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Dinner party, lunch meal-prep, and family-friendly, this Big Batch Thai Pork Salad is a healthy, easy way to get a flavorful meal on the table.
This Big Batch Thai Pork Salad is the answer to a number of questions:
- What can I serve at my dinner party next week?
- How can I mix up our family dinner this week?
- What can I meal prep for my grab-and-go lunch for work this week?
This salad is one of big flavors and many possibilities. The pork is made possible (and dang delicious) by way of a very special dry rub. In an effort to speed up my food prep efforts, I cooked the pork in my Instant Pot. Note that you can also cook it in a dutch oven or even a slow cooker. If you choose either of those two, just cook until the meat starts to fall apart.
The Big Batch Thai Pork Salad base is a refreshing mixture of crisp lettuce, carrots that I sliced into small ribbons with a potato peeler, refreshing cucumbers, mint, cilantro, fresh lime, and hot peppers. When combined with the pork, it’s good …but when combined with this dressing, it’s EPIC. I’m not kidding when I tell you that this dressing is one of the most delicious creations to ever come out of my kitchen. I made extra so I could drizzle it over rice and chicken for days. The dressing is made with a base of thai curry paste that I thinned with a number of tasty ingredients, but namely a good amount of fresh lime juice. If you love thai flavors, you will ADORE this dressing.
I hope you love this Big Batch Thai Pork Salad as much as I do! Feel free to make it your own with your favorite mix of fresh veggies. If you’re looking for more big batch salad inspiration, you might also like this Salmon Nicoise Salad for a similar feel!
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 2 pound pork roast may use shoulder, loin, or sirloin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 1/2 cup water
For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup red curry paste
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon honey omit for Whole 30
For the salad:
- 2 small heads romaine lettuce chopped
- 1/2 cucumber thinly sliced
- 2 carrots shredded with a potato peeler
- handful fresh mint
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 red chili peppers thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds for garnish
- 2 limes cut into quarters
Instructions
For the Pork:
- Set Instant Pot to 'Saute' mode and melt 2 Tablespoons of ghee in the pan.
- Cut pork roast into 2 inch pieces. In a small bowl, combine salt, Chinese five spice, and garlic powder. Rub pork roast with the seasoning mixture.
- Once the ghee has melted, add pork to Instant Pot and sear for 3-4 minutes per side, making sure not to overcrowd the pan.
- Once pork is browned, add water, press the 'cancel' button and then press the 'manual' button and set to 75 minutes. Confirm that pressure valve is set to 'sealed.'
- Once 75 minutes is up, manually release the pressure by carefully setting the pressure valve to 'venting.'
- Add pork to large bowl and shred with two forks.
For the dressing:
- Combine all dressing ingredients with a whisk until fully combined. Note: leftover dressing will keep refrigerated (stored separate from the salad) for up to 2 weeks.
For the salad:
- For a plate-your-own setting: plate the lettuce on a large platter next to the cucumbers, shredded carrots, cucumber slices, fresh mint, chopped cilantro, chili peppers, and lime slices. Serve along side a bowl of the shredded pork, white sesame seeds, and dressing. Encourage your guests to make a salad to their own liking!
- For a pre-made setting: plate the salad ingredients together and top with the shredded pork. Drizzle the dressing on top and garnish with the white sesame seeds.
Lilly says
I made this today, first time making pork, just never grew up eating it other than pepperoni. I also used my pressure cooker for the first time, so a night of many firsts 🙂 I meal prepped this for my lunches this week but the dressing and pork are delicious!! Can’t wait to put it all together tomorrow for lunch!
Cassy says
That is so awesome, Lilly! I hope you love it!
Beth says
How did you shred the carrots so fine?
Cait C says
This looks fantastic, but I can’t eat pork 🙁 Do you think chicken breasts/thighs would work? Also, what thai curry paste do you recommend? Thank you so much for your delicious recipes!
Sarah Mayer says
If I only have a crockpot, how would I cook this recipe?
Katie says
THIS. SALAD. Omg Cassy. SO good! My husband was not looking forward to a salad for lunch but this blew him away. I ended up eating the leftovers in Siete tortillas topped with some mircogreens and I’m thinking this meal will have to work its way into our regular rotation.
Tip when making: don’t skimp on the mint or cilantro!
Amber Goulden says
So glad you enjoyed it! It is one of our favorites, I mean, that dressing is everything!
T Umizoomi says
How can we do this in a slow cooker?
Kelsey says
I could see this as a great option to serve for a summer luncheon with maybe a glass of white wine. I will retry this dish in a couple of months when I am in full salad mode and want a meal that is bright and light. This is defiantly a full flavor meal between the jalapeno, curry dressing, and herbs.
I made this to take for lunch this week at work. The salad is good but I not as excited about it as some of the other recipes that I have tried here. But it is also still winter here and normally below freezing where I live. I thought the warmed pork would help with the wanting a hot meal in the winter but also being health conscious. I did have to thin the salad dressing out as well. Following the instructions I thought it was too thick for my preference.