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 don’t typically leave comments, but I wanted to for this recipe. I make this all the time especially for parties. I always receive tons of compliments and am asked for the recipe all the time. Thank you for this delicious recipe! I love how you can use whatever veggies are on hand!
I’m so glad you are enjoying this Julia! Appreciate the comment and rating.
Excellent and easy!
Great to hear!
Do you need to salt the cabbage and let it drain before making the slaw?
Hey Lainey! No need to… but you can if you prefer. 🙂
I swapped vegan mayo for the olive oil for a creamy version, and added some gochujang paste. This was *chef’s kiss* perfect on Korean tacos.
Sounds tasty Meghan!
delicious! I used slaw mix from the grocery, added another matchstick carrot, some finely chopped broccoli, frozen peas and the cilantro. Loved it, lots of dressing leftover for another time. I have been making another asian slaw for years, but the is my new go to. Thanks for a great recipe.
Perfect Sandy! Glad you liked it!
Delicious
Thanks Terry!
Absolutely amazing this recipe, look forward to making again
Glad you enjoyed!
Made this with purple cabbage, two bell peppers, a couple radishes, and a half jalapeño. I subbed dried habanero flakes for red pepper flakes, but the heat balanced well with the flavors of the dressing. There was enough dressing left over to have added another 2 cups of veggies, or to enjoy on other dishes. Delicious, versatile side that I’ll make many more times.
Thanks Crystal- appreciate this. And miss seeing your beautiful self around here!
🤗💖
This is my go-to salad dressing! I could have it everyday.
Great to hear!
OMGOSH THIS IS SO GOOD! I chopped up red Cabbage, Broccoli, and shredded carrots! For a single person (og was gonna use it for lettuce wraps), the 1/2 portion is PERFECT! It’s so fresh, crunchy, and the dressing is just… oof. SO GOOD. This will be an easy summer go-to! ♥️
Yay! I’m glad you love it!
This salad is delicious! Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention when I grabbed the red wine vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar… 🙄 I’ll definitely make it with rice wine next time, but to my surprise, it wasn’t a total fail – It’s still really good! I can only imagine how good it will be with rice, wine vinegar!! Thanks for posting this great recipe! And also for the cooking mode, that is a game changer!!
Glad you were able to make it work!
I made this for a Father’s Day dinner this past Sunday, and it was a huge hit – everyone loved it! The dressing truly is the best. I had a little dressing left over and have been using it on my lunch salads this week. Fabulous slaw. It will definitely be in my regular rotation.
Awesome Bernadette- thanks so much!
what can I replace the rice wine vinegar with
Lighter vinegars like apple cider, champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar will all work. You may need to add a little less or taste and add more sweetener if needed.
Delicious, refreshing and crunchy. Can make as much slaw as you need and the dressing keeps. Another winner!
Thanks Deb!
Quick, easy, delicious! – Great for summer! Thank you.
Awesome to hear, thanks Jean!
Excellent Slaw- we’ve been enjoying so many of your recipes- thank you!
Appreciate all the comments Robert! Glad you like this slaw, a good one!
This slaw is amazing!! Tangy, sweet, with a kick. This is a new favorite in my kitchen for sure!
Nice to hear Stephanie!
I used packaged slaw mix and added grilled chicken. This is amazing!!!!!
Perfect Jen! Fast and easy!
I made this for a potluck with cabbage from my garden and veggies from my fridge. I didn’t have any fresh garlic on hand, so I used dried, but it was delicious anyway. I will absolutely make this again.
Great to hear!
Fantastic, easy and so delicious! Very quick and jolly to assemble and the whole family loved it. Thanks again Sylvia! X
So great to hear Claire! 🙂
Made this to go with Asian Chicken made on the grill and everyone liked it. It has a good balance of flavors. I used premade coleslaw mix and followed the recipe from there. Topped with toasted sesame seeds and roasted peanuts.
Perfect, sounds tasty! how did you season the chicken?
I used shredded broccoli, shredded carrots, shredded turnips and cilantro. Delish!
Perfect!
How long does the dressing keep in the fridge please?
Up to 5 days. 🙂
I’ve made this Asian Slaw several times. Each time having to find it and your website. But now “I’ve signed up” so I can save it to my favorites. This slaw is delicious. Always a hit. I serve it with a marinated pork tenderloin💯🎯
If you haven’t tried this you should ❤️
Thanks Bonnie!
Haven’t combined the slaw with wet ingredients yet, but just taste tested the dressing. Yummy!!
Oh good! Glad you liked it!