus the Asian dressing is amazing! The low-sodium soy sauce surely works in wonder! Thanks to Karman Foods, I get to make each recipe extra special.
thanks so much!
Perfect for the summer. Easy and fast… delicious!
Hello from Montreal!
I’m currently learning some new asian recipes (chinese, thaï, vietnamese, japanese, …).
I had extra vegetables and tried to find a recipe to not lose them and stumbled on you recipe that I used as starter / inspiration.
I used cabage, radichio, fennel, carots, red radish that I cut / mandolined myself.
Also had daikon and green papaya at hand but decided there was enough already.
Replaced olive oil with peanut oil. I was generous with chili, used mint and coriander and added a extra lime at the end.
On my tasting bowl I added fried shallots (tried for the first time last week on a poke bowl, awesome condiment!).
I was very good. Taste and textuxe wise it reminded me of the thaï som tam (green papaya salad) minus the fish sauce and extra sesame oil (not used in thaï cusine). I added a few cherry tomatoes to go with it!
Thanks for sharing!
Eric
Hi Eric! It sounds so good! Love your additions and thanks for sharing!
If you use the ginger garlic and chili paste do
You use the same amounts listed in recipe for fresh?
I would, yes!
This slaw is a favorite at our house! My husband doesn’t eat anything white like Mayo, sour cream, etc. So this is a great little salad that hits all the buttons. Wonderful dressing, so tasty and easy to make!
Thanks Kathy!
Awww, sooo good! Made the dressing as directed (chili paste instead of flakes). Used 1/2 dressing tossed in a half package of regular coleslaw mix, added green onions, sprinkling of sesame seeds and almonds. Making this again for sure. Yummy!
Loved it, thank you for this recipe!
This is it. This is the asian dressing you’ve been waiting for your entire life!
Here’s how to do this…follow the recipe for the dressing EXACTLY. Do nothing different. Once you taste it, you will now have the base of the greatest dressing/marinade for asian cooking. I’ve marinated shrimp, chicken, pork in this…and it’s fantastic.
After your first batch you’ll know exactly how to personalize it. For example, I use hot honey and a bit less rice wine (1 TBSP less). I also diced up some scallions for mine.
Love it.
thanks Kats! Appreciate this!
The whole family loved it. Super easy and very tasty. This will be in our summer rotation.
Awesome Jackie!
Delicious!!! Added edamame and orange segments to the salad and topped with chopped toasted almonds! Yummy! 😀
sounds delicious!
Delicious! This is a keeper.
Amazing!! I used it on a fresh salad: broccoli, jicama, mango, cilantro, and red bell pepper. I served it with coconut lime steak and white rice…
Recipe was just what I was looking for when I bought a pretty head of purple cabbage (half a head per recipe). The great combination of flavors give depth to the result. Making the dressing ahead allows flavors time to blend together. I like a little extra ginger (fresh/frozen/grated finely). I substituted 1/4 tsp. chili powder (ground finely) when I was out of chili paste (yeah, I know, they’re not the same). I can add more veggies to leftovers – if there are any leftovers – and add either lemon juice or more rice vinegar to brighten it all up the second night.
Perfect!
I didn’t much care for the slaw last night, but once the leftovers sat overnight? Yum! Will definitely make ahead the next time.
Great dish and tasty dressing
This is one of the only recipes I follow exactly to the letter every time. I just love it so much. I had an amazing sweet Asian slaw at a fancy restaurant one time that I fell in love with, and this is the closest I’ve found to a comparable recipe. Thanks 🙂
Delicious! My new favorite salad.
I did a whole pound of cabbage(purple & green) and carrots and I think the dressing was way too much! Absolutely delish but it’s drowning and it’s my fault for not adding a bit at a time lol I just dumped the whole dressing in and tossed! I’ll adjust for next time thank you for yummy recipe
Absolutely delicious and easy to make asian cole slaw recipe. I normally make it with purple cabbage or half purple and green and add more ginger, to my personal taste. Thank you!
I made this with purple cabbage, carrots, cilantro and scallions, leaving out the salt and adding in the optional chili flakes to the dressing… the result was absolutely delicious! Thank you for this fantastic recipe.
Absolutely DELICIOUS dressing!!! Now a firm staple on our dinner menu.