You have to try out this colorful, flavorful, and absolutely delicious Thai chicken salad recipe!
How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
Start with a 2 to 3 cups of your favorite leafy green (i.e. arugula, spring mix, spinach, romaine lettuce, baby kale) and toss it into a large mixing bowl. For my salad I chose arugula because of its peppery flavor.
Making Rice
Then, start preparing your rice, veggies and chicken. I chose white Jasmine rice and cooked 1 cup dry with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring the rice to a boil, then drop the heat to a simmer with a covered pot for about 10-minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed. Fluff the rice with a fork and set aside. If you are following a Paleo or Whole-30 diet, just remove the cooked rice from this recipe.
Flavor the Chicken
I bought organic chicken breast for this recipe. Dice it up into 1-inch cubes prior to cooking. After placing about a tablespoon of coconut oil into a pan, toss in the chicken and then add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and 1 heaping tablespoon of red curry paste. Feel free to flavor your chicken however you prefer. It will soak up plenty of the flavor from the Thai “peanut” dressing at the end of the recipe. If you are following a low-FODMAP diet, do not flavor the chicken with any garlic or onion ingredients.
Prep Veggies
Meanwhile, start getting your vegetables prepared. Dice up about 1/4 cup of red bell peppers and 1/4 cup of cucumbers. Thinly slice the onion and use a vegetable peeler to get thin carrot ribbons. If following a low-FODMAP diet, add extra carrots to this recipe to replace the onion.
Blend the Dressing
The grand finale of this salad is the delicious dressing you’ll use! Throw all of the ingredients into a blender and add additional oil as needed to thin out the dressing. Place the homemade dressing in a jar and you can use it throughout the week.
DIETS
This recipe complies with the following diets:
- Paleo – Yes – Just avoid the rice and use sunflower seed butter in place of peanut butter
- SCD – Yes, but avoid the rice
- Low FODMAP – Yes – Just add more carrots instead of using the onion and replace honey with maple syrup or cane sugar
- Grain Free – Yes, if you avoid adding the rice
- Gluten Free – Yes
- Dairy Free – Yes
- SIBO-Specific Diet –No
- Keto – No
NUTRITION FACTS
This recipe makes 1 salad and 4 servings of dressing (1 tbsp = 1 serving of dressing)
Each serving includes: 284 calories, 25 g carbohydrates, 32 g protein, 8 g fat, and 4 g fiber.
- 2 tablespoons of all natural creamy peanut butter or sunflower seed butter*
- 2 tablespoons of honey**
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon of coconut aminos
- Juice of 1 lime (about 3 tablespoons)
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped***
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 cups of raw leafy greens
- 1/2 cup diced, cooked chicken breast
- 1/4 cup shredded or ribboned carrots
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion***
- 1/4 cup diced cucumber
- 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup cooked Jasmine rice
- Combine all of the dressing ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. Store in a closed container for up to 1 week.
- Build the salad- in a large bowl add the greens, peppers, onion, carrots, cucumbers, diced chicken, and rice.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss well to combine.
- *Use sunflower seed butter if you are complying with a Paleo diet
- **Use cane sugar if you are complying with a low FODMAP diet
- ***Use garlic infused olive oil and avoid the onion if you are complying with a low FODMAP diet
