Napa Cabbage Salad with Sweet Tamari-Sesame Dressing

The name of this salad doesn’t do it justice. It’s so much more than a salad with dressing. It’s crisp, refreshing, sweet, tangy, crunchy, and the kind of salad that you’ll devour with swift, uninterrupted fork-to-mouth movements.

This salad is modeled off of that addictive napa cabbage salad that typically incorporates bits of crunchy ramen noodles. Do you know the one I’m talking about? I first fell in love with that salad as a little girl when my step aunt brought it to a Thanksgiving gathering. She’s brought it every year since, and it’s always the first dish to disappear.

The flavor of this salad is very similar but with a slight twist on the dressing. White sugar is replaced by vitamin-rich grade B maple syrup. Cold-pressed olive oil takes the place of canola oil. Tamari sits in for soy sauce to keep things gluten-free.

In place of the ramen noodles, you’ll find crunchy sunflower seeds. I also added red peppers, carrots, and cilantro to perk up the freshness and color. The result is a refreshingly crisp and crunchy salad with a tangy and sweet vinaigrette. It’s packed with flavor, easy to make, and I can’t get enough of it at the moment.

The recipe makes enough for 3 to 4 light meal-sized servings but could easily serve 6 to 8 as a side. Dan and I devoured the entire recipe in a few hours this past Saturday. The plan was to have it for lunch, but we went back in for seconds as a sort of pre-dinner/late afternoon snack, and both of us drank the lingering dressing that collected in the bottoms of our bowls. Too good to waste!

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Napa Cabbage Salad with Sweet Tamari-Sesame Dressing

This napa cabbage salad is crisp, refreshing, sweet, tangy, crunchy, and addictive. It's modeled off of that addictive napa cabbage salad that typically incorporates bits of crunchy ramen noodles.The flavor of this salad is very similar to that old-school favorite but with a slight twist on the dressing. White sugar is replaced by vitamin-rich grade B maple syrup. Cold-pressed olive oil takes the place of canola oil. Tamari sits in for soy sauce to keep things gluten-free. In place of the ramen noodles, you'll find crunchy sunflower seeds. I also added red peppers, carrots, and cilantro to perk up the freshness and color. The result is a refreshingly crisp and crunchy salad with a tangy and sweet vinaigrette. The recipe makes enough for 3 to 4 light meal-sized servings but could easily serve 6 to 8 as a side. 

Prep Time 25 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Napa Cabbage Salad

• 1 large head napa cabbage, washed and finely-chopped
• 7 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (white and light green parts only)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 1 red pepper, seeded and cut into matchsticks
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds (I use raw sunflower seeds)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sesame seeds (I use un-hulled sesame seeds for added calcium)

Tamari-Sesame Dressing

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 1/2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Instructions

• In a large serving bowl, combine the cabbage, scallions, carrots, red pepper, and cilantro.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, tamari, and pure maple syrup until emulsified.
• Pour the dressing over the salad, thoroughly toss to coat, and sprinkle with the seeds.

Notes

This salad holds up well even a day or two after being tossed in the dressing thanks to the cabbage. Just keep it refrigerated in an airtight container for best results.