Recipe: Teriyaki Shop Salad with Sweet Mayo Dressing

Please note: There are three recipes for making Seattle-style chicken teriyaki—this recipe specifically walks you through making a teriyaki shop side salad (and its iconic sweet mayo dressing). For instructions on making Seattle-style teriyaki sauce, see here. For a guide on grilling the chicken, see here.

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I love about this recipe:

• A simple but versatile dressing that works on any chilled, crisp vegetable.

• It can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be.

Yield: Makes about 3/4 cup of dressing and enough salad to serve a family
Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

For the sweet mayo dressing:

• 1/2 cup (120 g) Japanese mayonnaise

• 1/4 cup (60 ml) rice vinegar

• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar

• Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

• 1 small head iceberg lettuce, chopped into bite-size pieces

• 1 small carrot, shredded

• Small handful shredded red cabbage (optional)

• Other vegetables as desired, such as blanched and chilled broccoli or asparagus, snap peas, red onion, tomatoes, or cucumbers

Method

1. Whisk together the mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar, and several generous grinds of black pepper until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

2. Toss together the lettuce, carrot, and cabbage and transfer to a serving platter. I like to use a wide platter and really spread it out so that you can drizzle it with dressing evenly.

3. Drizzle it with dressing evenly, then serve. (Alternatively, for a true Seattle experience, pack it into a plastic clamshell with hot rice and chicken teriyaki and let it rest until the lettuce is gently wilted and the dressing has started to split and turn translucent.)