Need something a little different in your summer salad routine? Thai Chopped Chicken Salad might be just the thing. With a rainbow of crunch from peppers and peanuts, protein from tender shredded chicken, and a bit of sweet spice from peanut dressing, this salad is gluten-free and only 350 calories per serving.
What’s not to love?
We decided to shirk convention and book a lakeside getaway the weekend before Memorial Day. Take that all you crowded highways and overpriced hotels.
With visions of the wraparound deck at the house we rented, I’ve got summertime recipes on the brain. We plan to do little more cooking than throwing things on the grill and chopping veggies for salads. This one is in the running for favorite at the moment. Loaded with bright colors and tons of crunch, it’s even got a little sweetness from fresh mango.
I’m totally digging on chopped salads these days. They require a little extra time because you want to slice and dice all those ingredients into small, even(ish) pieces. But when tossed together with a flavorful dressing, you can spear a bit of everything on your fork.
And as much as I love a homemade Thai Peanut Sauce, the sweet and spicy dressing on this Thai Chopped Chicken Salad is just as good if you use store-bought Peanut Sauce (I like the Trader Joe’s and Thai Kitchen versions).
What about you sweet readers? Have something fun planned this weekend or next?
Thai Chopped Chicken Salad with Peanut Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salad:
- 2 heads Romaine Lettuce
- 2 Bell Peppers, any color, thinly sliced
- 1 Mango, sliced
- 1 cup Shredded Carrots
- 1/2 cup Roasted and Unsalted Peanuts
- 2 cups Cooked Shredded Chicken (I like to use store-bought rotisserie chicken)
Spicy Peanut Dressing:
- 4 Tbsp Thai Peanut Sauce (store-bought or homemade)
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tsp Honey
- 2 tsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 tsp Lime Juice
Instructions
- Finely chop the lettuce and slice peppers and mango into thin strips. Toss lettuce, peppers, mango, carrots, peanuts and chicken.
- Make the dressing by whisking together peanut sauce, oil, honey, vinegar and lime juice. Taste and adjust to your preference, adding a bit more honey if you'd like it more sweet or lime juice if you'd like it more tart.
- Just before serving, add half the dressing to the salad and toss well. Serve salad with remaining half of dressing on the side and add to your preference.
Nutrition
The only thing that seemed to save these rainy mornings we had all week were many, many books with Dad…
This looks delicious! And with the store bought dressing – totally do-able! Yum! Anytime you post a Thai dish, I’m all in!
Did you include the dressing in your calorie count? Seems like the salad would easily be 351 calories without that calorie dense dressing. Sounds delicious though!
Hi Laura! Yes – this calorie count includes dressing. It’s a surprisingly light salad, but one that I find really filling (my husband needs about 1.5 servings of this one). I use MyFitnessPal.com to verify all nutrition data on this site.
How many servings is this?
Hi Megan – this recipe easily serves 3-4.