This is the best Thai Chicken Salad recipe! Featuring papaya, cabbage, carrots, cucumber and a spicy peanut dressing, you can enjoy this amazing salad all on its own as a filling and healthy meal.
I’ve always been a big fan of Thai food. The simplicity and freshness of the ingredients just can’t be beat! This recipe is a great example that eating healthy truly can be delicious.
This salad isn’t going to leave you hungry, that’s for sure. It’s packed with delicious ingredients and a hearty peanut butter dressing! I have a feeling you’ll need to add it to your weekly dinner rotation. This is also a great recipe to serve as part of a spread like a BBQ or potluck.
Ingredients
This salad is packed with goodies! It’s an awesome all-in-one type of meal. Keep scrolling for the full recipe and ingredient amounts.
For the dressing:
- Lime juice – I always prefer to use fresh lime juice whenever possible.
- Olive oil – Peanut, safflower, sunflower, avocado, or vegetable oils will also work.
- Soy sauce – I like to use low-sodium soy sauce to make sure the recipe doesn’t end up too salty.
- Honey – Make sure the type of honey you use isn’t too thick so it’s easy to mix into the dressing.
- Peanut butter – I used smooth peanut butter but crunchy will work too.
- Fish sauce – While this ingredient is pretty strong, it is often used in Thai salads in small amounts and compliments the flavors well.
- Red pepper flakes – You can use extra sliced chilis instead of chili flakes for more heat.
- Garlic chili sauce – Use any type of hot sauce you like best or you can leave it out if you aren’t a fan of spice.
For the salad:
- Carrots – I like to buy bags of pre-shredded carrots to make prep faster.
- Green papaya – This simply means an unripe papaya. We want the papaya to be nice and firm and shreddable.
- Cucumber – Make sure to remove the seeds from your cucumber so you don’t end up with too much moisture.
- Bok choy – 2 or 3 small bok choy should give you enough for this recipe. Sliced spinach or Swiss chard will work as well.
- Red chili pepper – Get yourself some small Thai red chilis if you can find them. You can remove the seeds to turn the heat down a bit.
- Chicken – I used chicken breasts for this recipe. They’ll need to be cooked and shredded.
- Mint – Find yourself fresh mint! This is such a great game-changing salad ingredient. Chop the mint nice and small.
- Slivered almonds – You can also use peanuts.
- Green cabbage – Red cabbage will also work. You can shred the cabbage by hand with a knife or use a mandoline.
What Type of Chicken Should I Use?
If you can shred it up, it will work! I picked up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken at the grocery store for this recipe. I find that rotisserie chickens are extremely tender and will shred up with no problem.
If you have a pressure cooker, you can also throw a couple chicken breasts in there with a cup of water or broth. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes on high pressure. Baking them will also work; you can season them however you like or leave them plain! They’ll soak up all that delicious flavor in the salad dressing.
What Else Can I Mix Into My Salad?
This slaw-like salad is very versatile! You can add any of your favorite flavors to personalize this recipe how you like it best. Give these ideas a try:
- Cooked cold rice noodles
- Crushed instant ramen noodles
- Mango or pineapple
- Pepitas
- Cashews
- Celery
- Cilantro
- Basil
- Red or green onion
- Bell peppers
You can also leave out the chicken and fish sauce to make this recipe vegetarian. Add some extra veggies to make up for the missing chicken!
How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
- Make the dressing: Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl or give them a shake in a mason jar. You can microwave the peanut butter for 10-15 seconds to soften it for easier mixing if needed.
- Mix the salad: Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl along with the dressing. Toss everything well, serve, and enjoy!
Can I Leave Out the Peanut Butter?
I know that some of you will need to worry about peanut allergies and that’s totally okay! Feel free to use any of your favorite nut butters in its place. If that’s not an option, you can leave the nut butter out completely and use a splash of rice vinegar to make a delicious vinaigrette for this salad.
Can I Make This Salad Ahead?
If you want to plan ahead and make this salad a day or two before you need it, make sure to leave the dressing off until right before you serve the salad.
Take the dressing out of the fridge about an hour before you need it and let it come to room temperature. This will make sure the honey and peanut butter have a chance to warm up a bit and make everything much easier to toss.
Leftovers
If you anticipate leftovers, I would leave the dressing off the salad and toss as needed. The veggies tend to get soggy after a day sitting with the dressing and are not as appetizing.
This Thai chicken salad will last 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
What to Serve With Thai Chicken Salad
Looking to make a big takeout fakeout spread? Thai cooking is so simple and fresh. Give some of these a try:
- Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Pad Thai
- Thai Red Chicken Curry
- Pad See Ew
- Easy Thai Steak Salad
- Asian Style Pepper Steak
More Delicious Salad Recipes To Try:
- Asian Chopped Chicken Salad
- Crunchy Asian Salad
- Avocado Chicken Salad
- Easy Coleslaw Recipe
- Mexican Street Corn Slaw
- Easy Chicken Salad Recipe
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Thai Chicken Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
For dressing
- 3 tablespoon lime juice 2 limes
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce low sodium
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic chili sauce
For salad
- 1 cup carrots shredded
- 1 cup green papaya shredded
- 1 cup cucumber peeled, seeded, and sliced
- 2 cups bok choy sliced
- 1 red chili pepper sliced
- 2 chicken breasts cooked, shredded or cut in small pieces
- 1/4 cup mint chopped
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds or peanuts
- 3 cups green cabbage shredded
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl or give them a shake in a mason jar. You can microwave the peanut butter for 10-15 seconds to soften it for easier mixing if needed.
- Mix the salad: Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl along with the dressing. Toss everything well, serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- If you anticipate leftovers, I would leave the dressing off the salad and toss as needed. The veggies tend to get soggy after a day sitting with the dressing and are not as appetizing.
- This salad will last 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Recipe originally shared August 2013.
Looks delicious! What kind of chili pepper do you use?
I used a red serrano pepper here. Hope you try it!
Hey I wanted to give this a try and I was wondering how you recommend cooking the chicken? Is it marinated in anything or…?
Whenever I need cooked chicken, I usually buy a roast chicken and use the breast from it.
Hi – What’s broccoli slaw? Not seen that in any stores in the UK… what alternative could I use, please? This looks and sounds delicious and I’d love to try it. Also do you know an approximate calorie count per serving? Thank you. x
Broccoli slaw is a variation of traditional coleslaw with shredded raw broccoli stalks substituted for cabbage. You could use just the regular coleslaw, without the mayo.
Great – thank you! :o)
Thanks so much for this recipe! It was so delicious and great for a summer meal. It’s definitely a keeper.
Hello from Brussels! Just found your website and have bookmarked about 10 recipes already. I really enjoy cooking and can tell when a person knows how to. Looking forward to trying all 10 ….and more.
Thanks Randall, if you make them let me know how you like them. 🙂
What is Broccoli slaw please?
Broccoli slaw is a variation of traditional coleslaw with shredded raw broccoli stalks substituted for cabbage. You can find it in bags in the produce section, it does not contain mayo or anything just the broccoli stalks and maybe some shredded carrots.
Where is fish sauce located at the store?
It’s with all the Asian products.
Did you use green papaya or ripe? Looks wonderful!
I used a ripe papaya. 🙂 Thanks, hope you try it!
You said in your recipe to use a green papaya, could you change it to say ripe so i dont buy the wrong papaya again? decided to opt out on the papaya since the green one didnt taste like anything good. makes sense to use a ripe one now.
We mean green, unripened, papaya not ripe papaya! It is very commonly used in Thai salads for its firm texture and neutral flavor that hasn’t become too sweet for savory uses like ripe papaya.
What a great dish!! I added a bit more peanut butter to increase the nutty flavor in the dressing and served with bamboo shoots and lime wedges! This dish went over so well people left with a copy of the recipe!
Hi Lisa,
That’s wonderful, so glad you guys enjoyed it!
I was wondering if leftovers kept well in the refrigerator ?
We didn’t have any leftovers but if you leave some salad without the dressing it should be fine, but I think if you put the dressing on it, it might get soggy.
This was wonderful! I subbed mango for the papaya, but the flavors were incredible! The crunch was pleasant, and was a great contrast to the chicken. Cheers!
Glad you liked it Sarah! 🙂
My husband and I both give this a 5 star rating! So delicious, we’ll both be taking it to work this week. So simple to make as well 🙌🏼
Helena
Just delicious! I never looked at broccoli slaw twice before reading this recipe. Great flavour combos. Making this for the 2nd time in 2 weeks – its on its way to becoming a healthy dinner ‘regular’.
Hi Jen,
Thanks so much, glad you like it. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I use broccoli slaw a lot. Mix it with apples and nuts for a Waldorf salad. Mix with carrots for regular slaw. I use it when making stir fry too. It is very versatile
This looks wonderful! I am going to try adding cilantro, too.
This looks sooooo good – gotta try it!
This looks INCREDIBLE. I love Thai flavors. I seriously want to just dig my fork into that big ol plate of salad. Definitely pinning this one for later!
Thanks Courtney 🙂