WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS Chinese chicken salad is a chain-restaurant classic, but we wanted to give it a seriously fresh makeover—so we started by nixing anything from a can. The salad bar pile-ons (chow mein noodles, sprouts, snow peas, fried wonton strips, and water chestnuts) also got the ax, and instead, we chose to highlight crisp napa cabbage and romaine lettuce, bell peppers, fresh cilantro, and scallions. To keep the title ingredient from tasting like an afterthought, we eschewed rotisserie chicken, instead poaching boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a flavorful mixture of soy sauce, orange juice, rice vinegar, and ginger. Whisking more of the same mixture with sesame and vegetable oils made a bold dressing for our salad. The whole shebang was finished with orange segments—fresh, of course—and crunchy roasted peanuts.

Serves 6

Total time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

• 2 oranges
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon Asian chili-garlic sauce
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• ½ head napa cabbage, cored and sliced thin (5½ cups)
• 2 romaine lettuce hearts (12 ounces), sliced thin
• 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 2-inch-long matchsticks
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 cup salted dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
• 6 scallions, sliced thin on bias

PREPARATION

1. Cut away peel and pith from oranges. Holding fruit over large bowl to catch juice, use paring knife to slice between membranes to release segments; set segments aside for serving. Squeeze juice from membrane into bowl (juice should measure ¼ cup). Whisk in vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, sugar, and chili-garlic sauce.
2. Transfer ½ cup orange juice mixture to 12-inch skillet and bring to simmer over medium-high heat; set aside remaining orange juice mixture.
3. Add chicken to skillet, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until chicken registers 160 degrees, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.
4. Transfer chicken to cutting board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces using 2 forks.
5. Bring pan juices to boil and cook until reduced to ¼ cup, 1 to 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in chicken and any accumulated juices and let sit for 10 minutes.
6. Slowly whisk vegetable oil and sesame oil into reserved orange juice mixture.
7. Add cabbage, romaine, bell peppers, cilantro, peanuts, and scallions to the orange juice mixture and toss to combine.
8. Transfer to serving platter and top with chicken and reserved orange segments. Serve.