(This Thai Chicken Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing recipe is found on Wendy Polisi’s site here.)
Step by Step Instructions:
Get ready for a delightful Thai Chicken Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing! Here’s what you’ll need: 1 pound of boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, Honey, Coconut Oil, 3 Carrots (grated – I used the large holes of my box grater), 4 cups of shredded Napa Cabbage, Extra-virgin Olive Oil, Fish Sauce, 1 small Red Onion chopped finely, 1 Red Pepper chopped in small pieces, 1/4 cup of chopped Basil, 2 Scallions chopped, 1/4 cup of chopped Cilantro, 2 Limes (1 for the dressing and 1 for serving), 1/4 cup of toasted and chopped Cashews (peanuts would work too), 1 Garlic clove, 1-inch piece of fresh Ginger peeled, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes.
Begin by prepping all of your veggies. As you can see in the picture of my ingredients, I did a lot of chopping ahead of time. One of the final pieces was to mince a clove of garlic so I’d have about a teaspoon (hey a little extra never hurt anyone but vampires!).
Time to cook the chicken, so heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add a tablespoon of coconut oil to it.
Then add the red onions and garlic to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes or until they start to get tender.
Then add your chicken breasts to the pan, and sauté until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Cut into the thickest part of each breast to make sure they are fully cooked. I get a bit paranoid about chicken, so I cooked mine for at least 12 minutes.
You continue to flip the chicken every few minutes until it’s cooked through.
While the chicken cooks, whisk up the dressing. In a medium-sized bowl add 4 tablespoons of fresh lime juice (about 1 juicy lime), 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 1 inch of fresh ginger grated finely with a microplane grater.
Then whisk it up.
Slowly add 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to the dressing and whisk until completely combined.
Add enough honey to taste. So I started with about a teaspoon and tasted and adjusted as it was necessary. Then set the dressing aside until you’re ready for it.
Here’s the chicken fully cooked, while it’s cooling on a plate. One thing to note is that I tossed all of the ginger and onions and scraped them off. They were awesome for adding tons of flavor to the chicken, but you don’t need them in the salad as they’ll get pretty dark as the chicken cooks.
Then shred the chicken using your preferred method. My hands are my favorite tools for this, so feel free to get your hands in there!
Finally the time’s come to put together the Thai Chicken Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing! In a very large bowl add 4 cups of shredded Napa cabbage, 3 grated carrots, 1 red pepper diced into small pieces, 2 scallions sliced, and chopped basil and cilantro (about 1/4 cup of each).
Then add the shredded chicken to the bowl and pour the dressing over the top.
Then fold all of the ingredients together so that the salad is well mixed and the dressing coats the ingredients.Finally top it with some extra chopped basil and cilantro, the chopped cashews, and a couple of lime wedges to add a bit of lime juice. And that’s it! Serve the Thai Chicken Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing right away. This recipe makes a ton of Thai Chicken Salad, and I’m happy to report that the leftovers are fantastic. Hope you enjoy & happy salad eating!!
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- Small Red Onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced Garlic
- 1 pound boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- 4 tablespoons Lime Juice (about the juice of 1 juicy lime)
- 3 tablespoons Fish Sauce
- 1 inch piece Fresh Ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Honey, to taste (at least 1 teaspoon)
- 3 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 cups shredded Napa Cabbage
- 1 Red Pepper, diced
- 3 Carrots, grated
- ¼ cup fresh Basil, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh Cilantro, chopped
- 2 Scallions, chopped
- ¼ cup raw Cashews, toasted and chopped
- 1 Lime for serving
- Start off by chopping all of your veggies including the red onion, garlic, cabbage, red pepper, carrots, scallions, basil, and cilantro. Then toast the cashews in a nonstick skillet over medium heat (no oil needed). Stir regularly until they start to turn brown and you can smell the nuts. Set aside until you’re ready for them.
- In a large, non-stick skillet heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and red onion to the pan and sauté for about 2 minutes. Then add the chicken breasts to the pan and heat until they are cooked through. (I get a bit paranoid about chicken, so I cooked mine for at least 12 minutes.) Cut into the thickest part of the chicken to make sure it’s cooked all the way through.
- While the chicken cooks, whisk up your dressing. Combine the lime juice (about 4 tablespoons or I used the juice of one large lime) along with 3 tablespoons of fish sauce, grated ginger, and 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes. Then whisk in 3 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk until the oil incorporates into the dressing. Add honey to taste. (I’d say at least a teaspoon to balance the flavors.)
- Let the finished chicken cool on a plate until you’re able to shred it. Use your favorite method to shred the chicken. I prefer using my hands but forks work well too.
- Now it’s time to put the salad together. In a large bowl add the shredded cabbage, grated carrots, scallions, basil, cilantro, and shredded chicken and stir to combine. Then whisk the dressing and pour it over the salad ingredients and stir until it’s completely mixed into the salad.
- Serve the salad right away and top with the cashews, extra chopped basil and cilantro, and lime wedges. Enjoy!!
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