Chopped Chicken & Cabbage Salad with Creamy Miso Tahini Dressing | One Pot One Portion
This is my single-serve chopped chicken salad with cabbage and broccoli with a creamy miso tahini yoghurt dressing. A perfect weekday salad bowl recipe when cooking for one. It's a 20 minute meal that requires minimal cooking time and just a bit of therapeutic chopping. Make sure to check out the recipe page for other easy one pot one portion recipes.
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Chopped Chicken Salad with Creamy Miso Tahini Dressing
I have quite specific requirements when it comes to a salad I actually will actually enjoy eating (and let’s be honest, if it’s not enjoyable to eat then truly what is the point) and I am pleased to say that this salad has it all. This is my one pot one portion chopped chicken and cabbage salad with a miso tahini yoghurt dressing. It’s got substance, its got variety, it’s got crunch, it’s not warm but it’s not cold, it has plenty of creamy dressing and most importantly it leaves me feeling full and satisfied. Prep it the day before for a weekday working lunch, or throw it together for a quick and easy dinner.
If you like this recipe you might also like some of my other salad recipes like my Pulled Satay Chicken Salad, my Peanut Noodle Salad, my Prawn & Mango Noodle Salad with Coconut Lime Dressing or my Peach & Burrata Orzo Salad.
Why you want to make this recipe
20 minute meal
This recipe only takes about 20 minutes. This is a 20 minute hob meal so you don't need to turn the oven on.
One Pot Recipe
As with all of my recipes, this is a one pot dish or one pan dish, which makes every meal time easier and more enjoyable, especially when cooking for one.
Single-Serve Recipe
Again, these are single serve recipes so you can make this just for yourself! Though it would be very easy to scale up to serve multiple people if needed.
Ingredients and Tools
Poached Chicken Breast
- I love poaching chicken, and it's something I would encourage people to do more of. The trick to poaching chicken is to keep the heat as low as possible. You essentially want the water to be slightly below a simmer
White Cabbage
- Often forgotten in favour of red cabbage, I think it's excellent in this salad and whereas red cabbage can be a little tougher, white cabbage leaves are slightly softe but still with a great crunch.
Broccoli
- Lightly blanched in the chicken stock while the chicken poaches, the broccoli keeps its bite and vibrant green colour before being chopped and added to the salad.
Greek Yoghurt
- You could use greek yoghurt or a natural plain yoghurt for this. It adds creaminess and a nice tang to the salad- and I like my salad's saucy! No dry dressings around here.
Tahini
- Tahini is a ground sesame paste popular in many cultures and cuisines most notably the Middle East- think peanut butter, but with sesame seeds instead! Traditionally it uses white sesame seeds and the result is a brown paste with a rich, nutty flavour and texture. You want to look for tahini that is purely made of sesame seeds which indicates high quality.
Miso Paste
- Miso is a Japanese paste made from fermented soy beans. Because it's fermented the flavour is deep, salty, rich and umami and miso adds depth to any dish. There are a few different types of miso paste including white and red and in general, the darker the paste the deeper the flavour. I've opted for white miso paste in this dish so as not to overpower the salad dressing.
Maple Syrup
- Maple syrup adds sweetness to this salad dressing which pairs well with the nutty tahini and the salty miso paste. You could use honey or agave instead!
Step by step instructions
Add boiling water to a saucepan along with the chicken stock cube and the curry powder. Place over a low heat then add the chicken breast. Cook for 15 minutes on a very gentle simmer- you don't want the water to boil at all as this will toughen the chicken.
Meanwhile mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and stir until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped cabbage, spring onion/green onion, chilli and fresh coriander to the dressing and mix well.
When the chicken has had 15 minutes add the broccoli and cook for a final 2-3 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the broccoli still has a nice bite to it. Remove the chicken and broccoli from the water and chopped into small pieces.
Add to the rest of the salad and mix well. Taste again and season with more salt and pepper if required.
Serve up with an extra squeeze of lime and top with pink pickled onions, if you like.
Variations, substitutions or modifications
Gluten-Free: This recipe is already gluten-free
Vegetarian: To make this recipe vegetarian, just leave out the chicken! You could replace this with chickpeas, a vegetarian chicken alternative or just keep it as is- it will still be delicious.
Dairy-Free: To make this dairy-free simply replace the yoghurt with a dairy free alternative. I'd opt for a plain yoghurt but coconut yoghurt would be nice too!
FAQs
What else could I add to this if I don't have these exact ingredients?
- You could substitute the cabbage for kale to make a chopped kale salad instead. Feel free to leave out the fresh chilli if you don't like spice, or use honey or agave instead of maple syrup.
What is tahini?
- Tahini is a ground sesame paste popular in many cultures and cuisines most notably the Middle East- think peanut butter, but with sesame seeds instead! Traditionally it uses white sesame seeds and the result is a brown paste with a rich, nutty flavour and texture. You want to look for tahini that is purely made of sesame seeds which indicates high quality.
What is miso?
- Miso is a Japanese paste made from fermented soy beans. Because it's fermented the flavour is deep, salty, rich and umami and miso adds depth to any dish. There are a few different types of miso paste including white and red and in general, the darker the paste the deeper the flavour. I've opted for white miso paste in this dish so as not to overpower the salad dressing.
Can I make a double portion?
- You can easily double up this single-serve recipe just by doubling the ingredients.
If you like this recipe you might also like some of my other salad recipes like my Pulled Satay Chicken Salad, my Peanut Noodle Salad, my Prawn & Mango Noodle Salad with Coconut Lime Dressing or my Peach & Burrata Orzo Salad.
Ingredients
For the chopped salad you need:
- 1 Chicken Breast
- 75g Broccoli, in florets
- 1 Chicken Stock Cube
- 1 tsp Curry Powder (optional)
- 75g White Cabbage, chopped into 1-2cm chunks
- 1 Spring Onion/Green Onion, finely sliced
- 1 Green Chilli, finely diced
- 5g Fresh Coriander/Cilantro, finely chopped
- Salt
- Black Pepper
For the dressing you need:
- 3 tbsp Greek Yoghurt
- 1 tbsp Tahini
- 1/2 tsp White Miso Paste
- 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- Juice of 1/2 Lime
To serve:
- More fresh lime
- Pickled onions, optional
Instructions
- Add boiling water to a saucepan along with the chicken stock cube and the curry powder. Place over a low heat then add the chicken breast. Cook for 15 minutes on a very gentle simmer- you don't want the water to boil at all as this will toughen the chicken.
- Meanwhile mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and stir until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the chopped cabbage, spring onion/green onion, chilli and fresh coriander to the dressing and mix well.
- When the chicken has had 15 minutes add the broccoli and cook for a final 2-3 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the broccoli still has a nice bite to it.
- Remove the chicken and broccoli from the water and chopped into small pieces. Add to the rest of the salad and mix well. Taste again and season with more salt and pepper if required.
- Serve up with an extra squeeze of lime and top with pink pickled onions, if you like.
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The perfect fresh, but still flavourful, summer salad! This is a beautiful fragrant salad with a creamy, zingy coconut milk dressing. With just a little bit of chopping and a minute of whisking, you’ve got a gorgeous summer lunch, perfect for working from home, taking lunch to the office or a sunny meal in the garden this weekend.
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Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
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One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up!
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