This Thai chicken salad is an easy main dish salad you can make in advance. It is wonderfully flavorful! Serve it in bowls or stuff it inside lettuce wraps.
Much like Thai chicken curry, the flavors and textures of this salad are amazing. Cabbage, scallions, and cilantro combine with shredded chicken to create a delicious base, enhanced by the flavorful peanut dressing. This salad is incredibly good and has quickly become one of my family's favorite main dish salads. I especially like to make it the day before I anticipate being too busy to cook. Needless to say, it's perfect for meal prep.
Ingredients and Variations
See the recipe card for exact measurements. Here are my comments on some of the ingredients.
- For the dressing: Creamy peanut butter plus water to thin it out, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Thai red curry paste, garlic, and ginger.
- Chicken: I typically use shredded baked chicken breasts or poached chicken. For ultimate ease, you can use shredded rotisserie chicken, leaving the skin out. You can also use boiled and cooled shrimp instead of chicken.
- Coleslaw mix: Rather than shred vegetables (green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots), I find it easier to use a bagged coleslaw mix.
- Green onions: I use the green parts only and slice them thinly. Chives are a good substitute.
- Cilantro: It adds so much flavor to this salad! In some recipes, you can substitute it with parsley, but in this one, I don't recommend it.
Instructions
The detailed instructions and step-by-step photos are included in the recipe card. Here's a quick overview.
Mix the dressing. I mix it right in the salad bowl. First, mix the peanut butter with water, soy sauce, and vinegar. It takes a few minutes to reach a smooth consistency, so keep whisking! Then you add the curry paste, garlic, and ginger, and whisk them in.
Add your salad ingredients - shredded chicken, coleslaw, scallions, and cilantro - to the same salad bowl, mixing after each addition.
Mix everything well until all the ingredients are well coated in the dressing. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to serve and for up to four days from the day the chicken was cooked.
I made it this evening and it tasted wonderful! So good, I have leftovers for the next day! I ate it in a pistolet bun! So good!
Sophie
Read more comments
I made it this evening and it tasted wonderful! So good, I have leftovers for the next day! I ate it in a pistolet bun! So good!Recipe Tips
- While you can serve the salad immediately, I recommend covering it and refrigerating it for an hour or so to allow the flavors to meld. Mix it one more time before serving.
- I use a no-stir peanut butter spread in the dressing. It contains palm oil, sugar, and salt in addition to peanuts. It's fine to use natural peanut butter. Depending on its thickness, you might need less or perhaps more water to achieve a salad dressing consistency. You might also want to add a touch of sweetener, such as a teaspoon of honey.
- This recipe is an Americanized version. If peanuts are used in Thai cooking, they're used in the form of ground peanuts. Peanut butter is an American food product, but it does work well to make an effortless, smooth, and delicious peanut dressing.
- Storage tips: That's the beauty of this salad - just like Chinese chicken salad, it gets better when stored, so it's a good idea to make it ahead of time. It keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. Just remember that if you used leftover chicken to make it, you should count the four days from the day the chicken was cooked.
Serving Suggestions
This is a main-dish salad, and it's a full meal that includes meat and veggies, so you can simply serve it as is on a plate or in a bowl, as shown in the photo below.
You can also serve it in a lettuce wrap or on top of shredded lettuce or baby spinach leaves. If you eat bread, you can stuff it inside flour tortillas, creating a delicious and filling wrap.
Recipe Card
Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing
Video
Ingredients
Dressing:
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter - I use a no-stir peanut butter spread
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce - or a gluten-free alternative
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh garlic - minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root - minced
Salad:
- 1 pound cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts - shredded, from about 20 ounces of raw chicken
- 2 cups coleslaw mix - 5 ounces
- ¼ cup green onions - thinly sliced
- ½ cup cilantro - chopped
Instructions
Make the dressing:
- In a large salad bowl, whisk the peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Whisk for a few minutes until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice.
- Whisk in the red curry paste, garlic, and ginger. Check the mixture's consistency and add a bit more water if needed (start with a tablespoon). Your goal is to achieve dressing consistency. Not too thick, not too runny.
Make the salad:
- To the same bowl, add the shredded chicken, coleslaw mix, green onions, and chopped cilantro. Mix after each addition.
- Mix the salad for a few more minutes, slowly and thoroughly, until all the salad components are well-coated in the dressing and there's no excess dressing pooling on the bottom.
- Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for one hour to allow the flavors to meld. Mix one more time, then serve.
Notes
- If you need to cook the chicken breasts, place them in a rimmed baking dish, lightly spray them with oil, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, and bake them in a 450°F oven until cooked through, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let them rest until cool enough to handle, then shred them. Here's a detailed recipe for baked chicken breasts.
- While you can serve the salad immediately, I recommend covering it and refrigerating it for an hour or so to allow the flavors to meld. Mix it one more time before serving.
- I use a no-stir peanut butter spread in the dressing. It contains palm oil, sugar, and salt in addition to peanuts. Some would object to those added ingredients, but I don't. It's fine to use natural peanut butter - the kind that contains just ground peanuts and that you need to stir. Depending on its thickness, you might need less or perhaps more water to achieve a salad dressing consistency. You might also want to add a touch of sweetener, such as a teaspoon of honey (real or sugar-free).
- This salad keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. Just remember that if you used leftover chicken to make it, you should count the four days from the day the chicken was cooked.
Nutrition per Serving
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Most recipes are low-carb and gluten-free, but some are not. Recommended and linked products are not guaranteed to be gluten-free. Nutrition info is approximate. Please verify it independently. The carb count excludes non-nutritive sweeteners. Please read these Terms of Use before using any of my recipes.
Loretta Zanier says
Will it be okay with boneless chicken Thighs also!
Vered DeLeeuw says
Hi Loretta,
Yes! Absolutely.
Sophie says
I made it this evening and it tasted wonderful!
So good, I have leftovers for the next day!
I ate it in a pistolet bun! So good!
Vered DeLeeuw says
Hi Sophie,
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe! I love that it makes leftovers, and the leftovers are really good.
I had to Google pistolet bun - wow, it sounds amazing!