Thai Chicken Salad

If you’re looking for a quick, fresh, and flavor-packed Thai chicken salad, this easy recipe is about to become a staple in your kitchen. Made with tender grilled chicken, crisp vegetables, and a bright, zippy ginger-garlic dressing, this healthy Thai chicken salad comes together in just 15 minutes—making it perfect for busy weeknights, meal prep lunches, or light summer dinners. Packed with crunch from broccoli slaw and peanuts and loaded with bold Thai-inspired flavors, this simple salad is a delicious way to get a wholesome, protein-packed meal on the table fast.

Why I love this salad so much

Today I’m going to share my new favorite salad! The inspiration for this salad came from a Pampered Chef party. Pampered Chef always has such great semi-homemade meal hacks. I could eat this salad everyday, or at least once a week.  I even pushed the limits with my kids recently and served it to them for dinner! Mind blowing. I know! I separated everything out and let them make it how they wanted.  My littlest just ate chicken and dipped it in the dressing, she might have snagged a couple red peppers too.  My older two loved it.  The middle picky child ate some of the chicken and kept his mouth shut. So I love that this salad is easy to deconstruct and let everyone have it their way. Or you can put it together and serve it as a side salad. Or you can add chicken or shrimp or any protein really and make it a meal. Also the dressing its so good. You can make my homemade poppyseed dressing or use your favorite bottled poppyseed salad dressing and add the garlic and ginger to it. Also there is no limit to the amount of ginger. I usually put more that one tablespoon in. So to sum it up versatility is what I love most about this salad. Go forth and make your Thai Salad.

Gather these ingredients

This easy Thai chicken salad uses simple, fresh ingredients that come together for big flavor.

This combination gives you that signature Thai-inspired sweet, savory, and slightly tangy flavor without needing a long list of specialty ingredients.

How to make Thai Chicken Salad

Wash and prep all your ingredients. Bake chicken breasts: I like to simply drizzle a bakinh sheet with olive oil, place chicken breasts on oiled baking sheet sprinkle them with salt and pepper and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast is 160. Remove and tent with aluminum foil. This allows them to continue cooking without getting overdone and dried out. Chop, slice, or shred your cooked chicken.

Add mixed greens and baby spinach to salad bowl. I like to buy the already washed from Earth Bound in the winter and in the summer I get it from the farmers market.

Next add the broccoli slaw, the one I buy comes with carrots. If you cannot find broccoli slaw with carrots I highly recommend that you you add thinly sliced or julienned carrots to the salad.

Add thinly sliced red bell pepper, cucumbers, and red cabbage. You can just throw them all together or you can do like me and try to be fancy.

Now grate ginger, and garlic cloves and add them to your poppyseed dressing. If I have time I make the poppyseed dressing from this salad and add the ginger and garlic. Stir together the dressing ingredients until smooth.

If I do not I have time I just open a bottle of my favorite poppyseed dressing and add the ginger and garlic to it. You can pour it into a separate jar or add it right to the jar it came in.

Pro Tip: I always keep ginger root in a zip-loc freezer bag in my freezer. When ginger root is frozen it is much easier to grate. Also ginger lasts so much longer in the freezer than in your vegetable drawer, no more throwing away old dried out ginger root.

That’s it—a fresh, healthy chicken salad in under 15 minutes. You can chop your peanuts or not. Or leave them off if there are allergies. I like to add basil to this salad but cilantro is also delicious. You can add it at the end or you can toss it right in with the greens.

See above how I bake my chicken breasts. Grilled is also perfect for this salad.

Tips for the best Thai Chicken Salad

• Use rotisserie chicken to save time and add extra flavor
• Don’t overdress the salad—start light and add more as needed
• Chop everything evenly for the best texture in every bite
• Add the peanuts last to keep them crunchy

Easy Substitutions for this salad

One of the best things about this salad is how customizable it is! You can easily adapt this to fit what you have on hand or your dietary needs.

• Use shredded rotisserie chicken, instead of baking or grilling your own.
• Swap the chicken for tofu, or shrimp.
• Swap the poppyseed dressing for peanut dressing.
• Add any extra veggies that you like. I love to add snap peas, larger pieces of broccoli, and thinly sliced celery. All add crunch and nutritional value to this salad.

How to serve Thai Chicken Salad

It’s especially perfect for summer gatherings, meal prep, or light dinners when you don’t want something heavy. This salad works in so many ways:

• As a standalone healthy meal
• Wrapped in lettuce cups
• Served in a tortilla as a wrap
• As a side dish for grilled meats

There you have it! Thai Chicken Salad is simple, quick, and easy! And healthy!  Let’s not forget that.  Great for lunch or dinner.  Don’t be afraid to make this your own, use what vegetables you have on hand!

If you make this Thai chicken salad, I’d love to hear what you think! Be sure to leave a rating on the recipe card below—it helps others find and love this recipe too. And if it’s a hit in your kitchen, don’t forget to save it to your Pinterest board so you can come back to it again and again. I always love seeing your creations, so feel free to share and tag me on social media when you make it! From my table to yours with love, Sheila

Thai Chicken Salad

Sheila

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 12 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine healthy

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

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Dressing

• 1 jar Poppy Seed Dressing any will do
• 2 cloves Garlic minced
• 1 inch Ginger Root minced

Salad

• 1 – 12 ounce bag Baby Spinach washed
• 1 – 12 ounce bag Broccoli Slaw
• 1 Red Pepper seeded, cored, sliced thin
• 4 Chicken Breasts grilled or cooked to your liking, sliced into strips or cut into bite sized chunks
• 1/2 cup Peanuts or Toasted Slivered Almonds
• Optional: match stick carrots, sliced cucumber, chopped basil

Instructions

 

• Mix dressing ingredients together, set aside.
• In large bowl, or platter layer spinach, broccoli slaw, red pepper and any other vegetables you would like. Top with chicken and nuts. Toss dressing with salad and serve or serve dressing on the side.

Keyword easy meal, garlic, ginger, healthy, red bell pepper, salad, spinach

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