Name: Sesame-Scallion Chicken Salad
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (1–1½ lb. total); 3 Tbsp. kosher salt, plus more; 3 scallions, thinly sliced on a deep diagonal; 3 Persian cucumbers; ½ cup toasted sesame seeds, divided; 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice; 2 Tbsp. tahini; 1 Tbsp. soy sauce; 1 tsp. honey; ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes; ¼ head of romaine or green or red leaf lettuce or 1 head of Little Gem lettuce; Big handful of cilantro leaves with tender stems; ½ lime (for serving)

Photo of sesamescallion chicken salad on a blue plate on a denim tablecloth.

Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou

This reimagined chicken salad is lighter and leafier than your standard picnic lunch. Tender poached chicken, crisp greens, cukes, and scallions get tossed with a sesame dressing that takes its cues form gomae, a Japanese spinach salad.

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Ingredients

4 servings

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (1–1½ lb. total)

3 Tbsp. kosher salt, plus more

3 scallions, thinly sliced on a deep diagonal

3 Persian cucumbers

½ cup toasted sesame seeds, divided

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. tahini

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. honey

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

¼ head of romaine or green or red leaf lettuce or 1 head of Little Gem lettuce

Big handful of cilantro leaves with tender stems

½ lime (for serving)

Preparation

Step 1
Bring chicken, 3 Tbsp. kosher salt, and 5 cups water to a bare simmer in a medium pot over medium heat (chicken should be submerged). Be patient—this will take a little while. Once liquid begins to simmer, reduce heat to low and cook (water should not be simmering at all now) until juices run clear when thickest part of chicken is pierced, 8–10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a medium bowl; discard poaching liquid. Let chicken sit until cool enough to handle, then shred meat into big pieces; set aside.
Step 2
Meanwhile, place scallions in a small bowl and pour in very cold water to cover; let soak 10 minutes.
Step 3
Drain scallions in a mesh sieve or colander, then rinse under cold running water, swishing vigorously to rinse and to encourage them to curl up. Shake off as much water as possible and place in a large bowl; set aside.
Step 4
Working one at a time, slice cucumbers in half crosswise, then slice each piece in half lengthwise. Place quarters cut side down and slice in half lengthwise again to create 8 pieces total per cucumber. Add to bowl with reserved chicken.
Step 5
Set 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds aside in a small bowl for serving. Crush remaining sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle until some of the seeds have turned to powder, but with plenty of whole seeds left. (Alternatively, you can pulse seeds a few times in a food processor or spice mill, then transfer to a medium bowl before proceeding). Add lime juice, tahini, soy sauce, honey, and red pepper flakes and mash to create a paste. Add ¼ cup water and whisk to combine (if you don’t have a small enough whisk, work in with the pestle). Taste and season with salt.
Step 6
Add lettuce and cilantro to bowl with reserved scallions. Pour half of dressing over and toss to coat. Arrange on a platter. Pour remaining dressing over chicken and cucumbers, toss to coat, and arrange over greens. Top salad with reserved 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds and squeeze juice from lime half over.

Leave a Review

Reviews (13)

This is a great recipe Sesame-Scallion Chicken Salad , had fun making it over the weekend. Recreated the meal that I get from <a href="https://www.flexpromeals.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer ugc">https://www.flexpromeals.com/</a> delivered. Good quality and fresh.
- Vadim
- 9/30/2023
GFM2012.1 : you seem fun !
- Jane Doe
- These United States
- 5/27/2023
Thanks to all the reviewers whose ideas I stole! Dressing changes: Doubled it, subbing tahini for SSs and adding a splash of rice wine vinegar at the end to thin a little. Served it on the side to let people dress themselves. Plenty left over, but that’s fine. Salad changes: I had a little napa cabbage, so threw that in. Also added a carrot that I’d put in the poaching for a few minutes because why not? And it provided a nice touch of color. As others, I cut the cucumbers smaller and ignored the complications around the scallions. Finished with black sesame seeds. Very good, perfect for an August 1st dinner, and very flexible. Grate some beets? I honestly can’t think of a veggie that wouldn’t work. It does need some non-veggie carb on the side, though not sure what. Maybe pasta shapes? Maybe they could even be tossed in? Truly a “pasta salad!”
- acseligman
- New York City
- 8/6/2021
Made this and loved it. It was flavorful and bright! A couple modifications on my part. Preseasoned the chicken for about an hour with salt and pepper, then made that in a pressure cooker. Used sesame paste instead of tahini, but added garlic and tweaked the soy sauce & honey to deepen the flavor. This is perfect for a summer picnic lunch! I would absolutely make this again.
- NotwhatIwasexpecting
- Burlington County, NJ
- 7/7/2021
Every recipe from Epicurious is revolting. I wouldn’t feed it to a cow.
- Gfm2012.1
- 4/27/2021
Great quick recipe. I sped it up even more by cooking my chicken in an Instant Pot instead of poaching it and the rest of the recipe was a breeze. I skipped the extra washing of the scallions and cut the cucumbers into smaller bits as well. Overall though, super tasty and a nice change of pace for salads.
- cirish
- Colorado
- 1/25/2021
I adapted this recipe a little following previous reviews. I added napa cabbage and used more tahini instead of pulverizing the sesame seeds. I put half the dressing with everything and the other half in a bowl with the chicken before adding it to the salad. Also, I cut the cucumbers into smaller pieces. Next time, I will double the dressing.
- dioh
- Berkeley Heights, NJ
- 10/12/2020
IF I were to do this again I'd do it differently. This time I followed the recipe exactly (except I forgot the last minute cilantro which was a big mistake on my part) and found it more fussy and time consuming than I'd expected. Grinding 1/2 c. sesame seeds was laborious in my smallish (maybe 1c sized) mortar and the resulting dressing was unnecessarily grainy - like all over between your teeth grainy - and pasty like thinned peanut butter which doesn't exactly lend itself to spreading evenly on lettuce (romaine). The large pieces of cucumber were odd and and I'm not sure about soaking scallions...a first for me but not a bother. Going forward, for the dressing I would skip the seeds and up the tahini, thin it all out either with water or more lime juice. I would slice the cucumbers into smaller bits and/or salt and then rinse them to soften them and give them some flavor. If you skip the cilantro as I did, you will find the all over flavor lacking. I did like the poached chicken though. (3 forks because I forgot the cilantro...)
- maustinct
- Seattle, WA
- 10/8/2020
This certainly makes a great salad. But why on earth would you "discard poaching liquid"? Save that broth for a roasted chicken carcass, add some root vegetables and make chicken broth!
- mjanousak
- NE Ohio
- 10/7/2020
Loved this. I added shredded napa cabbage to the salad and it really made it. Also finished it with black sesame seeds. Stellar. Will make again!!!
- dreawild
- Las Vegas
- 9/30/2020
this is delicious! I downsized to serve 1, and I made too little dressing, so it was kinda dry. My bad! Will do better next time...
- jansan1
- Orange County, CA.
- 9/29/2020