![Chicken Piccata](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/14/dining/as-chicken-piccata/as-chicken-piccata-mediumThreeByTwo440-v3.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Chicken and Celery Salad With Wasabi-Tahini Dressing
![Chicken and Celery Salad With Wasabi-Tahini Dressing](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/07/22/dining/20saladrex/merlin_174651774_2b91e62c-bec8-4b23-a578-a74095819cd4-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound total)
- Kosher salt
- ¼cup fresh lime juice, plus more lime wedges, for serving (3 to 4 limes)
- ¼cup tahini
- 1 to 2tablespoons wasabi paste
- 2garlic cloves, grated
- ½teaspoon granulated sugar
- 8 to 10celery ribs, plus ½ cup celery leaves
- Sesame seeds, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium pot, cover chicken breasts with about 2 inches of water, and season with 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer on low until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and let cool.
- Step 2
While the chicken cools, make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together lime juice, tahini, wasabi paste, garlic, sugar and ¼ cup water until smooth. Season to taste with salt.
- Step 3
Cut celery into 2-inch segments, then cut segments lengthwise into matchsticks and place in a large bowl.
- Step 4
Using two forks or hands, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and transfer to the bowl with the celery.
- Step 5
Pour dressing over the chicken and celery and toss to coat. Top with celery leaves and sesame seeds, and serve with lime wedges.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
from article: The combination of wasabi and celery is similar to a cold appetizer found in Taiwanese-Chinese cuisine, simply called hot mustard celery salad. In the dish’s usual preparation, blanched celery ribs are peeled or have the tough strings pulled out, and are then tossed with a dressing made with hot mustard powder. Make the recipe as it is, but don’t stop there. Much like a jar of the best marinara sauce, this dressing has endless possibilities. Try it with tofu and celery. Use it on
Better yet, poach chicken thighs with a little white wine or sake and some ginger slices, which leaves you with a savor cooking brother to mix with the tahini for a much lighter dressing.
I immediately went out and bought the ingredients to this dish when I saw Sue Li making it on Instagram. Then I came to the NYT website a few days later for the recipe and was nervous after reading all the negative remarks. I remembered that Sue Li remarked that you should add the wasabi paste in increments in case it was too hot for your palette. I’m so glad I listened, the salad came out great, and like a few others I added shredded green apple pieces to give it a little sweetness. New fave
It is vile and inedible according to the proportions stated. Better yet, hurtful! I salvaged some of the chicken. Rest is history. Way too much wasabi.
To make a vegan version, I used chickpeas instead of chicken, and it was much tastier the second day, allowing time for the chickpeas to absorb the flavors.
Delicious! I substituted honey for the sugar, added diced apple and toasted pecans. A new favorite!
Not sure what all the negative reviews are about. If you don’t like the taste of wasabi then... don’t make a wasabi chicken recipe? Great flavors. Super easy. The perfect weekday lunch.
YES!Too much wasabi,added mayo. Same flavor It's very good. Will make agian
Not sure what happened here, but 2 tablespoons made it crazy hot. Two teaspoons? One teaspoon?
Made a half recipe with a large can of canned chicken. An easy peasy quick lunch. I put in about 1-2 teaspoon of wasabi paste, which is a little less than what’s called for (considering I was making a half recipe) and it’s absolutely delicious! I found some of the comments to be a little over the top. It’s always good to use your judgment and start small when it comes to anything with heat.
This is really great. If I could hazard a guess the reaction to the wasabi it might be that people are adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of POWDER, not paste. Paste is made by adding water to the wasabi powder. Not a huge difference but could matter if you don’t like spicy food. I added some water chestnuts for extra crunch. I also added a bit of sesame oil to thin it out. Love this!
Inedible. Have to throw it all away. Maybe they meant two teaspoons of wasabi?
Wow, this recipe is just amazing. We have made it several times and just can't get enough of it. So easy and healthy. We served it for a main course at a dinner party for 4 and it was a huge hit! We followed the recipe exactly - YUM!!
Delicious and light! Used real japanese wasabi (I think it may be less spicy than the horseradish based wasabi) and added slices of sliced red apple - it was a nice sweet addition and the red looks pretty against the green celery.
Ok, this was a dud. The mixture of tahini and wasabi is an odd couple in terms of palette. Tasted terrible. I dumped it and made the chicken salad my old way, with a mix of yoghurt. a little mayo, chopped chives, chopped green onion and celery and basil. Served on a bed of baby romaine lightly tossed in olive oil .Added a garnish of pea shots and nasturtiums on the top for color.
I loved the flavors and textures in this salad! It's great for summer. Thanks for the instructions on how to cut it easily into matchsticks. In the interest of time, I used a baked chicken breast from Safeway. I will make this again and again for a satisfying lunch. I used the full amount of wasabi and didn't find it overpowering. Thank you.
Love this. Have made multiple times for my husband and me. We add Sriracha as well as wasabi—at least as much as is called for if not more. No spice wimps here! The Sriracha adds depth of flavor with a different spice. Use honey instead of sugar.
Easy, Delicious, Versatile, and Healthy! Make it!
This salad is wonderful!!! I use sake, ginger, white pepper in poaching water…. Next time I will mix this with the tahini, as previously suggested. AND throw in some smoked tofu on a bed of greens. Will be in my fridge regularly!!
This recipe is bizarre! My lime juice and tahini seized up so it was anything but liquid. I love wasabi but WAY too much in this dressing. Very disappointed. Look
Not a great recipe Imho! Lime juice and wasabi seized upon mixing.. too much wasabi and at the end of the day it hardly tasted great.
Really delicious recipe! I used wasabi powder so I went minimal, with only two teaspoons, though next time I might use a little bit more. I followed the comments and added in some granny smith apple, and also some thinly sliced iceberg lettuce for a little extra crunch. Finished with some toasted sesame oil. Would definitely make this again!
Made the salad as instructed and added a few drops of fish sauce. That sent it over the top!
Loved this! Made following recipe and added wasabi slowly tasting to get to our desired level of heat, which for us is pretty hot. Am definitely going to make again and try adding apples.
After reading all the comments, I looked at my can of Japanese powered wasabi powder and there was the recipe for paste: 4 tsp. wasabi powder and three tsp. water. I whipped it up and it was perfect for the amount of chicken and celery called for in the recipe.
Disappointed. These all are ingredients I really like, but together they just didn’t work. Not delicious, I kept thinking I should add ?salt, more lime? Soy? Nothing was right and it was barely edible. My usual chicken salad of chicken, celery, mild onion, pea shoots and minimal mayo is hands down more flavorful.
Tasty, will definitely make again. After reading other reviews I added wasabi paste “to taste.” The article notes that wasabi mellows over time and this was very true, I wanted to add more when I pulled it out for lunch the next day. So if you overshot your spice tolerance - maybe stick the salad in the fridge and see how it tastes tomorrow.
This is really refreshing. I poached the chicken in white wine with a couple of pieces of ginger. I didn’t bother with cutting the celery into matchsticks, just chopped it roughly. I added a diced apple which was really a nice counterpoint to the creamy kick. I went a little easy on the wasabi but next time I will probably add more. Ate as suggested in a soft potato roll. Tomorrow I’ll make some soba noodles to serve cold with the salad on top. Delish!
Prepared it as a light dinner. Met that mark but found the flavors somewhat flat.
This made for a tasty and quickly assembled weekend supper. Paying heed to the recipe, I added the wasabi piecemeal until it gave the proper zing. I did customize by adding some udon noodles for carbs.
Advertisement