This 10 minute Thai Chicken Salad is crunchy, bright and full of flavor. It is perfect year round for easy dinner or lunches throughout the week. And so easy to make in one bowl in 10 minutes!
Protein high salads like healthy chicken salad, healthy tuna salad and healthy shrimp salad are a must for my fridge during the week. Especially in summer. Just try for yourself and come back to thank me after.
Thai Chicken Salad Recipe
This Thai chicken salad is amazing!
With crunchy bright red cabbage and bell pepper, roasted peanuts and creamy Greek yogurt. It packs so much flavor from fresh herbs combined with cooked chicken, red pepper flakes and rice vinegar. Easy, tasty and so simple.
Healthy Thai chicken salad recipe is mild as it is. Not spicy for kids. You can refrigerate it for up to 5 days. So basically entire week of lunches is taken care of.
And did I mention it comes together in one bowl?! True summer must have. Pack for a picnic, make easy lunch when school is out or enjoy on the beach for dinner.
What Chicken Can I Use?
When it comes to cooked chicken, there are so many options depending on your schedule.
Of course to cook your own is the best way. Bake chicken breast it in the oven, make Instant Pot chicken breast (even from frozen) or use whole roasted chicken leftovers. I am personally obsessed with batch cooking chicken in Instant Pot. It is something I do automatically every week now. Set it all up in 1 minute and walk away.
If you are really short on time, rotisserie chicken will work. Not the healthiest option because of sodium but eating McDonald’s is worse. Right?! I would reduce salt in the recipe then.
Chicken Substitutions
As someone who grew up with very little in Ukraine, I always encourage everyone to use what they have on hand. Eating healthy is not expensive, for realz. These are my personal suggestions and from other readers commenting below:
- Cooked turkey breast
- Chickpeas to make it meatless. I personally tried with great success.
- Cooked quinoa or brown rice
Veggies that Work in Thai Chicken Salad
We use fresh and uncooked veggies that add colour, crunch and flavor. I used red cabbage and bell pepper but sky is the limit. A few vegetables that work well in Thai chicken salad:
- Seeded and chopped cucumbers
- Shredded green, napa or savoy cabbage
- Shredded carrots
A Few More Tips for Thai Chicken Salad
Make sure to use not 0% plain yogurt. It can be Greek or regular but look for 2% and higher. Non-fat yogurt lacks flavor and creaminess. Thankfully we are past the low fat fad now. Healthy fats are good for us.
And a tip about peanuts. Some people do not like peanuts in a salad the next day. They lose crunchiness and become soggy. Store peanuts in a dry place and add them to salad right before serving.
Does Salad Go Bad?
Thai chicken salad tastes good if you refrigerate it for up to 5 days. If it actually lives that long. In our house, it has never seen the life past its 3rd day. Or even 2nd. It’s that good!
This Thai chicken salad is creamy, crunchy and delicious! Enjoy!
More Healthy Meat-y Salad Recipes:
- Healthy chicken salad – with half the fat and calories and still creamy.
- Grilled chicken salad – perfect summer dinner salad.
- Healthy ramen noodle salad with chicken – you can make “ramen” noodles easy at home.
- Healthy egg salad – not with chicken but keeps well for days and great for sandwiches.
- Healthy tuna salad – tasty and creamy with less mayo.
How to Make Thai Chicken Salad
Thai Chicken Salad
This Thai Chicken Salad is crunchy, bright and full of flavor. And so easy to make in one bowl and use all week.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded
- 2 cups red cabbage, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup peanuts, roasted & unsalted
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup green onion, chopped
- 1 cup plain yogurt, Greek or regular with 2+% fat
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add all ingredients listed in the order above and mix with spatula until well combined.
- Serve cold with quinoa or in a healthy sandwich with sprouted whole wheat bread.
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Chicken. Bake chicken breast it in the oven, make Instant Pot chicken breast (even from frozen) or use whole roasted chicken leftovers. Or use rotisserie chicken if short on time.
Make sure to use not 0% plain yogurt. It can be Greek or regular but look for 2% and higher. Non-fat yogurt lacks flavor and creaminess. Thankfully we are past the low fat fad now. Healthy fats are good for us.
And a tip about peanuts. Some people do not like peanuts in a salad the next day. They lose crunchiness and become soggy. Store peanuts in a dry place and add them to salad right before serving.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
Amazing flavor and fullness!! Started with day Two of week one, only because it was little warm here. This is the first recipe I have done in this series. My husband ate it on the seeded bread (added a little mayo), and I ate it on the wheat wrap (added a little ranch). Mine came our a little dry, but I think I measured the greek yogurt wrong, and I only had white wine vinegar so substituted lemon juice for the vinegar, so this could’ve made a difference. Looked it up the day after..only 69 calories per serving 😋.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this chicken salad, Kathryn! Thank you for the wonderful review!
My go to lunch salad!
★★★★★
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you enjoyed my recipe, Sherrin!
The salad was delicious. I made it with chickpeas.
★★★★★
Yay, so happy to hear!
Absolutely simple and yummy! Didn’t use rice vinegar but still taste good regardless! The only thing i did was marinade the chicken for a longer time and stir fry a little and just cut it in slices/cubes, still works!
Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Made this for dinner and it didn’t disappoint!! Grilled the chicken and used a little sesame oil, didn’t have any maple syrup so substituted a little honey….fresh, crunchy, healthy and amazing. Thank you for a great recipe that can be filling enough for a family dinner and still leave leftovers for lunch! Yum!!!
★★★★★
My pleasure.:)
It was delicious! I made it with plain coconut yogurt to keep it dairy free and it was great!
Only had a green cabbage so it doesn’ tlook as pretty, but it sure tastes awesome!! Stuffed some into a whole wheat pita bread and was a very filling tasty lunch!
★★★★★
Great salad recipe! Colorful, filling and yummy!
I’m not a huge fan of yogurt as a salad dressing, so l used the rice wine vinegar
combined with liquid aminos and a very small amount of sesame oil instead.
That works!:) Not sure how can someone not like creamy dressing haha but your version sounds delicious!
OMG this is the best chicken salad ever! I have been making it for the past 4 months and never get tired of it.
★★★★★
I made this Thai Chicken salad on Sunday to prep a full week’s worth of work lunches, and I am in love! I added quinoa like you suggested and it is so filling and tasty. The salad is so crunchy and refreshing and the Greek yogurt adds just the right amount of creamy. I love reading your blog, and I love making your recipes. Thank you so much for putting all of them out there for us to enjoy. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much, Veronica!!!:)
Just made the Thai Chicken Salad and what a delicious one it is…I used turkey breast which I had on hand…looking forward to trying with chicken…I loved it without the meat…so this a keeper at our house which most of your recipes are I love your cooking because the recipes are so healthy and I have the ingredients on hand..thanks for the 21 pumpkin recipes looking forward using these since pumpkins are plentiful here in Kentucky this time of year…keep up your wonderful work of educating the world in healthy eating and cooking…you do a great job being a wife and mother and email subscribers Dream Come True ….thank you
Awe, thank you so much, Donna!