Thai Chicken Salad

Say goodbye to boring salads! This Thai Chicken Salad is chock-full of crunchy cabbage, kale, carrots, green onions, edamame, and juicy chicken, all topped off with a scrumptious, easy-to-make peanut/soy/lime dressing.

Looking for more fresh salads? Be sure to try the Best Simple Tossed Green Salad, Copycat Olive Garden Salad, and Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad.

Make one of those everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salads but give it a little zing and make it Thai-inspired. That’s right, that was basically my entire thought process behind this Asian chicken salad. Take all the crunchy, healthy lettuce, two kinds of cabbage, kale, edamame, green onions, carrots, and more and top it off with sliced chicken and a to-die-for simple peanut dressing. Do not sleep on this delicious recipe! Somehow light and hearty at the same time, you’ll want to make it again and again! 

Here’s How You Make It 

1. First, get out a large bowl and to it add the lettuce, kale, cabbage, green onions, edamame, cilantro, carrots, bell peppers, chicken, and wonton strips.
2. Next, in a food processor or blender, combine all of the dressing ingredients and pulse for about 20-30 seconds. Then, add water to the peanut dressing just 1 tablespoon at a time to thin (pulsing in between adds) as needed. Pour this dressing right on over the salad and toss just before serving.

Why This Recipe Works

All the greens — Not just lettuce in this Asian salad, no sir. This one is coming to you with a hardy green leaf (or romaine), both green and red cabbage (perfect amount of crunch), and kale. All the textures are awesome and varying your greens is great for your body too. 

Peanut dressing — To get the perfect depth of flavor in this peanut dressing, you need to mix quite a few ingredients. But don’t be put off by the longish list of needs for the dressing. It really does take no time to add a bit of that, a dash of this, and shake or blend to combine. Make it once and you’ll want to make this dressing for Thai salad again and again.  

Colorful — Eat the rainbow, they say. Well, friends, the rainbow is just a couple slices and dices of veggies away with this Asian chicken salad. 

So easy — It really only takes 15 minutes to put together this delicious, nutritious 

Thai salad with peanut dressing. It’s so easy, you’ll want it on at least a semi-monthly rotation! 

Ideas for Customizing this Recipe 

The great thing about this Thai salad is that it’s so very easily customizable. Check out these tips:

• Use whatever lettuce you have on hand or enjoy eating. Or use bagged lettuce — it’s up to you!
• If you’re not a kale fan, skip adding the kale or substitute with fresh spinach. 
• You can also purchase pre-sliced carrots and peppers to shave off more time off of this already quick recipe. 
• Skip the edamame if you don’t have it and instead use another veggie you like or a hardy bean like chickpeas. 
• For additional crunch, top the salad with chopped peanuts instead of or in addition to the wonton strips. 
• No wonton strips? Skip them or add a crunch from tortilla strips/chips. 
• Bottled dressings are fine on this salad too. I like to use an Asian vinaigrette or another Asian-flavored dressing on top of this Asian chicken salad. 
• Speaking of chicken, if you don’t want to add the chicken, you can skip it or add another protein (baked salmon would also be amazing!)

Is Fish Sauce Good on Salad? 

You may have glimpsed fish sauce as an ingredient in the dressing for this Asian salad and thought — gross, fish sauce? In a salad dressing? But don’t worry, fish sauce is a great ingredient in this peanut dressing. Why? Well, because it’s very flavorful. It tastes equal bits salty and fishy. It balances out the flavors of dressings and sauces when used with other ingredients like soy sauce, lime juice, etc. 

If you’re still on the fence about it, my advice is to make the dressing without the fish sauce first, try it, then add the fish sauce and try the dressing and see which version you prefer more. 

Expert Tips 

• Don’t dress this salad until right before you’re going to eat it or it will run the risk of getting soggy too quickly. 
• The dressing will keep in the mason jar for up to a week. Be sure to shake or whisk before using to combine any settled ingredients. 
• Slice the cabbage into very thin pieces so that you can eat it without cutting your salad. 
• Carrot matchsticks work well in this Thai salad but you could also use carrot dices or thin sliced rounds. 

More Recipes Like This

For more healthy Asian recipes, check out my popular blog posts for Chopped Asian Salad, Best Ever Baked Teriyaki Chicken, and Asian Kale Salad with Creamy Peanut Dressing.

• Chicken Pad Thai
• Portillos Famous Chopped Salad
• Corn Salad
• Baked Thai Pineapple Salmon

If you make this tasty Thai-inspired salad, please come back and let me know what you think by leaving a comment and rating the recipe! And be sure to snap a photo and email it or tag me on social media, I love connecting with you and seeing your CDLC creations!