You’ll love this modified copy cat version of my favorite Asian Chop Chop Chicken Salad Recipe from Houlihan’s Restaurant.
I have been sitting down in front of this screen off and on for 2 days and can’t seem to come up with anything to say. Not because this Asian Chicken Salad recipe isn’t good… it’s so good! So very good. But as far as the words that need to go around the post, they just aren’t coming.
“Eat This”
“Yum”
“Mmmmmmmm…”
That should be simple enough, right? You don’t need for me to go into a flowery description of the food I place in front of you in order for you to decide if you want to make it, right? 
I get together with three friends once a quarter and we always meet at Houlihan’s Restaurant. Almost every single time we go I order this Asian Chop Chop Chicken Salad and every time I’m like “I love this salad so much… I’m going to try to recreate it at home sometime.” Well, we’ve been meeting up at Houlihan’s for a number of years and I just recently got around to making this salad at home. This isn’t exactly like the Houlihan’s Asian Chicken Salad recipe… theirs does not have beans on it (which why the heck not?), and includes things like Snow Peas, peanuts, and more. I decided to make a lower maintenance version of the salad… less time for chopping, more time for eating 🙂
I’m all for more time for eating. And because of that, I’m going to stop writing now and share this Asian Chop Chop Chicken Salad Recipe with you so you can start making it!
Enjoy!
Copycat Houlihan's Asian Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoons ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 pound chicken breast tenderloins cut into bite sized pieces
- For the Salad:
- Napa Cabbage
- Romaine Lettuce
- Shredded Carrots
- Bush's Great Northern Beans rinsed, drained and cooked
- Fried won ton strips
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, minced garlic, onions, chili paste and corn starch.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat and add sauce. Whisk together until it comes to a low boil. Add chicken.
- Cook for approximately 8 minutes, or until sauce has thickened as a glaze for the chicken and chicken pieces are cooked all the way through. Remove from heat.
- To assemble the salad, layer Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce and shredded carrots in the bottom of a bowl. Add a generous spoonful of beans and chicken, drizzling the sauce over the beans. Top with fried won ton strips and serve.
And we love getting together with you!!!
Sounds good – thank you.
I’ve almost completely stopped describing any of my recipes. Because I wouldn’t be posting it, if I didn’t love it. I figure the ingredients and picture sort of speak for themselves. This certainly does. I WANT!
thank you! I love this salad. My mom will be so happy I have a copycat recipe because we cannot go to our Houlihans anymore because a girl I went to school with works there and maaaaybe we weren’t the best of friends. So anyway thank you!
I often have those days; I simply want to share something good that I prepared and have no associated story whatsoever. So I’m good with this; you know, ‘Just the food, ma’am.’
BUT I do have a story about Houlihan’s and you are now part of it. I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis and lived there until I was 28 when my (ex) husband and I moved with his job to Raleigh, NC. My friends threw a going away party for us at a local restaurant we went to every now and then and I left with memories of the most amazing dessert. Vanilla ice cream was wrapped up in a crepe and covered with Bananas Foster (which I had never heard of before).
I went out the next day and bought a book on how to make crepes and over the years (many) I would make that dessert for special occasions. I’ve even blogged about it. BUT by the time I decided to put it on my blog I could not for the life of me remember the name of the restaurant. You see where this is going, right?
Yep…now I remember and it was Houlihan’s! There are not nationwide and a quick search confirmed they are not in either NC or CO so not surprising I forgot their name. (Which begs the question of why I will never forget Steak and Shake but that’s another story I guess).
So, love having a recipe that came from a place that holds such a sweet memory; I’m going to have to make this and have another Houlihan’s experience stat!
And thanks, really. Always bugged me that the name escaped me; now off to mention somewhere in that post so it will be there for eternity!! 🙂
Oh I love that story so much! So glad my lack of story reconnected those memories for you!
Wow, I would LOVE this salad. Asian fusion food—-perfect.
This salad definitely looks like it doesn’t need many words at all! My chicken loving boyfriend is going to adore this, and anyway I can encourage him to eat more salad (he actually likes it when I give it to him, but would never order it for himself) is okay by me!
I have those moments too…sometimes I just want to say – this tastes good, make it.
This salad is a big yes for me!! I’ve never been to houlihans, but now I’m craving this salad.
Great flavors going on with that chicken! I love using napa cabbage in my salads too.
Kristen, this does look so good. I’ve never dined at a Houlihan’s restaurant before but I’m sure your salad is just as tasty. Onto my menu plan it goes!
The only thing this salad needs….is my face in it. Yummy!!
Sometimes all I want to write is “Eat this”, too. I get it! And yes, I really do want to eat this because that chicken looks so darn good!
holy cow, the original salad has 1000 calories! how is that possible?
any idea on how many calories your version has?
I’d definitely add the jicama that the original has though – it’s so yummy
I am the exact same way—sometimes I sit down to write about a dish I really like or even love and just don’t have anything to say. BUT I think you don’t always need a lot of words because the pictures and the recipe stand on its own and speak for itself. This salad is definitely one of those. We used to live near a Houlihans in Chicago and I loved their salads. I have to put this on my lunch rotation to make.
Kristen,
love this Asian salad!! the Bush’s Great Northern Beans threw me off but I love it!! more protein! 🙂
This is absolutely one of my favorite salads! Lots of goodies in this one 😀
I appreciate your work & recipe. Sure, I will try it on this valentine day for someone 🙂
I love that you added beans to this salad!!! I could eat this every day!
This chicken salad looks incredible and definitely needs no introduction! Love the flavors and adding the beans is such a great idea!
Sometimes it’s just good to get straight to the point, and I think the photos for this recipe get straight to the point without even having to explain! Looks so yummy!
Oh I hate those moments of writers block!!! Your post turned out great – and this dish looks delicious! I LOVE Asian food 🙂
I think I’m going to pin this about a thousand times.