With bright, crunchy veggies and a ridiculously tasty peanut sauce, this Thai-Inspired Peanut Chicken Salad will be a lunch that you’ll look forward to all morning long!
Table of Contents
- This recipe is…
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Thai Chicken Salad Recipe Ingredients
- Recipe Variations and Modifications
- How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
- Recipe Tips
- How to Serve Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
- How to Store
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Healthy Lunch Recipes
- Video
- Thai Peanut Chicken Salad Recipe
- Recipe Contributors
This recipe is…
We love make-ahead lunches around here: make a batch on a Sunday, and you’ll have multiple meals to help streamline the hectic work week ahead. But the biggest pitfall when it comes to meal-prepping veggie dishes is the dreaded soggy salad syndrome that turns fresh salad greens to lifeless mush after a couple days in the fridge.
That’s not the case with this Thai-Inspired chicken and veggie dish. It calls for sturdy veggies like cabbage, carrots, and bell peppers, which stay crisp for a few days in the fridge. Then, come lunch time, just toss them with a quick peanut dressing, and sprinkle crushed peanuts on top for extra crunch.
While this Thai-Inspired salad can absolutely be enjoyed on its own for two days worth of meal-prepped lunches, it was created to work in tandem with our Southwestern Quinoa Salad. Together — with just thirty minutes of prep, most of which is easy chopping + tossing — you’ll have an entire week of Cook Once, Eat All Week: Lunch Style salads (3 quinoa + 3 Thai). The duo is delicious for dinner too!
If you’re in the market for another delicious meal prep lunch recipe, this high protein bean salad is a great pick!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Only takes 15 minutes to whip up!
- Packed with flavor, color, and texture
- Easily to customize
- Created to pair with our Southwestern Quinoa Salad recipe: together, they’ll give you a full week’s worth of healthy and delicious lunches
Thai Chicken Salad Recipe Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to add to your grocery list so that you can whip up this Thai chicken salad. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Green and purple cabbage – the combo of two colorful and crunchy brassicas is the base of this veggie-packed dish.
- Carrots – a cup of shredded carrots adds sweetness and color
- Cucumber – diced cucumber gives refreshing flavor
- Red bell pepper – diced red (or yellow, or orange) bell peppers go into the mix
- Chicken – 2 cups of shredded chicken (about 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken or chicken thighs)
- Cilantro –roughly chopped cilantro adds bright herbal flavor
- Green onions – boost flavor and add more color
- Peanuts – 1/4 cup of crushed peanuts adds crunch to the finished dish
- Peanut butter – creamy natural peanut butter is the base of our super easy dressing
- Coconut aminos – 2 tablespoons of coconut aminos give the dressing depth
- Lime juice – adds a burst of citrus flavor
- Honey – just 2 teaspoons of honey sweetens and rounds out the dressing
- Sesame oil – adds toasty, nutty flavor
- Red pepper – a pinch of crushed red pepper gives just a little heat
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
- Dressing – this creamy and delicious peanut dressing is super quick to make. (All you need to do is blitz some pantry staples up in a blender.) But if you’d rather, feel free to sub in a store-bought variety. Just thin it with a little water or lime juice if it seems too thick to toss with the chicken and veggie mixture.
- Chicken – this recipe calls for 2 cups of rotisserie chicken. If you’d rather cook yours at home, follow our guide to making shredded chicken in the slow cooker or Instant Pot and save the extras for another meal.
- Herbs – if you’re not a fan of cilantro, swap in another fresh green herb. Thai basil can be hard to find at grocery stores, but its distinctive and authentically Thai flavor is worth seeking out for this dish if you can find it. Mint leaves also taste delicious in this dish: add the leaves whole, torn, or sliced.
How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
This is essentially a chop, shred, slice, blend, and toss situation…SO easy!
Step 1: for the peanut dressing, blend all ingredients until smooth.
Step 2: for the salad, add all ingredients but crushed peanuts to a large bowl.
Step 3: Toss to combine.
(*If you’re meal-prepping or planning to eat this dish later, leave the dressing on the side. Both elements will last for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.)
Step 4: when you’re ready to eat, drizzle the peanut dressing over top and toss again. Top with crushed peanuts and serve.
Recipe Tips
- Creamy v. crunchy: you can use either type of peanut butter for this recipe, although creamy with give you smoother results.
- Double up: make a double batch of this creamy peanut dressing to use as a veggie dip, or to toss with cooked noodles and fresh or cooked veggies.
How to Serve Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
If you’re serving this dish right away, toss the chicken-veggie mix with the dressing and top with crushed peanuts.
How to Store
The salads will save best (and stay super crunchy) stored in airtight containers in the fridge. To prevent a wilted, soggy salad, store the peanut dressing separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Like ours, most Thai chicken salad recipes are made up of crunchy shredded cabbage and tons of fresh, crunchy veggies – plus a little bit of extra crunch thanks to chopped peanuts or slivered almonds.
This meal prep recipe calls for two simple strategies to keep the ingredients crunchy. First, we use ingredients like cabbage and carrots as the base, which hold up better to storing and dressing than more delicate lettuces.
Thai salad dressing is typically made with a base of peanut butter that gets seasoned, and thinned out with other liquids like water and lime juice. Our recipe includes those core ingredients, plus honey, sesame oil, crushed red pepper flakes, and coconut aminos.
More Healthy Lunch Recipes
If you tried this Thai Peanut Chicken Salad, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Video
Thai Peanut Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 1 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage*
- 1 1/2 cups shredded purple cabbage*
- 1 cup shredded carrots*
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup diced cucumber
- 2 cups shredded chicken, from a rotisserie chicken or about 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions1/4 cup crushed peanuts, for garnish
For the Peanut Dressing:
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
- 2 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- For the peanut dressing: blend all ingredients until smooth.
- For the salad, add all ingredients but crushed peanuts to a large bowl and toss to combine, then drizzle the peanut dressing over top and toss again. Top with crushed peanuts and serve. If you are planning to eat later, leave the dressing on the side and pour it over when you are ready to eat so that the cabbage doesn’t get soggy. This will last for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
- You can use 4 cups of coleslaw blend in place of the shredded cabbage and carrots for this recipe!
- You can substitute sunbutter, almond butter, or cashew butter in place of the peanut butter, if desired.
- For a vegetarian salad, substitute the chicken with chickpeas, or another favorite vegetarian protein!
Nutrition
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I love this! Flavor, per usual, is great!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this with us, Katy!
Super easy to prep, the dressing is delicious (I used the little extra leftover to dip carrot and celery sticks!) and it’s portable. I’ll be enjoying my portions later this week at my son’s baseball tournament, easy to pop into the cooler and I love being able to have a healthy on-the-go option.
Wahoo! We’re so glad you love it!
Really tasty salad. I made it with almond butter (thats just what I had on hand) and I roasted Chickpeas as my protein. It was very filling and lots of flavor and color.
Crunchy, roasted chickpeas sound so fabulous in this salad – I’m going to try that the next time I make it! Thanks for sharing this with us, Mary!
This salad had all the flavor and crunch I was hoping for! I’ll definitely be making it again!
Awesome!! We’re so glad you loved it, Katie!
So good and so easy! Made this for my family of 6 (4 teenagers!) and there was not one bite left.
Score! That’s what we like to hear! Thanks for sharing this with us, Janine!
I loved the flavors as did the hubs. We’re planning on incorporating this into our meal rotation but so everyone can customize it. Like a salad bar!
Wahoo! Love that! We’re glad you guys enjoyed it!
This is the most fresh, tasty lunch I have made in a while! I made a double batch to feed my family and also to take over to friends who needed meals and everyone LOVED it. So colorful, full of flavor, and you feel good after eating it because you know it’s packed with healthy veggies.
So true! Thanks for sharing this with us, Desirae!
I just meal prepped this for the whole week! I typically stay away from meat at lunch and just like to take a loaded salad with all of the toppings, and this fit the bill! I took Cassie’s suggestion and utilized chickpeas for protein instead of the chicken, and then always add an over-easy egg on top for extra protein. The runny yolk is AMAZING with the peanut dressing. This will be a new staple!
That sounds SO delicious, Courtney! We’re so glad you love it and made it fit your needs!
This is SO DANG GOOD – I could put that peanut sauce on almost anything! We actually had this for dinner (with leftovers for the next day) but next time I’m prepping it this way for lunches! To make things even easier I got a bag of pre-shredded cabbage and carrots 🙂
That’s the way I do it also! And I totally agree about the dressing…it is DELICIOUS! Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Erinn!
I made this for my family. It was easy to put together and the dressing was amazing! Even my kids ate or. I will make this again. I think I will make a batch and take for lunches. Yummy!
Awesome!! So glad everyone loved it, Jolene!!
Easy, healthy, refreshing and delicious! Two of my guys work nights and my retired mom lives with us, making us a family of 6 over 14 years old! ☺️ My back has been really bothering me and causing severe limitations the past few weeks which has made my normal meal plan and prep difficult. I grabbed a rotisserie chicken for this one, and it was literally done in minutes! It’s a fresh twist for summer, but is a delicious meal to serve my family. I ended up using slightly more cabbage and chicken and doubled the dressing. It will easily feed all six of us!
Oh no!! I’m so glad these made things easier for you, Cindy!
LOVE a big hearty salad and could put this dressing on anything. Don’t be afraid of the peanuts!! Totally makes it.
I totally agree, Allie! So yummy!
This salad has so many textures of flavor and veggies!! We did add a bit of fresh grated ginger to the dressing recipe. This salad is a keeper for me for an easier dinner and much easier lunch prep for the week!
Great idea! So glad you love it, Robyn!
I LOVE this recipe! So easy to make and eat from all week long! It is on my regular rotation.
That’s so great to hear, Kelly! Thanks for sharing this with us!
I made this for today’s lunch and I’m good to go for two more lunches. The dressing is delicious. I was hesitant about peanut butter dressing on a salad, but man, was I wrong. I added edamame to my salad as well.
Edamame is a great addition!! We’re glad you enjoyed it, Jenny!