Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing

This is a light main dish salad that’s loaded with flavor, and is easily made with kitchen shortcuts like a rotisserie chicken, and pre-packaged vegetables. The homemade peanut dressing brings it all together with a distinct Thai-style flavor. It’s a sweet and savory combo with loads of texture, and has similarities to this cold Asian noodle salad with peanut sauce.

This is a recipe you’ll reach for again and again when entertaining. I made it for a spring ladies luncheon menu and it was a huge hit! It also works really well for a bridesmaids luncheon as it’s easy to scale up as needed.

Take this dish to a potluck party, a church group gathering, or to a new mom so she doesn’t have to cook. Serve it all summer when you have no desire to turn on a hot stove or oven.

Ingredient Notes

• Cabbage. Use a bagged slaw mix to save time and energy. I prefer the tri-color mix with purple cabbage and carrots included. Of course you can cut a head of cabbage yourself if you want.
• Cooked Chicken. Purchase a rotisserie chicken to use instead of cooking the chicken breasts your self. Otherwise you can poach or bake 2 chicken breasts and cut them in bite-size strips. Substitute with large cooked shrimp, or edamame for a vegetarian take.
• Carrots. Use a package of pre-shredded matchstick carrots. 
• Red Bell Pepper. The red ones have a subtle sweetness that works here. You could substitute yellow bell peppers if you want, but I don’t recommend the green ones – they’re not quite as sweet as red or yellow.
• Green Onion. They give you a mild onion taste without the pungency. I use the green part only.
• Mango. Use fresh if you like, but you can also use frozen mango chunks without losing any quality in the ingredient. For slightly different flavor substitute canned mandarin oranges or pineapple, drained.
• Avocado. Select avocados that are firm but not hard when you squeeze it lightly.
• Peanuts. Dry roasted or cocktail peanuts, either salted or unsalted will work just fine. Try cashews or pistachios as an alternative.
• Cilantro. Add this as a topping when you’re ready to serve. Some people can’t eat it so you may want to serve it on the side and let guests top their own. Substitute with flat leaf parsley if you want.

Peanut Dressing 

• Sesame Oil. Find this in the Asian ingredients aisle. It’s a condiment, not a cooking oil, and adds so much flavor.
• Lime Juice. Fresh squeezed is best and so simple to do with a citrus press tool.

How to Make It

The recipe is simple. Just mix the main salad ingredients together, toss with dressing, and fold in fresh toppings before serving.

1. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together until well blended, then pour it over the salad ingredients and combine well.
2. Fold in toppings when ready to serve.

Storage

Make it a couple of hours ahead and refrigerate until ready to serve.

For leftovers, cover or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 2 days. After that it can lose its crunchy texture, and become watery.

PARTY TIP: Divide the salad in half and mix chicken into one and shelled edamame in the other for a vegetarian version.

PARTY TIP: Make it the night before and add the avocado, mango, nuts, and cilantro just before serving.

What to Serve It With

Create a light luncheon menu with cheesy puff pastry skewers and a party cheese board in the center of the table.

For fall, serve it with butternut squash soup as a starter, and pair the salad with parmesan and rosemary savory bread pudding. Indulge in this showstopping pineapple white layer cake for dessert.

I hope you love this Thai chicken salad recipe as much as we do. It’s such an easy and delicious entrée for luncheons and dinner parties.