Spiral Rainbow Salad with Chinese Five-Spice Dressing

Spiral Rainbow Salad with Chinese Five-Spice Dressing

This colorful salad is light, crisp and packs a huge flavor punch with the Asian flavored five-spice Salad Dressing!

And, did I mention gorgeous and colorful to wow your guests? Top this with Vegan Bacon Bits for some extra delicious and flavorful crunch!

What Vegetables to Use

In this recipe I use four vegetables (seven if you count different colors):

• Carrots
• Purple cabbage
• Red, yellow and orange peppers
• Persian Cucumber

If you don’t want to buy all three colors of peppers you don’t have to. It makes it pretty if that is your goal. Otherwise, taste-wise, you would be fine with all one color (you pick!).

As far as mix and match with other veggies, you can take creative liberty and this salad will still be fabulous. For this style of salad, you might lean toward crunchy vegetables. For example: jicama, celery, onion, etc. versus squash or zucchini which are softer.

If you are anything like me, sometimes you have to work with what you have on hand!

Chopping the Veggies

I used a spiralizer for my carrots and cucumber. Honestly, the spiralizer makes it look beautiful and lends to a crunchy bites that I enjoy.

I give a little more explanation on type of spiralizer in the next section.

Otherwise, if you don’t have a spiralizer, you can hand chop your veggies (cucumber, peppers and cabbage). Regarding the carrots, I would recommend to grate the carrots or buy the precut match-stick kind.

A note on the cucumber: I used Persian which tend to be smaller and crunchier. These are good for spiraling. Alternatively, if you use regular or hot house cucumbers, they tend to be higher in water content (and can be a bit softer) – so, if they are not super crisp, you may want to hand chop them.

Hand slice peppers in thin strips. Slice purple cabbage in thin strips (or use a mandolin).

What Spiralizer to Use

I used an old fashioned hand crank one (upright). I went on Amazon to find a sample of the one I use and couldn’t find it!

It looks like there are many more newer fancier options. I will investigate and get back to you when I try a fancier one.

But by way of example, the below spiralizer is upright (which I think would be easier that the sideways versions). I also like a basic hand crank versus mechanized. But, I suppose there could be benefit to the other type – I just don’t know (yet!).

Example of “Upright” Spiral Slicer

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Mix Your Veggies

You can hand mix everything together or arrange in colorful sections for presentation if you so choose.

Chinrese Five-Spice Salad Dressing

You can serve the dressing on the side or pre-mix. You might also love my Cilantro Dressing for a bold herbaceous flavor!

NEXT STEP: Chinese Five-Spice Salad Dressing Recipe: CLICK HERE