Sesame-Crusted Chicken Salad
with Mandarin Orange & a Peanut Dressing
- Sesame
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree Nuts
When it comes to salad, we want more than a pile of greens. We’re looking for something bursting with flavor, contrasting textures, you know, some pizzazz! That’s why we’re excited about this main course spinach salad that’s chock-full of satisfying ingredients. We’re talking chicken coated with sesame seeds and seared till tender, crisp carrot ribbons, and juicy, tangy mandarin oranges. A topping of chopped cashews adds more crunch while the homemade peanut dressing gives the dish a crowd-pleasing richness. THIS is a salad we can look forward to.
Ingredients
3 ounce
Carrot
5 teaspoon
Rice Wine Vinegar
5 ounce
Spinach
2 tablespoon
Sesame Seeds
(Contains: Sesame)
2 tablespoon
Mayonnaise
(Contains: Eggs)
1 unit
Peanut Butter
(Contains: Peanuts)
10 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
1 unit
Mandarin Orange
½ ounce
Cashews
(Contains: Tree Nuts)
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
Not included in your delivery
½ teaspoon (tsp)
Sugar
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
3 tablespoon (tbsp)
Cooking Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Bring peanut butter to room temperature. Wash and dry produce. • Using a peeler, shave carrot lengthwise into ribbons, rotating as you go, until you get to the core. Discard core. Peel and separate mandarin into segments; cut each in half horizontally. Roughly chop cashews.
• In a medium bowl, combine sesame seeds, garlic powder, ½ tsp salt (1 tsp for 4 servings), and pepper. • Pat chicken* dry with paper towels; place between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap. Pound with a mallet or rolling pin until chicken is about ½ inch thick. • Season all over with sesame seed mixture, pressing to coat. Wipe out bowl.
• Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium- high heat. Add chicken. (TIP: If any sesame seeds fall off while transferring, carefully sprinkle them on top of the chicken in pan.) Cook until crust is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, 3-5 minutes per side. TIP: Reduce heat to medium if sesame seeds begin to brown too quickly. • Turn off heat; transfer to a cutting board.
• While chicken cooks, in bowl used for sesame seeds, whisk together peanut butter (for a less intense peanut flavor, start with half the peanut butter and add more to taste), vinegar, and ½ tsp sugar (1 tsp for 4 servings). (TIP: Knead peanut butter packet before opening to make whisking a bit easier.) Slowly drizzle in 3 TBSP oil (6 TBSP for 4), whisking continuously. • Reserve 2 TBSP dressing (4 TBSP for 4) for serving.
• In a large bowl, toss spinach and carrot ribbons with as much remaining dressing as you like. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
• Slice chicken crosswise into strips. • Divide salad between bowls; top with chicken, mandarin, and cashews. Drizzle reserved dressing over chicken and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the peanut dressing and sesame-crusted chicken; some found the combination of flavors refreshing and delicious 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Quick and easy to make, though some had trouble keeping sesame seeds on the chicken while cooking.
- Suggestions: Consider adding more mandarin oranges and cashews; some preferred mixed greens instead of just spinach.
- Portions: Several felt the salad needed more toppings or protein to be filling as a dinner.
- Chicken: Sesame crust was flavorful, but many struggled with seeds falling off or burning during cooking.
Reviews from our home cooks
This salad was quick & easy to make and it was SO GOOD. The peanut dressing, sesames and oranges are such a tasty combination! Will pick this meal again for sure!
I was surprised at how much I liked this salad. The dressing and combination of peanut butter, cashews, and sesame seeds was delicious. The orange played off the nutty flavors perfectly.
Best salad I've ordered yet! Love the crunchiness of the sesame chicken and the peanut sauce was fantastic. I used peanut oil to make the sauce instead of olive oil or vegetable oil and it made all the difference.
Had HelloFresh for 4 months now, and it's CRAZY to think my top 3 dishes have been SALAD. Like whaat?! They do it so well though. For this dish, in particular, I was super excited to try crusting chicken with sesame... game changer. Loved the toasted nutty flavor from it. And to think it's healthier than bread crumbs?! Stunning.
A delightful meal. One taste of the salad dressing and I was in food heaven. The chicken was nice and succulent and tender. I love the sesame seed crust, so flavorful.
Everyone in the family enjoyed this meal even my daughter that does not eat meat (she had the salad without chicken). There was so much salad! All 4 of us had plenty and had a lot of spinach left over. We would have enjoyed more mandarin oranges. The peanut butter dressing was different but good and went well with the rest of the salad.
This was something new and different for me and I liked the sesame peanut flavor. I would have liked to see an additional mandarin orange - the proportion was off.
Such a delicious and bright salad. Very easy and fun to make. My only feedback would be to find a way to make the peanut dressing less viscous - I was easy on the peanut butter, but my dressing was a little bit goopy. And also to find a way to make the dressing less tart, it wasn't bad, but there was definitely an acidic aftertaste.
This was a little weird. I REALLY loved the sesame coating on the chicken and the peanut sauce. I felt like every individual part of the dish was good, but the dish itself was not cohesive at all. I like mandarin orange, but it didn't belong here for me. Maybe I'm just not a salad lover. I would like to see that chicken and/or peanut sauce again in another dish.
Great, but the dressing needed help. I added soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey. Nice, fresh spinach. I had trouble keeping the sesame seeds on the chicken. Next time, I will simply toast them and sprinkle overtop as a garnish.
