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!
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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
- Red bell pepper – 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!
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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!
This is seriously so good! I had it for dinner last night and couldn’t get enough, so had it again for lunch today!
Score!! We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Shauna!
So delicious! Iโve tried making other salads like this and they never work out. This one was great! Thank you!
So glad to hear that, Dagny! Thanks for sharing this with us!
This salad is delicious! I prepped it for my lunches this week, and itโs so refreshing, especially in 100+ weather in Texas! I feel like it also gave me a good amount of veggies that I am lacking in my everyday diet! Thanks for this great recipe – it will be on repeat!
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for sharing this with us, Ashley!
Another winner winner chicken dinner! . This recipe was so easy and sooooo delish! Plus…my kids loved it, which is an added bonus . The dressing was just perfect and creamy. I bought a pre bagged slaw mix from whole food then added in bagged shredded carrots. I also made a double so we had extra the next day for lunch. The salad held up really nicely even stored with the dressing on the salad. Definitely a must make again meal!
Amazing! We’re so glad the whole family enjoyed it, Allison!
This salad will be on repeat for meal prep in my house. Iโve been eating it all week and has stayed fresh. And that peanut dressing I could drink it! I will probably
Delinks the dressing recipe next time because Iโm so obsessed.
Wahoo!! I agree – that peanut dressing is AMAZING!
Wow, this was fun! I have not made a Thai dish before! I wasnโt sure that I would like the combination of ingredients but was quite pleasantly surprised! You have challenged and stretched my cooking horizons. Thank you for all of the incredibly nutritious and fun recipes that you offer. Keep us going!
So awesome! We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Brenda!
I made this made this dish to bring for easy, veggie filled lunches while glamping this week. I love the addition of cucumber – so fresh! I’ll probably add an extra squeeze of lime the next time I portion out a bowl.
So fun! We’re glad you enjoyed these, Lauren!
So easy, delish and good for me!
Yeah!! So glad you love it, Jeanette!
I wish I could post a picture of my husband when he was eating this: Plate in one hand, shoveling food into his mouth with the other. He loved it (and so did I) I work as a pilot and am consequently always living out of a hotel room. Meal prep is important and finding recipes that hold their texture over several days is key! This recipe checks all the boxes.
Wow! Thanks so much, Kimberlee! We’re so glad you both loved this recipe – it’s definitely one of my very favorites!
This is perfect for hot summer days and is delicious! I canโt have peanuts so I subbed the peanut butter for almond butter and left off the peanut crumbs and I canโt imagine it tasting any better! The dressing is so good!
Yay! That’s awesome, Drianna! Thanks for sharing this with us!
This Thai Chicken Salad will be a regular at our homeโitโs absolutely delish! We prepped all the ingredients over the weekend, which made for an easy weeknight meal. All the crunchy textures & every bite of peanut dressing was a treatโfelt like a healthy entree that we could actually enjoy! With teen daughters, itโs hard to find something that they want to eat, but since they love peanut butter, all the vegetables suddenly became palatable-lol! We shredded our cabbage instead of just buying it shredded in a bag. Itโs so worth it, but does make a big mess. We substituted Dang Coconut Chips for peanuts & included a lime wedge. The dressing is amazing! Everything has kept well in the fridge, too. Itโs a great โlast all weekโ lunch option!
Iโm about to have a hysterectomy tomorrow so Iโve been busy stocking my freezer with meals that my family can enjoy while I recover. Your 1,000 Island Chicken Bake & Easy Chicken Enchiladas Casserole will be first on their menu, and Iโm looking forward to enjoying your Thai Chopped Chicken Salad again, too! My family appreciates all your healthy & delicious recipes so muchโthank you!!!
So amazing, Michelle!! Thank you for sharing this with us! Good luck with your surgery tomorrow!
I made this and LOVE it! It was so easy (I used cole slaw mix) and quick to make. The crunchy salad, tender chicken, and creamy peanut sauce make for a tasty lunch or supper.
We’re so glad you love it, Sue!!
I added a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar to the peanut sauce for a little more mmm. Next time I think I’ll use broth instead of water in the sauce and water it down a bit more, then just combine the sauce and chicken together. I always fiddle with recipes, though; this is a great and easy recipe for a light, delicious meal!
So glad you love it, Sarah! Thanks for sharing your tips!
Whipped this receive today. Super easy and canโt wait to eat it all week!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this with us, Esther!!
I made this for dinner tonight and it is wonderful! I love the fresh crunch of the salad and the dressing is so good! It is great for a summer dinner when you don’t want to turn on the oven or stove. I am definitely planning on making this for lunches when I go back to work. Thank you for this recipe!
I totally agree! Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Sam!