I’m not done with cabbage yet! Hahah, okay, I really am sorry about all this cabbage lately, but I still had half a head in my fridge and a thoughtful reader emailed me a recipe with a new cabbage technique that I wanted to try. Yes, “cabbage technique” is a thing. :D Anyway, this new technique for preparing cabbage really did make this Chicken and Cranberry Salad a step above, so I wanted to share it with you ASAP.
Chicken and Cranberry Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
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The Salting Cabbage Technique
This technique comes to you via my friend Alexandra from Alexandra’s Kitchen. She wrote this recipe for Chicken and Cabbage Salad with Sesame Seeds, Scallions, and Almonds, which uses salt to tenderize the cabbage, making it juicier, easier to eat, and more receptive to absorbing the flavors of the dressing. It really did make a big difference in the overall texture of the salad.
Instead of that dry, slightly waxy texture that raw cabbage often has, the pre-salted cabbage was tender-yet-crisp, juicy, and much more enjoyable to chew. I’m definitely going to give all my cabbage salads the salt treatment in the future. And don’t worry! The salt gets rinsed away before you actually build the salad.
Chicken and Cranberry Salad Flavor Profile
Instead of doing an Asian inspired salad like Alexandra’s, I decided to go the sweet-tart route and paired my chicken with dried cranberries and a homemade lemon poppy seed dressing. This dressing is incredibly simple and not too-too sweet. If you prefer a creamy lemon poppy seed dressing, you can always sub half of the oil with mayonnaise or Greek yogurt. And as always, you can always taste and adjust the sweetness to your liking.
Chicken and Cranberry Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
Servings 4Ingredients
LEMON POPPY SEED DRESSING
- 1/4 cup neutral salad oil* ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice ($0.30)
- 1/2 Tbsp honey ($0.06)
- 1/4 tsp sugar ($0.01)
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.04)
- 1/4 Tbsp poppy seeds ($0.07)
- 1/8 tsp onion powder ($0.01)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.01)
SALAD
- 6 cups shredded cabbage, (about 1/2 head) ($0.54)
- Salt, as needed ($0.10)
- 1 cup cooked chicken, diced or shredded ($2.02)
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds ($1.04)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries ($0.63)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.26)
Instructions
- Remove an damaged outer leaves from the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into wedges, remove the core, then slice crosswise into thin shreds. Place the thinly shredded cabbage in a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Massage the salt into the cabbage and let it sit for about five minutes.
- While the cabbage is being salted, prepare the dressing by combining the oil, lemon juice, honey, sugar, Dijon, poppy seeds, onion powder, and salt in a bowl or jar. Whisk the ingredients together or place a lid on the jar and shake until it forms an emulsion (10-15 seconds).
- Rinse the cabbage well to remove the salt. Toss the cabbage in the colander as you rinse to make sure all the salt is removed. Let the excess water drain away.
- Once the cabbage is rinsed and drained, add it to a bowl with the chopped chicken, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, and sliced green onions. Give the dressing a quick stir, then pour it over the salad. Toss the salad until everything is evenly mixed and coated in dressing. Let marinate 5-10 minutes before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love cabbage salads? Check out my Vinaigrette Slaw with Feta!
How to Make Chicken and Cranberry Salad – Step by Step Photos
This salad begins with cabbage, which is inexpensive, bulky, and good for you! You’ll need about 1/2 head, or 6 cups shredded. Shred your cabbage as fine as possible for this one. If you have a food processor, that makes the job easy. Once it’s shredded, place it in a colander and sprinkle salt liberally over the surface. Massage the salt into the cabbage, making sure to get all the layers at the bottom of the colander as well. Let the cabbage sit for about five minutes, or until it becomes just slightly soft and wet (the edges of the cabbage may look a little transparent). Then rinse the cabbage really, really well and let the excess water drain off.
While the cabbage is doing its thing, prepare the lemon poppy seed dressing (this is a double batch pictured above). In a jar or bowl combine 1/4 cup neutral salad oil (like canola, grape seed, light olive, safflower, or untoasted sunflower), 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1/2 Tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1/4 Tbsp poppy seeds, 1/8 tsp onion powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk the ingredients together, or put a lid on the jar and shake-shake-shake until it creates an emulsion, like in the photo. Set the dressing aside.
Once the cabbage is rinsed and drained, add it to a bowl along with about one cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 3 sliced green onions.
Pour on your dressing…
And then toss everything together! I suggest letting the salad sit for a few minutes (5-10) to let the flavors of the dressing get all up in there.
But then it’s ready to serve! Not only is the cabbage super inexpensive and healthy, but it holds up excellently in the fridge, too. So you can eat the leftovers of this Chicken and Cranberry Salad for a few days.
Enjoy those healthy eats!
Turned out just so-so for me, but I went ahead and gave 4 stars because I think it didn’t turn out as good as it should have because my lemons were bad so I had to sub bottled lemon juice. I think with fresh lemon this would be much better!
This salad was great! I love salads for lunch but they need lots of components and variety to be a satisfying meal. I added pears and used pecans instead of almonds just because I’ve been loving them, but this is a great and flexible base recipe. The batch of dressing is perfect for just a few meals and much more cost effective than buying it. Yum!
I’m making this for someone else to take on a trip, so it will sit for 1-2 days. Would you recommend dressing the salad ahead of time, or waiting until ready to eat? Does it decline after a few hours like homemade coleslaw? Thanks!
Yes, it does, so if you prefer a more crunchy salad then definitely wait to dress it until right before serving. :)
Thank you!
Just threw this together…. so good!!!
Do you think this technique would work with presliced cabbage, as for coleslaw?
It might, but I’m not sure. Pre-shredded cabbage can be a bit more dry than freshly shredded cabbage, so the salt might not be able to coax as much moisture out.
Love! Can’t find my poppyseeds, so it isn’t as pretty. A great weeknight dinner.
This is even better than I remembered! I forgot the sliced almonds, and I have to admit that I missed them. Otherwise, it was delicous. I served it as part of a New Year’s Eve dinner party, and despite its humble ingredients, it was special enough for a holiday celebration.
Happy to hear it Eileen!
This was delicious. I subbed faux chicken strips for a vegetarian version. My new go-to lunch to pack for work.
Just tried the lemon poppy dressing over some couscous with lentils and veggies. 5 stars!
I wasn’t able to make this as written because I didn’t have everything but, even with the changes, it was delicious! I used maple syrup instead of honey, then added a spoonful of mayo to make it a little creamy. Then I used sunflower seeds and raisins and left out the chicken. It was still SO good!!
I made this last night and we really enjoyed it! It was just so simple and a great easy dinner. I’ve been making alot of your recipes latley, I’m addicted now…… ps: The 5 ingredient freezer biscuits! WOW! :) Keep it up lady, I LOVE IT! :)
This is really, really delicious–I can’t wait to make it again! We left out the Dijon mustard since we didn’t have any on hand, and the dressing was still good without it. Another Budget Bytes favorite!
This is SOO good! Cold or even sauteed slightly for a warm meal! Wow, I really wasn’t expecting to love it this much! Thanks for sharing!
Fyi, when you change the number of servings, the “about six cups” on the cabbage doesn’t update.
We love this recipe so much. It’s on the regular meal plan rotation. It’s about a thousand times more delicious than it sounds.
Would love to see more recipes for making cabbage this way (different flavour profiles and other ingredients to go with it.
1/4 tablespoon? 1/2 I can do…since I’m in the middle of making this, I’ll go wild and use 1/3 (IOW teaspoon)
Ok wow, why aren’t there more comments on this one? It’s sooooo good! Much better than I thought a cabbage salad would taste. I loved every bite, thank you Beth! Going into our regular rotation, and it’s such a good way to use up some extra cabbage.
I made this last night, save the dijon mustard in the dressing because I didn’t have it – it turned out fabulous! I will definitely look forward to eating the leftovers the next few days!
I made this last week and we LOVED it! I didn’t have poppy seeds but I saw another comment here about using sesame seeds, so we tried that. Delicious! Also used slivered almonds because that’s what I had in the freezer. Your recipes are always so good – thanks for sharing!
This looks like a good recipe to pack for lunch. I can see being the envy of my peers!
Thank you for this recipe – we had it for supper tonight and it was very, very good. It cost less (for us) than your estimate, because I subbed pecans for the almonds (my parents sent us 7lb. of pecans for Christmas – they live in pecan country!), and I used some turkey I’d bought for .59/lb, a lemon and cabbage I’d gotten on sale, etc. Our estimate is that ours was about $2.50. I’m really hopeful that it holds well for a day or two. I’d love this in the summertime as a lunch salad that I could take to work for a couple days. Thanks again!!
Made this salad today with a few improvisations (red cabbaage instead of white; sesame seeds instead of poppy) and it was excellent! I went out for dinner and felt shortchanged because my salad lunch had been far more satisfying – and made for about a third of the price!
Fantastic Post/recipes! Thank you Beth. I will be making it this afternoon.
I appreciate those step-by-step photos. This is a new add-on to my chicken recipes. I like the idea of fusing cranberry and chicken. I’m gonna grab those ingredients and give this a try. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Made this today. Fabulous. LOVED the texture of the cabbage!
Liked the cabbage lemon poppy chicken idea thanks
This is step one of making sauerkraut, so I’m not surprised it works well :)
I’ll have to go get a cabbage to try all these cabbage recipes.
Years ago while in college I occasionally worked for a caterer where I learned a similar trick to tenderize cabbage. Simply place the cabbage in a bowl and add some of the dressing you were going to use and “massage” the cabbage with your hands. Really squeeze the cabbage until you see it exude some juices. No need to salt or rinse. Works great anytime I make coleslaw or a cabbage based salad.
Some years ago I participated in a discussion forum where two of the members had family ties to Central America. Both mentioned a salad they made frequently — almost daily. Thinly sliced cabbage that they salted and let rest for a while, maybe up to 30 minutes. The cabbage was then drained and dressed simply with lime juice. I make this often to serve with Tex-Mex and use it on tacos.
Your salad sounds wonderful. I’ll put it on the menu for next week.
(I love the no-knead bread from Alexandra’s Kitchen! Really looking forward to her book.)
That’s amazing because when I went on a cruise this summer I ate a salad that sounds like that when we were on one of our land excursions and I couldn’t figure out why the cabbage was so juicy and delicious!! When I read this salting technique I wondered if that was the trick. Now I know. :)
This looks amazing =)
oh wow this looks good! I’m always on the hunt for more recipes to make on Sunday and eat all week at lunch. Do you think this would work with napa cabbage (has a thinner, crinklier leaf) or does it really work best with the normal cabbage?
I think if you use Napa you probably don’t need to salt first. :) Napa is already wonderfully delicate.
I love cabbage and your recipes. No complaints from this guy.
Totally agree! More cabbage please!
I’ll definitely try out that cabbage trick! I’m already used to giving my kale a massage before I eat it in a salad.
This salad looks great, I think I’ll try replacing the chicken with some white beans.
That’s a cool tip–I would have never thought to do that. I don’t care much for cabbage, but maybe this will make it easier for me to eat. Your pictures are gorgeous, by the way. I love that gold/brass flatware.
As usual, your recipes sound amazing, delicious, and filling! This is perfect timing as it is the beginning on the year and I am beginning to watch what I eat again! I will be trying this soon.
This looks amazing. I like fresh cabbage-based salads, but have only ever been able to eat small portions at a time because of that sort of tough texture that you mentioned. Definitely gonna have to try this!
We also need to give more attention to BBQ Chicken Breast Recipe as it is delicious and easy to make.
Yummy!!! :-)
This recipe looks seriously delicious. It’s hard to go wrong with anything that has cranberries in it. I love that is has protein from the chicken in it too.