Spicy Asian Chicken Salad

This salad was adapted from one on The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Tasty Kitchen.  I made a few changes according to my family’s preferences and what I had on hand.

The sweet chili sauce is similar to a sweet and sour sauce but is fairly hot.  The way it is distributed through the salad, just a bit of the hot flavor comes through.

• Servings: 6
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• Two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• ½ cup Teriyaki sauce or marinade
• 5 ounces, weight Lo Mein noodles or spaghetti
• ¼ cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
• 6 cups salad greens
• ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• ½ yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 2 Tblsp.sesame seeds, toasted*

For the dressing  (makes one cup of dressing)

• 1/3 cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup canola oil

Place the chicken breasts in a glass dish or Ziploc bag and pour in the teriyaki sauce/marinade.

Cover/seal and place in refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to a couple of hours, turning occasionally. Grill the chicken breast over a hot grill or cook in a grill pan on the stovetop until cooked through.

Set aside to rest. When they are cool, cut the breasts crosswise into strips.

While the chicken is cooking, place the noodles/spaghetti in boiling salted water and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a bowl, mix the cool spaghetti noodles with chili sauce. Set in the refrigerator to chill while assembling the salad.

In a large bowl, mix together the salad greens, red bell pepper and yellow bell pepper.

For the dressing, in a small bowl mix the sweet chili sauce, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and salt. Whisk in the canola oil until combined.  If dressing is made ahead of time, refrigerate but allow to come to room temperature and whisk before serving.

For each serving, place one heaping cup of salad greens mixture onto six serving plates.  Top each with 1/6th of the cold chili noodles and a 1/6th  of the chicken breast slices.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Pass dressing for each person to drizzle over the salad. 

Notes:
*To toast sesame seeds, place seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently. Watch carefully, it only takes 4-5 minutes.

If you have any leftover dressing it will keep refrigerated for about a week.