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After finding this recipe on Pinterest I couldn’t wait to try it! It was AMAZING! Definitely a new FAVORITE! I look forward to trying your other recipes!
Trisha
Did you know that red Thai chili peppers at the farmer’s market are only sold by the hundreds?
Not kidding.
And yes, I’m still talking about the farmer’s market.
So what do you do when you only need one? Just one little itty bitty red Thai chili?
Well, you could do what I did, which was ask the lady for $1.00 worth of red Thai chilis, even though you only need about 1 cents worth.
Which leads to the real question: what do you do with the 29 extra red Thai chilis that you didn’t need in the first place?
And the answer is: make this peanut chicken salad 29 more times! Because noodles, red Thai chilis, creamy peanut sauce, and chicken makes for one heck of a salad. A creamy, thick, and intensely flavorful salad. A lettuce-less salad. A portable lunch salad.
Speaking of portable lunches, guess who’s going back to school tomorrow?
Spicy Peanut Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This spicy peanut chicken salad is made with noodles, lots of fresh veggies and a spicy homemade Thai-style peanut sauce.
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1 cup julienne red and yellow pepper
- 1 cup shredded or julienne carrots
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1 cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
- 8 oz. cooked soba noodles or whole grain linguine
For the Dressing:
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons sesame or canola oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 minced small red Thai chili pepper, seeds and ribs removed
- 1/3 cup peanuts
Instructions
- Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl.
- Puree all remaining ingredients (except peanuts) in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add peanuts last and process until just finely chopped. Pour over salad and toss well.
- Top individual servings with fresh basil and cilantro!
Notes
It’s worth the extra time to make the dressing from scratch! Eat it straight out of the food processor? Sure I did. It has the perfect amount of spiciness, sweetness, and nutty creaminess!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: spicy peanut chicken salad, peanut chicken salad, thai chicken salad
Welp, I have a sad feeling that my leisurely lunch days are coming to an end now that I will actually have one of those job thingies.
It’s been a fun time, Summer old friend. Catch ya on the flip side.
Ok YUM! Totally making this, and I don’t care if my picky Hubs has to pick out the peppers!!!
Even if you left out the peppers it would still be good! (although I personally love those red peppers!)
Love the new look Lindsay!
I should have gone to the farmers market – I need some chili peppers!
Thanks Emily! Just think – you can go to year round farmer’s markets in LA!
This looks delicious! I love spicy peanut sauces
Yum! This is one of my favourite salads to order; I can’t wait to try making it myself!
You will love it!
LOVE chili peppers! I just loaded up on some New Mexico Hatch chili’s at a local farmers market..yum!
Got any other ideas for what to do with them?? I still have a bunch even after making this salad more than once! 🙂
This looks great! Plan on making a big batch for lunches.
Good plan!
I saw that first picture and actually said out loud “YUM!”. Needless to say, I will be making this for dinner!
🙂 thanks Lauren!
HA! I know exactly how you feel (this happened to me recently with rice flour)! I hate when things are only sold in large quantities when I only need a little! But I’m glad you had extra because this Spicy Peanut Chicken Salad looks absolutely heavenly. Beautiful colors!
I know, how annoying! I once had a whole box of dried milk for some kind of bread I made … only once. So after about a year I just threw it away. 🙂
Wow this looks so tasty….now I’ll be thinking about it all day!
I was definitely thinking about it all day when it was sitting in my lunchbox!
this looks so yum! i think my kids are going to love it in their packed lunch. thank you!!
You must have kids with adventurous tastebuds! I plan to train my future kids to enjoy “different” food, too. We’ll see how that goes… 🙂
You can wash, dry and freeze the extra peppers. They stay good and fresh for quite some time! I’m making this salad for lunch today – thanks for the inspiration!
Thank YOU – now I can save those peppers and have a fresh kick of spicy in the middle of winter!
Okay, I already miss homemade food. This looks amazing!
Thanks – maybe you should come visit? Or I can make you some for your birthday? Or maybe there’s a care package being assembled for you as I type? 🙂 Miss you!
Loving this~! Adding it to my pinterest Real Food board!
Cheers,
Rosalyn (rospricenglish on pinterest)
Thanks!
Hi! This looks great, I do have some questions though.
What type of vinegar do you use? And should this be served hot or cold?
Thanks!
I just used white distilled vinegar. And I liked it cold better! But you could serve it either way.
Made this tonight for my lunches this week….hope I actually have some left for lunch. So good!
Made this (using soy chicken but no Thai chili) and it was magnificient!
This looks awesome! I’m really into anything Thai related.