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
Very good! Even the 13 year old said it’s “actually not terrible,” a compliment for sure!
Haha! Glad you all enjoyed.
It’s really good and after I tasted it I realized it is almost a dupe for the dressing that comes with the Asian salad from Aldi grocery store! Awesome 😊💕
Oh good!
‘Twas in hurry made with bagged coleslaw mix added shredded carrots. It was devoured by all. A go to recipe for sure. Thanks!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
First time utilizing this recipe. Yum!
Glad you enjoyed Rasheeda!
Excellent! Whole family loved it. We didn’t have cabbage so we just used chopped up romaine and iceberg lettuce. Delicious!!!
Awesome Wendy!
Fantastic!
Great to hear!
Sooooo delicious and easy to make! We put on top of our salmon tacos. Will make again and again- thank you!
Glad you enjoyed Tiffany!
Great flavor, but way too much dressing. I used 6 C shredded cabbage, 1 C shredded cabbage, and 1 C slivered red pepper. I suspect I/2 dressing would have been sufficient, Also, only added 1 T agave syrup and plenty sweet,
Thanks Mary Loiu!
Easy to make. Bought a bag of cabbage coleslaw mix. Threw in the remaining ingredients and tah-dah! Delicious. I did cut the sesame oil to quarter teaspoon. It’s such a strong flavor for me.
Tasty vegan, gf, corn and soy free recipe.
Perfect Donna- so happy you enjoyed this!
Wow, this salad is delicious, the dressing is amazing … an instant favourite!
Thanks so much, glad you liked it!
Nice dressing – thanks!
Thanks so much!
Everyone gobbled this up.
yay!
This is great!
Glad you enjoyed!
We offered this along side Thai red curry bowls. Big hit! Thank you.
Thanks Leslie!
Delicious! I used white cabbage, carrots, and some red onion, since I didn’t have scallions. Subbed canola oil for the olive oil; it has a more neutral flavor. I’m an olive oil fan for most recipes, but find it strange in Asian food.
Hi Herta-glad you enjoyed this!
a versatile recipe. Delicious and easy to assemble.
Thanks so much!
Easy and deeeeeeeelish
Great to hear!
Simple and brilliant- thankyou! :0)
Thanks so much Katie!
I added 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, it needed more acidity.
Glad you adjusted to your taste Lynn!
I love this with your Kyoto style sweet potatoes! And it works with so many different veggies – last night I tried it with broccoli, bell pepper, radishes, and cucumber. Delicious!
Sounds great Amanda!
This is great! It was a little sweet for my preference as written so I upped the soy sauce and rice vinegar by about 1/2 tbsp each. I used ~1 tbsp Sambal chili sauce and it was the perfect zip of heat 🙂
Perfect Rosie, glad you made work for you!
Very good! So flavorful. I made it low oil – subbing homemade cashew milk (cashews soaked in some water, blended up) for the olive oil. You still MUST use the sesame oil for the flavor I believe. I also subbed date sugar for the sweetener. Delicious! Thank you!
Thanks Lisa! Love hearing all the adaptions!
I love this slaw! I make it all the time! No onions or cilantro for me, but otherwise everything else is the same in the recipe. I use a little less agave, but that’s just personal preference. The dressing is so good I could drink it!
So happy you liked it!
Absolutely delicious! I came across this recipe a few weeks ago when I was looking for a way to make a salad with what we had at home – which wasn’t much that day… but since we are currently based in Asia, we have all the Asian ingerdients at home so… this Asian Slaw – together with the Asian Cucumber Salad that uses a similar dressing – has become our family’s latest staple veggie dish…
Perfect Olga! Glad you found this!
Another winner from Feasting at Home, now my favourite and preferred recipe source. I come to this trusted site first and don’t bother testing recipes before putting them before guests, as I did with this yummy and easy recipe. Thank you, Sylvia.
Glad you enjoyed this Katherine!
Thank you for sharing this recipe- it is SO DELICIOUS and super easy to make! Fresh and flavorful! I made this last night to go with Honey Garlic Chicken cutlets and oh man was is fantastic!!! I made more to go with our dinner tonight! 🙂 5 Stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thanks Brandy!