Thai Salad Recipe

Thai Salad Recipe

Today we are making a Thai Salad recipe! No, not just lettuce with olive oil. This delicious recipe is so much more than a simple green salad! A refreshing summer salad coated in a creamy peanut dressing, this salad is a crowd-pleaser. The salad came together really well and it only uses a few staple salad ingredients – green cabbage, purple cabbage, carrots, bell peppers and fresh cilantro! Then you add in the peanut sauce (dressing ingredients include rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, peanut butter, rice wine vinegar are the key players here) some crunchy peanuts, couscous, and it’s good to go.

Traditional Thai Peanut Salad sauce includes the ingredients we use today, but may also include fish sauce, lime juice and chili oil. I didn’t use all the same ingredients, especially because fish sauce is not vegan. But feel free to add in chili oil and/or lime juice! You may also be able to find vegan fish sauce, but it’s easier not to have to find gourmet vegan ingredients when we can easily substitute it with other flavorful juices and oils to get the flavor.

Why You’ll Love This Crunchy Thai Salad Recipe

15-Minute Meal: This Thai crunch salad is basically a whole meal! It includes the grains (couscous), the fresh veggies and the healthy fats (peanut butter, sesame oil, peanuts). Minus the protein, but that’s easy enough to add in some tofu if desired. It’s easy to make the sauce and salad separately to store as a meal prep, or to eat it as a light lunch or dinner recipe. It’s also a great summer recipe when you want a light, crunchy and refreshing salad.

Health Benefits: This recipe doesn’t have a crazy long list of ingredients. All the ingredients contain a ton of health benefits! Even 100% pure maple syrup, which gives the sauce a bit of a sweet taste to balance out the savory soy sauce and peanut butter flavours, is good for you! Did you know that – ADD?

Substitutions

Bell Pepper: I used green bell pepper, but you can use a mixture of green, orange, yellow and/or red bell pepper. Chop the bell pepper length wise for this type of recipe, rather than large chunks.

Tamari: For a soy-free option, use coconut aminos. Coconut aminos also has a lot less sodium and will change the flavour of the sauce, but is the best soy-free option for tamari. Alternatively, use soy sauce instead (which has more sodium than tamari, so use a little less to begin with).

Couscous: Use quinoa, buckwheat, farro or another grain. You can also use rice noodles for a cold salad noodle bowl! Couscous is not gluten-free, but to remove the gluten from this recipe, use a different one such as those mentioned earlier (eg. quinoa).

Thai Salad Recipe Notes

• I like to top my salad with extra veggies like cilantro and green onions, or peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, fresh basil (or thai basil!), fresh lime juice and/or lemon wedges for serving!
• For best results, choose creamy, natural peanut butter. The only ingredient should be peanuts! The oils may separate, but I like to store my peanut butter container upside down so it stays mixed well and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the bottle. Keep this at room temperature for ease of mixing in the sauce.
• Check out an Asian grocery store for sesame oil or rice wine vinegar if your local store doesn’t have these ingredients!
• Add in your favorite protein (eg. some tofu) to make this salad a whole meal! You can even coat leftover dressing on the tofu itself as a marinade before adding to the salad.

More Salad Recipes You’ll Love

Green Macaroni Salad: A quick and creamy Healthy Macaroni Salad Recipe filled with tomatoes, corn avocado and spinach never fails to disappoint on a hot summer day picnic!

Squash, Pecan and Kale Salad: This colorful and low carb vegan salad is perfect for the fall season with pecans, roasted squash, kale, pumpkin seeds and other seasonal ingredients!

Mediterranean Salad with Vegan Feta: Check out this high-protein salad with chickpeas and homemade tofu-based feta cheese in an olive oil dressing!

Creamy Potato Salad: Make this Gluten Free Potato Salad that creates a creamy homemade mayo base using cashews and is perfect for a summer picnic potluck!

Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad: Tabbouleh is a cold salad made consisting of finely chopped parsley, tomatoes, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and bulgur (or in this case, couscous)!

Chicken Rendang: This Chicken Rendang Recipe is a traditional Indonesian dish consisting of meat in a thickened sauce. Pair it with rice and some red wine!

If you make this Thai Salad Recipe, leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!