Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing packs a ton flavor. Napa cabbage, cucumbers, onions, red pepper and peanuts all topped off with a 3 minute Peanut Dressing.
This delicious recipe will have you falling in love with salads again. A creamy Thai style dressing the you mix up in your blender. Makes a big batch…nothing worse than not having enough sauce!
Ingredients for Thai Chicken Salad and Peanut Dressing –
- Chicken – rotisserie chicken is a great short cut.
- Napa Cabbage – traditional and crunchy for this recipe. Feel free to swap out a mixture of romaine and regular head cabbage if that’s whats on hand.
- Carrots – you can now buy shredded to make this super easy.
- Cucumber – we like English cucumbers for this. Use a spoon to remove the seeds to keep it crunchy.
- Red Bell Pepper – sliced thin
- Green Onions – cut them on the diagonal for a traditional Thai look
For the Peanut Dressing
- Peanut Butter – we just use your basic regular smooth or crunchy variety.
- Vinegar – rice vinegar is best but if you have regular white or cider add a teaspoon of sugar.
- Lime – juiced and slices for garnish.
- Honey – adds a nice sweetness and glossy appearanace to the dressing.
- Sesame oil – do your best to not substitute this ingredient, it really adds a nice umami.
- Garlic, Ginger and Soy Sauce
Begin by chopping and slicing all the veggies. The main ingredient of this salad is cabbage.
What is Napa Cabbage ?
- Napa cabbage is an asian variety of cabbage – Available in most grocery stores produce section. It’ has long crinkly leaves and softer texture than the head cabbage we are used to. I’d describe it as a cross between romaine and head cabbage.
- You can substitute any hearty lettuce, like iceberg or romaine and toss it with a bit of regular cabbage for extra crunch.
PRO Tip- When cutting your english cucs, use a spoon to remove the seeds. This will keep your salad nice and crunchy.
How to make Peanut Dressing –
We are huge fans of the Nutribullet blender. It makes the best dressings and smoothies and so easy to use but a food processor, immersion blender or just a regular blender will get the job done.
Add all the Peanut Dressing ingredients and blend. Doesn’t get much easier than that.
Can I use any nut butter to make this dressing?
- Absolutely ! Almond butter or cashew butter would be fabulous in this dressing.
I usually transfer all my dressings to these great food squeeze bottles. I use these for everything from olive oil to dishwashing liquid. My fridge is full of them. I like to be able to control the amount of dressing I add and this is the best way I have found.
A few more tips to make this Crunchy Thai Peanut Salad
- use left over chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken from your super market
- use store bought shredded carrots
- substitute cooked shrimp for the chicken
- mix up the veggies and add what you have on hand. Zucchini, asparagus, broccoli…skies the limit!
Need some help with this recipe? Check out this Thai Chicken Salad video here!
More Salads we think you will love –
LET’s EAT!
Kathi and Rachel
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Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
Peanut Dressing
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar regular vinegar plus one teaspoon of sugar will work in a pinch
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cloves garlic - chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped or 1/2 teaspoon ground
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
For Salad
- 1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
- 4 cups shredded napa or regular cabbage iceberg or romain will work as well
- 2 carrots - julienned
- 1 english cucumber - seeded and sliced
- 1 red pepper - sliced
- 2 green onions - sliced on the diagonal
- 1/2 cup peanuts for garnish
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
Instructions
- For Dressing: combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add one tablespoon of water at a time until it reaches desired consistency. I find 2-3 tablespoons will do.
- For Salad: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss.
- Top with desired amount of Peanut Dressing and and garnish with chopped peanuts if desired.NOTE: You will not use all the dressing. It is delicious on left over chicken as a dipping sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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Ashley says
exactly what I was looking for! This stressing is so yummy!!
Judy says
Just read your recipe for crunchy Thai chicken salad and started to drool BUT my son has chronic severe U.C. and IBS. For the first time in his 37 years cannot eat peanuts. What other nut do you think would work? I’m thinking slivered almonds, they have the crunch and it would be super easy to make almond butter.
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
I think almonds are a great sub! I love almond butter! I’d say the smoother the butter the better for the dressing. Hope your son loves it and it agrees with him. Take care!
Karrie S says
This is one of the best salads I’ve ever tasted..
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
I’m so glad you liked it Karrie! It’s on my list of popular recipes to republish because we love it too. Thanks for taking the time to write such a nice note!
KAREN BECKER says
This salad looks delicious! Just wondering if it would be okay to leave out the cilantro in the dressing. I really don’t like the taste of it.
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Absolutely! I am one of those that cilantro tastes like soap to me! I used it to keep it authentic. Delete it, and it will still be great!
KAREN BECKER says
Great – thank you very much!
Kathleen says
Hi! I would love to try this but I can’t have the soy sauce. Any suggestions in terms of substitutions?
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Hi Kathleen! Try Coconut Aminos from Trader Joes. Little different taste but still yummy and similar to soy sauce but no soy.
Kathleen says
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to try it!!
Julie says
This looks great! How long do you think the dressing would keep in the refridgerater? I was thinking of making it ahead of time.
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Hi Julie – I’d say about 3 days. The peanut butter will keep it from separating. Hope you love it!
olivia says
Made this last night and yup, I could easily have finished off the dressing on its own, before it ever hit the salad.
Waaaay too delicious. I (eventually) poured it onto a cabbage/kale/pepper/radish/cilantro salad. Omitted the chicken since I was serving it with a couple of slabs of leftover quiche. Definitely making it again this weekend. And probably next week. And the one after that…..:) Thanks for the inspiration!
(Great cooking blog you have; I especially got a kick out of the blip about your daughter’s husband being the man of your dreams:))
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Oh my gosh you are so sweet Olivia! Thanks for taking the time to write such a nice note! That peanut dressing is my favorite dipping sauce too! I am so glad you liked it!
Lori says
Just made this for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. Great for a shower!!!. My daughter had me use tahini instead of peanut butter and it was still fabulous!!
Kathi @ LaughingSpatula.com says
Hi Lori! I am so glad you liked it, it’s still one of our favorite quick dinners around here. Love the idea of tahini…thats a real popular ingredient these days. Smart kiddo!
Debbie says
We loved it! The dressing is perfect. I would not change a thing.
Kathi Kirk says
Music to this bloggers ears! Thank you for the nice note!
Bridget says
This was seriously the best Thai chicken salad I’ve ever had. I could literally drink the dressing. Loved it!!
Dianne Conroy says
This was delicious! I made this for
Dinner tonight, creamy slightly sweet salty dressing .I sprinkled mine with
toasted sesame seeds. It was a hit. Will definitely make this again. Thanks
for sharing
Tennisbag says
This was fabulous! I threw in some edamame and avocado as well. Will definitely make this again.
Kathi Kirk says
Thank you! I’m so glad you liked it…the addition of avocado sounds wonderful!
Aimee says
Best peanut dressing!! I used Better than peanut butter….yummm
Kathi Kirk says
Thanks Aimee! I agree!
Goodiewiggins says
Oh my head!!! This was awesome!!! My hubby couldn’t stop eating it. He’s already asked me to make it again. I’m going to use the rest of the dressing to marinate some chicken in for tomorrow nights dinner. Thanks for the recipe.
Beth says
This was DELICIOUS! The sauce was fantastic, and in fact, I recommend 1.5’ing or doubling it. As written, the amount just lightly coated everything and it was a small tease of flavor. Perfect on a hot summer day! I precooked chicken breasts and just chopped them, used bagged cole slaw veggies (cabbage and carrots) and then added more carrots.
Kathi Kirk says
Hi Beth! I’m so glad you loved it and I agree….more sauce please! Thanks for your nice note!
Liz says
Oh my Lordy, this looks wonderful! I’ll be trying this soon!