Napa Cabbage Picnic Salad

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Perfect picnic salad

Looking for the perfect picnic salad to bring to a potluck?

Search no more, this is it. This Chinese Cabbage Picnic Salad has been a favorite of my friends and neighbors for years. It’s one of the most requested potluck salads I’ve ever made.

My neighbor Pat introduced it to me first, followed by my friend Chigiy. The original recipe is from Sunset magazine (July 2004) and serves a crowd.

We’ve reduced the recipe for a regular meal with family and friends, but you can easily scale it up for a large picnic.

More resilient than lettuce

While not as hardy as regular cabbage, napa cabbage (a type of Chinese cabbage) is far more resilient than lettuce, making it a good choice for picnic salads that need to sit around for a while.

This salad features bok choy, radishes, snow peas, toasted almond slivers, and a sweet sesame-ginger mayo dressing.

Much of this can be prepared ahead of time and then assembled when you’re ready to serve.

Asian-inspired salad dressing

The mayo-based salad dressing features Asian-inspired condiments like rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger. The result is a light dressing that flavors every bite of this crunchy salad.

Make it a meal

This recipe is intended as a side salad for a backyard potluck, but can also work for a standalone lunch. Add some grilled chicken or salmon to make it a complete meal.

More Picnic Side Salads to Try!

traditional coleslaw
Pasta salad with smoked salmon
carrot salad
Easy Greek Salad
Pesto Pasta Salad

preparation time
20 minutes

total time
20 minutes

portions
4
up to 6 servings

The dressing recipe makes a little more than you’ll likely need. So use about half of that to start and add more as you dress the salad if you like.

This salad recipe is easy to scale up for a potluck or picnic.

Recipe adapted from one in Sunset Magazine, July 2004

1/3 Cup slivers of almonds
4 cups (1/2 lb) coarsely chopped Chinese cabbage
6 ounces snow peasCut diagonally into 0.5 cm thick slices
2/3 Cup thinly sliced radish
2/3 Cup thinly sliced green onions (including greens)
2/3 Cup lightly packaged chopped coriander

Dressing Ingredients:

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar (seasoned or unseasoned)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 clove peeled and chopped garlic (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 Cup mayonnaise

Roast Almonds:

In a dry nonstick or cast-iron skillet, toast the slivered almonds over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until browned. Put aside.
Assemble salad ingredients:

Combine the cabbage, snow peas, radishes, spring onions and cilantro in a large bowl. Can do this step a day or two in advance.
Make the dressing:

In a separate bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, ginger, and cayenne pepper until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in mayonnaise.
Serve the salad with the dressing:

To serve, gently toss the dressing and almonds into the cabbage mixture.