This Thai Chicken Salad is filled with all kinds of delicious Thai flavors and is topped with an easy peanut sauce. This is a hearty main dish salad full of flavor.
Love Thai flavors? Also check out these Thai Peanut Noodles, this Buddha Bowl with Thai Chicken, or this Spicy Thai Chicken.
One of our favorite dinners are salads. We will often just do a big salad bar so everyone can have what they want, but I do also love to make up big salad and everyone goes to town.
This Thai Chicken Salad is one of our favorites. It’s hearty and filling enough for dinner, yet still helps with that salad craving. And there is so much flavor – your tastebuds will definitely be satisfied!
Ingredients
Yes – the ingredient list on this salad is long, but don’t get overwhelmed. It really doesn’t take that long to throw together. The chopping is the longest part!
The Chicken: I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you could also use thighs. The marinade is simple – comprised of rice vinegar, oil, sugar, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice.
The Dressing: For the dressing you need rice vinegar, Thai sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, and a little bit of sugar. Make sure you add salt to taste, as well
The Salad: This is more of a guideline – feel free to swap in some of your favorite veggies here. I use romaine lettuce, Napa cabbage, red cabbage, cucumber, edamame, carrots, bell pepper, and green onions.
The Peanut Sauce: I have another peanut sauce recipe that I love, but this one is a little different. And it has less ingredients, so it comes together really quickly. You’ll need peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Thai sweet chili sauce, an oil. Feel free to use natural peanut butter or commercial peanut butter.
How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
PHOTO 1: Combine the chicken with the marinade in a ziplock bag and refrigerate it for 4-8 hours. I don’t really like to go longer than that because the lime juice will start to break down the chicken and give it a weird texture.
PHOTO 2: Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and bake until cooked through. (You can also grill it – you get great flavor this way!) Once it is cooked, you can dice it or shred it.
PHOTO 3: Make the dressing by simply mixing all of the ingredients together. I like to do this in a jar with a lid, then all you have to do is shake.
PHOTO 4: Make the peanut sauce by whisking everything together.
PHOTO 5: Combine the romaine, both cabbages, cucumber, edamame, carrots, bell pepper, and green onions in a large bowl. Make sure it is really big – this makes a good amount of salad.
PHOTO 6: Pour the dressing over the salad and mix to combine.
PHOTO 7: Add in your chicken. I like to do this after I’ve adding the dressing to make sure the chicken doesn’t soak up the dressing.
PHOTO 8: Dish up the salad, then add on some peanut sauce, peanuts, and cilantro to each bowl.
Tips and Tricks
Save time and use some rotisserie chicken, or pre-made cooked, shredded chicken.
I like to serve the peanut sauce on the side so that people can add it if they want. It’s a must for me, but my husband doesn’t care for peanut sauce so he skips it.
I will sometimes add some sriracha to the peanut sauce or to the top of the salad if I’m feeling like some spice.
All of the components for this salad can be made ahead of time and then assembled when it’s time to eat.
Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator. It does get soggy, but should be ok to eat for 24 hours after it is made.
More Thai Inspired Recipes
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Thai Beef Salad
Sweet Thai Chicken Wings
Thai Tacos with Lime Cilantro Slaw
Thai Chicken Wraps with Spicy Peanut Sauce
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Thai Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
- juice of 1 lime
- dash of salt
- 8-12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salad
- 4 cups chopped romaine
- 2 cups chopped napa cabbage
- 2 cups chopped red cabbage
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 cup edamame cooked
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- peanuts for topping
Dressing
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons Thai sweet red chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Peanut Sauce
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Thai sweet red chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
For the chicken:
- In a ziptop bag, combine all of the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken breast. Marinate for 4 to 8 hours.
- Heat the oven to 350F. Discard the marinade place the chicken breast in a baking dish. Bake until the internal temperature is 165, about 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle, shred or cut into small pieces.
For the dressing:
- Combine all dressing ingredients and whisk well to combine. Pour over the salad and stir to coat the whole salad.
For the salad:
- In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir to coat the whole salad. Stir in the chicken
For the peanut sauce:
- In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili sauce. Slowly whisk in the vegetable oil until the sauce comes together. Drizzle over the salad to serve. Top with peanuts, if desired.
Pamela says
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. I’ve eaten it 3 days in a row! The only changes I made were to use coleslaw mix instead of cabbages, and I used red onion, and chopped roasted almonds. Really good.
Deborah says
I’m so glad you loved it – and your changes sound wonderful!
Erin @ Miss Scrambled Egg says
I made this tonight for dinner along side a stir fry. This is the best tasting salad that I’ve had in a long time. The flavors pair so beautifully together.
Deborah says
I’m so glad you loved it! 🙂
Madeline // Style Me Thrifty says
Yum! I made this for dinner — my husband and I both agreed this recipe is a keeper and will be added to our dinner rotation. Totally delish, healthy, and satisfying! I couldn’t find sweet chile sauce so I substituted Sriracha Chile Garlic Sauce (using a bit less). I liked the little kick. We ended up combining the dressing & peanut sauce into one container for leftovers tonight — any reason you have these separate and not as one sauce? Thanks for a great recipe!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Madeline!! I adore this salad. I kept the dressing and the sauce separate because my husband doesn’t care for peanut sauce so it made it easier for each of us to customize our salads. You could definitely combine them!
Joann Knight says
I can’t believe it! My two favorite items from Panera (the Thai Chicken Salad, and the Butternut Squash soup) and you’ve got them both. I was actually looking for a recipe for the peanut sauce they put on the salads; that’s how I found your site. Thank you so much!
Deborah says
I’m so glad you found me! I hope you love them both!
Susan says
I made this today. It was delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
Natalie says
Made this tonight and it was a HUGE hit. Nothing leftover. Thanks for this amazing recipe!
Gwen says
That’s so funny, when I was pregnant I couldn’t choke down a salad… and I loooveee salad! This looks so dang good, especially the dressings! Pinning this and can’t wait to make and devour!
Vera says
I made this the other night for diner – it was excellent!!!
pamela says
thank you for including a photo of the dish when the recipe is printed! excited to try this thai salad, and the wontons, too!