This Asian Coleslaw is a fast and flavorful salad that everyone loves. It’s easy to prepare, and makes an impressive dish when you want to make something special for guests. The dressing will make you want to lick the bowl clean!
Asian Coleslaw Ingredients
All you need to make this flavorful coleslaw is a few simple ingredients.
- Shredded cabbage (use a bag of store-bought coleslaw mix to save time)
- Shredded carrots (you can skip this if using the store-bought mix)
- Green onions
- Freshly chopped cilantro
When you toss these shredded veggies in a flavorful dressing, the combination is addictive! You can add any extra toppings you like, too.
Try adding chopped avocado for creaminess, or a handful of roasted peanuts for extra crunch.
How to Make the Best Asian Dressing
The key to any good salad is definitely the dressing, and this homemade Asian-style dressing comes together in just minutes.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
- Toasted sesame oil
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Honey
- Red Pepper Flakes (if you want it spicy)
Just whisk everything together, and it’s ready to pour over the salad! I like to toss the salad ingredients with the dressing about 10 to 15 minutes before serving, so the veggies have a chance to marinate.
How Long Does it Last?
I think this particular salad tastes best the first day you make it, but you can prepare the dressing up to 3 days in advance if you want to make it ahead of time. Just toss the dressing with the vegetables about 15 minutes before you want to serve it.
Once the dressing and salad vegetables are tossed together, you can keep this salad tightly covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.
The vegetables will release liquid as they sit, and the dressing flavor will mellow, so you might want to adjust the seasoning the next time you serve it by adding an extra splash of vinegar, a pinch of salt, or a squeeze of lime juice to brighten things up again.
Asian Coleslaw Recipe (The Best!)
Ingredients
Asian Dressing
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (13 grams)
- 1 tablespoon Tamari (or soy sauce; 17 grams)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (28 grams)
- 1/4 cup honey (100 grams)
- 1/4 cup almond butter (optional; for creaminess)
- 1 clove garlic , minced (4 grams)
- 1 inch fresh ginger , minced (about 1 tablespoon; 4 grams)
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional; for spice)
Salad Assembly
- 1 pound shredded cabbage (or a 1-pound bag of shredded coleslaw mixed veggies)
- 1 large carrot , peeled and shredded (1 cup; 143 grams)
- 3 green onions , chopped (1/2 cup; 40 grams)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro , chopped (19 grams)
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
- In the bottom of a large bowl, combine the vinegar, sesame oil, tamari, olive oil, honey, almond butter (if using), garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes, if using. Whisk well to combine. (You can also toss this in a blender to blend until smooth, if you prefer.) Taste and adjust any seasonings, as needed.
- To the bowl of dressing, add in the shredded cabbage, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. Toss well to combine, and let the salad marinate for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve the salad with a sprinkling of sesame seeds on top. Leftovers can be tightly covered and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, but if you plan on making this salad ahead of time for company, I recommend storing the dressing and vegetables separately for the best flavor and texture.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is for 1 of 4 servings. This information is automatically calculated, and is just an estimate, not a guarantee.
If you try this Asian Coleslaw recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know how you like it! And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience!
More Salad Recipes
If you love this salad, you’ll also love these!
- Sweet Sesame-Lime Salad (made with lime juice)
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Detox Salad (with lemon ginger dressing)
- Sweet & Crunchy Carrot Salad
- Thai Peanut Dressing
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these salads. I hope they’re a hit in your home, too!
I love how simple this is, I can’t believe I never thought to combine almond butter and lime juice!
I make a dressing almost the same as this! It is so good, on everything!
just exactly what I needed… I have 1/2 a cabbage in the fridge that I thought I would never find a good recipe for!
Thanks
T
Delicious! I put it in a wrap with avocado and sriracha. It tasted like a spring roll. Sooo good!
That sounds fantastic!! 🙂
I can’t stand the taste of Stevia…do you think honey would taste good as a replacement in this?
OMG OMG OMG, how flippin good this is!!! I hate cabbage, HATE, and cole slaw usually grosses me out with all of the mayo. This is so delicious and healthy, and I ate it for lunch just plain and I was perfectly full and content with just this. I used 1 tsp. honey in place of the Stevia and it’s perfect, just PERFECT! Thank you for another amazing recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked it! This is one of my favorites, too– and I also hate traditional coleslaw. 😉
This dressing was to die for! Wanted it on spiral zucchini, but did with grilled veggies instead. Thank you! Going to make those pancakes for my next post run breakie)
Made this once with 1 tbs of raw honey and it came out great!
Made it again tonight with 1 tbs of xylitol, and it too came out great!
Thanks for the recipe!
Oh my goodness, this is sooooo delicious! I love the ginger and garlic, not overpowering but so good. I didn’t have almond butter so I used cashew butter instead. And instead of stevia, I used date sugar (about 1 T or so). My dressing was too thick at first, so I had to add some liquid – I used about 1 – 2 tsp of coconut milk and then it was the right consistency.
I will definitely be making this combo over and over again! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Is there an alternative to liquid Stevia for this recipe?
I like to use a squeeze of honey now!
This is very delicious! I make this on weekly basis!
How long will it last in the refrig?
This tastes AMAZING! Does anyone have the nutritional information for the creamy asian dressing?
In a rush and read recipe incorrectly..used tahini instead of tamari and only realised because mix was too thick. But my goodness, a delicious mistake! 😉
Ha, I love happy mistakes! Sounds great. 🙂
I made this dressing today to put on zucchini noodles (as per another one of your posts) and holy man it is great! So flavorful! I also omitted the sweetener and added a dash of sesame oil to kick up the Asian flavor. Will definitely become a staple in my home!
I wasn’t sure what to expect but my husband I loved this coleslaw on our fish tacos. It was full of flavor and different from the typical slaws we’ve had.
Delicious!
Quite a few stevia comments. What am I missing? I keep looking and don’t see stevia as an ingredient. Looking forward to making this as I have half a head of cabbage in the fridge.
Am I going crazy or did this recipe change? I have a pin that links to this and the photo is a slaw with an almond butter dressing. I used to make it a ton (I remember almond butter and lime juice for starters) and I feel like I’m going crazy!
Don’t get me wrong this recipe sounds great, but I’m looking for a different one.
Sorry, it did change– but not by much. If you add 1/4 cup of almond butter to the dressing, it should basically taste the same. I’m changing recipes on my website that were old and poorly written, so that they are better tested and more fool-proof. In this case, it seemed that most people tended to leave the almond butter out of this one, so I went with the popular opinion! But, it’s delicious either way. 🙂
This is ABSOLUTELY delicious. I add grilled chicken and it’s a full meal. I love it and make it very often. I omit the olive oil to reduce the fat and it still tastes great! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe.
Delicious. Your salad dressings are always my favorite! I grated in an apple to add some sweetness and reduced the maple syrup to 2 tablespoons.
Thanks for the lovely salad!
I use peanut butter instead, but the dressing is amazing
Very good! Followed recipe exactly and adding the almond butter. Kids even liked it.
Yum so good! Easier if I buy the already chopped and bagged cabbage
Absolutely fabulous! Love, love LOVE the dressing. Would also be great tossed with soba noodles. Served at our cookout last night with chicken satay and everyone loved it!
THIS is the recipe, everyone! I could eat the whole thing by myself. Perfect complement to plant-based burgers & seafood. Probably good with everything. Thank youuuuu!
I loved Asian slaw dressing! I added sliced brussel sprouts that needed to be used and some leftover red cabbage.
This was a perfect recipe. I really liked the flavor. Will the olive oil that’s in the dressing solidify in the refrigerator?
Delicious!
Put it on hot dogs for a random twist.
Made this as a side with teriyaki wing, can highly recommend. Very yummy
I am Addicted! I love the fresh ingredients and DO NOT skip the fresh ginger.
I love the Asian spices and heat from pepper flakes.
I added apple.
I had just made a peanut sauce from Vegan Richa’s cookbook and used that as well.
Wish I hadn’t put ALL the dressing into salad.
I love more crunch – so adding as I ate might have worked better.
Loved it though so bowl will be gone quickly.
This was so delicious! I appreciate all of the clean ingredients used in this recipe. My husband and I love coleslaw, but have guilt eating it with all of the mayo that is usually included. We like this one better than the traditional recipe! Thanks for sharing.