Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

The salad is easy, ready in 20 minutes, healthy, and packed with so many different flavors and textures. Peanut sauce makes everything taste amazing including this Thai peanut chicken salad that’s loaded with veggies and topped with the heavenly sauce. The recipe is broken into three parts: peanut sauce, chicken, and salad ingredients. Don’t alter the peanut sauce recipe because it’s perfect as-is, the chicken is straightforward easy-peasy, and if you don’t have every single ingredient for the salad, don’t sweat it. Omit or improvise with what you do have.

INGREDIENTS:

Peanut Sauce

1. heaping 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2. 1/4 cup honey
3. 1/4 cup sesame oil
4. 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
5. 1 to 2 teaspoons ground ginger, or to taste
6. 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
7. 1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
8. 1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed, optional
9. pinch cayenne pepper, optional and to taste

Chicken

1. 2 tablespoons olive oil
2. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
3. 1 to 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper

Salad

1. 4 cups romaine lettuce or kale (or your favorite greens)
2. 1 cup sugar snap peas (snow peas may be substituted)
3. 1 cup diced red bell peppers
4. 1 cup red cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons
5. 1/2 cup grated carrots
6. 1/2 cup peanuts, roughly chopped if desired (I used honey-roasted peanuts)
7. 1 green onion, sliced into thin rounds
8. 3 to 4 tablespoons cilantro, finely minced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peanut Sauce – To a medium bowl add all ingredients and whisk to combine until smooth and incorporated. Taste, check for seasoning and flavor balance, and make any necessary adjustments (i.e. more honey, more peanut butter, more salt, more sesame oil, etc.). I like my sauce on the thicker side but you can add more vinegar/honey to thin it if desired; set aside.
2. Chicken – To a large skillet, add the olive oil, sesame oil, chicken, evenly season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, flipping intermittently so all sides cook evenly. Cooking time will vary based on thickness of chicken breasts and sizes of pieces. Remove skillet from the heat and allow chicken to cool in pan while you assemble the salad.
3. Salad – To a large platter or bowl, add all ingredients plus the chicken and any cooking juices, and evenly drizzle with peanut sauce, to taste. You likely won’t need all of the peanut sauce. Extra will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 1 week. Salad is best served fresh.

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