Our Thai chopped salad is loaded with healthy veggies, shredded chicken, and the best healthy peanut salad dressing you’ll ever taste! A terrific meal prep lunch that’s 344 calories per serving comes together in just 20 minutes. It’s a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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I don’t know about you, but whenever I go to buy a premade salad at the grocery store such as Trader Joe’s or order a main dish salad in a restaurant, it’s almost always a Thai chicken salad with a peanut dressing. Now you can make that popular salad at home for cheaper, plus it’s even healthier! We skip the crunchy noodles to lighten things up and you won’t miss them one bit.
We highly recommend that you serve the Thai chopped salad with our 52 calorie 15-minute low carb egg drop soup!
And if you on the lookout for more shredded chicken salad recipes, you’ll also love our shredded chicken salad with cranberries or our BBQ chicken sweet potato bowls.
Ingredient Notes
The Thai chicken peanut salad comes together in just 20 minutes with a little help from our supermarket friends! We love to purchase pre-shredded veggies, and we even bought pre-cooked chicken.
SALAD
shredded green cabbage & shredded purple cabbage – the 2 colors of cabbage is really for color, you can just use one variety for simplicity and cost. We also love to use the pre-shredded coleslaw mix (without dressing) which also includes shredded carrots.
shredded carrots – we purchased pre-shredded carrots
red bell pepper – a different color such as green, yellow, or orange can be swapped
cucumber
1 lb shredded chicken (from a rotisserie chicken or precooked Trader Joe’s chicken slices). If you prefer to cook your own chicken at home, we can help you with that!
chopped fresh cilantro
green onions
crushed peanuts -to garnish the salad
DRESSING
natural peanut butter – peanut butter made without added sugar
coconut aminos or wheat-free tamari – you can use soy sauce as a substitute if you aren’t eating gluten-free.
fresh lime juice – do not substitute concentrate, fresh is best!
rice vinegar – not rice wine vinegar!
sweetener (honey, agave, or monk fruit – to taste)
sesame oil
ginger paste – we love the frozen ginger paste cubes
red pepper flakes– feel free to turn up the heat even more
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Diet Adaptions
- Vegan– you can leave the chicken out of the salad for a Thai chopped salad side dish or you can use cooked seitan instead. Also swap the honey for coconut sugar, maple syrup, or agave nectar.
- Gluten Free– the recipe is naturally gluten-free as long as you use wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos and not soy sauce in the dressing
- Keto/Low carb– To lower the carbs, reduce or eliminate the carrots from the salad and use monk fruit or erythritol to taste in the dressing instead of honey to reduce the carbs from the 16 net carbs stated in the recipe card.
How to Make Thai Chicken Peanut Salad
There are just three basic steps when making our Thai chopped salad recipe: make the dressing, chop and slice the veggies, and assemble it all together. Easy peasy!
Make the Dressing
To make the dressing, in a small bowl combine the peanut butter, coconut aminos, lime juice, rice vinegar, sweetener, sesame oil, ginger paste, and red pepper flakes. Add 3-4 Tbsp of water to thin out the dressing to the preferred consistency.
Assemble the Salad
In a large bowl, toss the cabbages, carrots, red bell pepper, cucumber, chicken, cilantro, and green onions. If you’re serving the salad immediately, add the salad dressing and garnish the finished dish with chopped cilantro and crushed peanuts.
To Meal Prep
If you’re eating the Thai peanut salad as a meal prep lunch, store the dressing separately in a small dish. The salad itself will keep for 3 days in the fridge.
The recipe in total makes 12 cups of salad, each serving is 6 cups at 344 calories per esrving. The calories in the recipe card allow for 2 Tbsp of dressing per person as a light coat, if you have extra calories 3 Tbsp of dressing is terrific too.
Recipe Tips
- Instead of slicing two kinds of cabbage and shredding carrots, simply buy a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix that’s 5 cups of salad.
- For simplicity, we used the sliced roast chicken slices from Trader Joe’s and highly recommend them! They’re healthier and less salty than rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken also works of course or you can boil chicken breasts in chicken broth and slice the chicken yourself.
- The recipe makes a total of 12 cups of salad and 1 cup of dressing. Per serving is 2 cups of salad and 2-3 Tbsp of dressing.
Common Questions
The Thai chopped salad with chicken will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge. We recommend storing the sauce separately so the salad doesn’t get soggy.
More Shredded Chicken Salad Recipes
- Chicken salad with cranberries
- BBQ chicken sweet potato bowls
- Chicken taco salad
- Greek salad bowl with chicken
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Thai Chopped Salad with Chicken
O๏ปฟur Thai chopped chicken salad is loaded with healthy veggies, shredded chicken, and the best healthy peanut salad dressing you'll ever taste! A terrific meal prep lunch that's 344 calories per serving that comes together in just 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- SALAD
- 2 cups shredded green cabbage
- 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 lb shredded chicken (from a rotisserie chicken or precooked Trader Joes chicken slices)
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 sliced green onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
- DRESSING
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 4 Tbsp coconut aminos or wheat free tamari
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sweeter (honey, agave, or monk fruit (to taste))
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- To make the dressing, in a small bowl combine the peanut butter, coconut aminos, lime juice, rice vinegar, sweetener, sesame oil, ginger paste, and red pepper flakes. Add 3-4 Tbsp of water to thin out the dressing to the preferred consistency.
- In a large bowl, toss the cabbages, carrots, red bell pepper, cucumber, chicken, cilantro, and green onions. If you're serving the salad immediately, add the salad dressing and garnish the finished dish with chopped cilantro and crushed peanuts. If you're eating the Thai peanut salad as a meal prep lunch, store the dressing separately.
Notes
Instead of slicing two kinds of cabbage and shredding carrots, simply buy a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix that's 5 cups of salad.
F๏ปฟor simplicity, we used the sliced roast chicken slices from Trader Joe's and highly recommend them! They're healthier and less salty than a rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken also works of course or you can boil chicken breasts in chicken broth and slice the chicken yourself.
The recipe makes a total of 12 cups of salad and 1 cup of dressing. Per serving is 2 cups of salad and 2-3 Tbsp of dressing.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 344Total Fat 18.8gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13.9gCholesterol 58mgSodium 581mgCarbohydrates 26.5gNet Carbohydrates 16.5gFiber 10gSugar 9gProtein 33g
The nutrional information is just an estimate and was calculated by an automated calculator. If you're on a restricted health program please manually calculate this information using the brands of ingredients you have since brands can vary.
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