Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad Copycat

This restaurant copycat salad will impress you with its sweet honey dressing and savory, crispy chicken.

This recipe makes 75 copycat recipes posted on my blog. I was not expecting to enjoy this copycat recipe as much as others because, in truth, I've never had the recipe from the restaurant (nor do I know if they still have it on their menu). Plus, I don't like honey..and I was incredibly skeptical of the dressing.

I made this recipe while pregnant and having my chicken aversion...and then proceeded to make it an additional 2 times before my youngest was born. This is completely unheard of for me to make a recipe that many times within a short amount of time unless I really really really like the recipe. Plus the fact that I really didn't want anything to do with chicken while I was pregnant. If that isn't enough to convince y'all that you must try this recipe, I don't know what is! In addition to the lovely honey dressing, this salad has crunchy, crispy, fried chicken, tons of cabbage, cucumbers, and almonds. It has a perfect mixture of savory and sweet.

What you need:

For the honey oriental dressing:

• 6 Tbsp. honey

• 3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar 

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tsp. dijon mustard

• 1/4 tsp. olive oil

For the chicken:

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup milk

• Flour

• Rice Krispies, crushed [use a 1:1 ration of flour and cereal]

• Salt and Pepper 

• Chicken tenderloins

• Vegetable oil, for frying

For the salad:

• 6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped

• 1/2 small head red cabbage, chopped

• 1 small head napa cabbage, chopped

• 1-2 carrots, shredded or diced

• 1-2 green onions, chopped

• 1 cucumber, sliced

• Sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Place all dressing ingredients into a mason jar and shake to combine. Place in refrigerator to chill.

2. Heat vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl with beaten eggs and milk, then another bowl with flour, Rice Krispie crumbs, and salt and pepper.

3. Dip tenderloins into eggs, then flour and cereal mixture. Fry in oil until golden brown. Once all chicken is done, slice into strips.

4. Toss together lettuce, cabbages, carrots, and green onions.

5. Top each serving with cucumber slices, almonds, chicken - and then drizzle with honey oriental dressing!

Recipe from Tastes Better From Scratch

Originally posted on Fantastical Sharing of Recipes on July 26, 2015