Chopped Salmon Arugula Walnut Salad with Honey Wasabi Vinaigrette
The salad recipe I am sharing with you today has been on my mind ever since I took my first bite at a local pan-Asian restaurant. I met a friend for lunch at this Asian fusion restaurant one day and she said she always orders the Chopped Salmon Salad with Wasabi Vinaigrette, so naturally I had to try it. After one bite, I was hooked. As simple as the name of the dish sounds, the components are a bit more complicated. I tried to play detective work, tasting all the little tidbits in the salad. It wasn’t until a second visit to this restaurant when I ordered this salad again, this time with my husband, who was more than willing to take pictures of this salad using his iPhone, that I was finally able to decipher all the salad ingredients.
This Chopped Salmon Salad has warm and cold components. The salmon is baked or grilled in a teriyaki sauce and then tossed with warm brown rice along with some cold salad components – baby arugula, radicchio, mango, and jicama. Everything is finely chopped. In fact, the restaurant salad was so finely chopped that it was nearly impossible for me to figure out exactly what all the greens were. There might have been some baby spinach or even baby bok choy too. The star of the salad was the finely chopped sugared walnuts on top of the chopped salad, a perfect compliment to the spicy tangy Wasabi Vinaigrette.
Chopped Salmon Arugula and Walnut Salad Components
Although this salad might seem like a lot of work, it really isn’t if you organize all the components. First, I marinated the salmon in a teriyaki style sauce. While the salmon was marinating, I made the sugared walnuts and the Wasabi Vinaigrette. Next, I chopped up the mango, jicama and arugula. I had leftover cooked brown rice in the refrigerator so I simply microwaved it for a minute just to warm it through. All in all, this salad took less than 30 minutes to make from start to finish.
Not only is this a delicious luncheon salad that would be perfect for a ladies’ lunch, but it is super heart healthy. It has salmon and walnuts, both rich in omega-3 fatty acids, heart healthy leafy green baby arugula, and brown rice (fiber).
Salmon Arugula Walnut Salad with Wasabi Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salmon
- 6 ounces fresh salmon fillet
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon honey
Sugared Walnuts
- 1/2 cup raw walnuts
- 1 tablespoon organic sugar
Wasabi Vinaigrette
- 1/2 teaspoon prepared wasabi
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
Salad
- 4 cups finely chopped baby arugula
- 1/2 cup finely chopped mango
- 1/2 cup finely chopped jicama
- 1 cup cooked brown rice warmed up
- toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
Salmon
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix soy sauce, honey and mirin together in a bowl. Place salmon in bowl and toss to cover with sauce. Let marinade for 10-15 minutes. Bake salmon about 10-12 minutes until just cooked through (cooking time will depend on thickness of fish). Remove from oven and set aside.
Sugared Walnuts
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While salmon is baking, place walnuts and sugar in a small skillet. Heat over medium heat until sugar starts to melt. Using spatula, toss walnuts continuously to coat all pieces and toast nuts. Reduce heat to medium-low if necessary to avoid burning. After nuts are toasted, transfer to a dish to cool. Chop finely and set aside.
Wasabi Vinaigrette
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Mix all vinaigrette ingredients together in a small bowl.
Salad
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In a medium size bowl, toss arugula, mango, jicama, brown rice, and salmon. Drizzle some Wasabi Vinaigrette on top and toss well, breaking up salmon pieces.
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Divide salad between two salad plates and sprinkle with Sugared Walnuts and toasted sesame seeds.
Recipe Notes
Chopped radicchio would add a nice splash of red to this salad.
More Heart Healthy Recipes:
Eggplant Walnut Dip, Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Spinach Walnut Dip, Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Honey Miso Glazed Salmon and Soba Noodle Soup, Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Black Bean, Quinoa & Broccoli Salad with Blackberry Serrano Sauce, Beyond the Peel
Grilled Garlic Dijon Herb Salmon, Skinnytaste
Toasted Sesame Ginger Salmon, How Sweet It Is
Ginger Spice Mixed Nuts, The Perfect Pantry
Date Nut Oatmeal, Never Enough Thyme
This recipe has been linked up to Beyond the Peel’s Whole Food Wednesday event.
Love chopped salads like this. Great flavors in each and every bite!
This salad is full of all different textures and flavors – it’s become one of my new favorites.
I love salads like this, with many components that come together to make something completely special. Jicama is something I don’t see often in our local markets; I can just imagine the bit of crunch it adds to this salad. What a great excuse to invite some friends for lunch!
Lydia – I do love the crunch and sweetness of jicama. I’ve seen people subsitute water chestnuts in place of jicama sometimes.
Oooo Jeanette, I love the idea of wasabi vinaigrette!
Sommer – the sweetness of the honey is a nice balance to the spicy wasabi in this vinaigrette.
This is so calling to me (and I love that I am not the only one who sits in a restaurant figuring out recipes). The wasabi vinaigrette really adds extra zing – I can see many uses for it.
Way to go Detective Jeanette! Sounds great.
Dinner in a bowl is my favorite way to eat and this salad looks really special, I’ve never seen anything like it!
Everything about this sounds delicious! Isn’t it fun to taste something and then try to figure it out.
Claudia – this vinaigrette is really versatile – I like the extra zing to it from the wasabi.
Susie and Kalyn – it is really fun and challenging trying to recreate recipes at home.
Sue – I love one dish/bowl meals, especially this time of year.
And here we have my new favorite salad. I love how there’s sweet salty savory spicy and every possible texture imaginable in here! Totally ideal.
Thanks Joanne – I think you would really enjoy all the flavors going on in this salad.
I love finding something at a restaurant that is super delicious and deciphering it at home. What a fabulous concoction of flavors. I look forward to trying this out. Looks simply divine.
Love this salad Jeanette would totally wish to have it for lunch every day! Maybe every other day to change things around! 🙂
Wasabi vinaigrette definitely has my attention!! And I love chopped salads. So delish 🙂
wow, i’ve never heard of such a complex salad before. the flavors here are so exotic with the mango, jicama, wasabi and teriyaki!
I love all the different flavors and textures in this salad. Plus healthy and in 30 min!! A must try!!
What an absolutely gorgeous salad! I do not make chopped salads often enough…now I want one, and love this vinaigrette!
I’m so glad you all are enjoying this salad – it is definitely a keeper. I’m a huge fan of chopped salads too.