Chicken and cabbage salad with buttermilk blue cheese dressing

What's the difference between green cabbage and red cabbage? It's not only color that sets them apart; though both are super low-calorie, red cabbage packs more than ten times the amount of Vitamin A, beneficial for vision and immune system health.

Red and green cabbage taste exactly the same, and that's what matters when it comes to swapping one for the other in dishes like this chicken and cabbage salad with buttermilk blue cheese dressing. If chicken isn't your thing, use leftover cooked roast beef or stir-fried tofu. If blue cheese isn't your thing, I urge you to give it another chance, or you can substitute feta cheese. The tangy dressing really makes this dish something special. Make the salad a little bit ahead, and the cabbage will soften and mellow.

Chicken and cabbage salad with buttermilk blue cheese dressing  {gluten-free}

From the pantry you'll need: mayonnaise, cider vinegar, agave nectar, powdered buttermilk (or fresh), black pepper.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk (made from powdered buttermilk, or fresh)
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
6 cups thinly shredded cabbage (green, red, or a mix)
2-3 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken (leftover roast, baked, grilled or rotisserie chicken)
1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, blue cheese, buttermilk, vinegar, agave nectar and black pepper. Using a rubber spatula to smash the cheese against the bowl, then stir until the ingredients are smooth.

Add the cabbage, and stir to coat all of the cabbage with the dressing.

Then, stir in the chicken and parsley.

Serve immediately if you like the cabbage crunchy; refrigerate for an hour or more, and the cabbage will wilt slightly.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More crunchy salads:
Red cabbage salad with walnuts, raisins, feta, and warm mustard dressing, from The Perfect Pantry
Broccoli slaw salad with cranberries, almonds, and yogurt dressing, from The Perfect Pantry
Crisp tuna-cabbage salad, from The Kitchn
Greek cabbage salad with feta and thyme, from Kalyn's Kitchen

Need more ideas for how to create salads with pizzazz? Get Dress Up Your Salad, my e-book packed with easy mix-and-match recipes, full-color photos and a few fun videos. Exciting salad recipes from everyday ingredients can be just one click away, on any computer, tablet or smart phone, with the FREE Kindle Reading app. Click here to learn more.

Chicken and cabbage salad with buttermilk blue cheese dressing  {gluten-free}

From the pantry you'll need: mayonnaise, cider vinegar, agave nectar, powdered buttermilk (or fresh), black pepper.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup buttermilk (made from powdered buttermilk, or fresh)
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
6 cups thinly shredded cabbage (green, red, or a mix)
2-3 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken (leftover roast, baked, grilled or rotisserie chicken)
1/4 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, blue cheese, buttermilk, vinegar, agave nectar and black pepper. Using a rubber spatula to smash the cheese against the bowl, then stir until the ingredients are smooth.

Add the cabbage, and stir to coat all of the cabbage with the dressing.

Then, stir in the chicken and parsley.

Serve immediately if you like the cabbage crunchy; refrigerate for an hour or more, and the cabbage will wilt slightly.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More crunchy salads:
Red cabbage salad with walnuts, raisins, feta, and warm mustard dressing, from The Perfect Pantry
Broccoli slaw salad with cranberries, almonds, and yogurt dressing, from The Perfect Pantry
Crisp tuna-cabbage salad, from The Kitchn
Greek cabbage salad with feta and thyme, from Kalyn's Kitchen

Need more ideas for how to create salads with pizzazz? Get Dress Up Your Salad, my e-book packed with easy mix-and-match recipes, full-color photos and a few fun videos. Exciting salad recipes from everyday ingredients can be just one click away, on any computer, tablet or smart phone, with the FREE Kindle Reading app. Click here to learn more.

Comments

Oh yes, I love the sound of this. And I just splurged on some lovely blue cheese (from Costco!) which I haven't even opened yet. This sounds like a good way to break it out.

Kalyn, it just takes a little bit of blue cheese to "tang up" this salad (and of course you could also use feta). I love the buttermilk dressing with cabbage.

Limited experience makes me think that red cabbage is less wilt-y than green in salads. Thoughts?
Like the sound of the dressing. And see, more buttermilk gone!

Susan, sometimes that's true. I think when green cabbage is very fresh, it's just as crunchy as the red.

Time to find that blue cheese. I love to make colorful and delicious salads. That red cabbage is just so beautiful. Will surely make this one. Thanks!

I actually think I would eat anything smothered in buttermilk bluecheese dressing! But I love red cabbage - our Turkish guy puts chopped raw red cabbage on our turkish pizza! Your dressing makes an ordinary chicken and veg salad out of this world! Lucky family and friends who get to eat your food!

Louise, it's definitely worth searching out blue cheese for this salad.

Jamie, I'm with you. The dressing really makes it for me, and it also tenderizes the cabbage.

Just picked a half gallon of magically marked down buttermilk. Tomorrow night during sled hockey practice I will stock up on oats for muffins, and I've got cabbage from the farm share.
Thanks, Lydia!