Fresh & Simple Thai Salad

A super fresh, light and healthy Thai salad with the flavours of Thailand. This is a great recipe to make for a crowd if you're looking to freshen up, and glam your dinner time! 

Why We Love this Recipe

Thai food is one of my favourites cuisines to eat. Whether it be a gorgeous red curry, a pad Thai or a spicy salad, you can't go wrong with the fresh flavours Thai food has to offer.

This salad is no exception. Big, bold, bright flavours that tantalise your tastebuds and transport you to a tropical beach with palm trees and fresh vegetables. You feeling me?

This salad is so easy to make, and a staple in our household when we have people over. It's great to have with a backyard summer barbecue, or perfect with some thinly sliced steak.

This salad is light, fresh and healthy - everything you look for in a salad. A simple green salad turned extraordinary, a must have at your next gathering!

Recipe Ingredients

Fresh veggies are the key to this dish. This Thai salad used a leafy green based, and is then topped with fresh veggies.

You'll need;

Salad greens - I buy these from my local market or supermarket. Mixed greens work the best, which are a combination of lettuce, spinach and rocket/arugula.

Lebanese/Persian cucumber - these are the tiny, succulent cucumber you can get. If you can't find them, English cucumbers are fine to to use. Cut the cucumber up into matchstick sizes, and get rid of the watery centre.

Red Onion - the key to this salad is finely sliced and diced vegetables. Your red onion should be thinly sliced, because let's face it, no one like massive onion chunks in their salad.

Red Capsicum/Red Bell Pepper - once again, these should be cut into thin stripes. I love the crunch red pepper brings to the salad.

Carrot - good old carrot! This carrot should be cut into thin stripes. The term for this is 'julienne'.

Fresh Herbs - you can't go wrong with fresh herbs in any salad. This salad calls for mint and coriander/cilantro. Herbs can be roughly chopped.

Optional - crushed peanuts.

How to Cut Your Veggies

The methods used to cut the cucumber, carrot and capsicum is known as the 'julienne' method.

To julienne a vegetable simple means to cut them into match sticks. You want your carrot, cucumber and capsicum to be cut into thin matchsticks for this salad.

Thai Dressing Ingredients

The dressing is the key element of this salad. Without it, the salad is super plan and bland. It brings the Thai flavour to the salad and should not be skipped. There are 4 key elements to Thai cooking - sweet, spicy, salty and sour.

To make the dressing you'll need;

Red Chilli - the correct chilli for this is a birds eye chilli. These are readily found in Australian supermarkets. I had a hard time finding them in US supermarkets in Portland. If you can't find them, green chili also works although it's not traditional. This brings the spice to the dressing.

Tamari Soy/Soy Sauce - soy sauce brings the saltiness to the dressing. Regular soy sauce works, for a gluten free option tamari soy works.

Sugar - typically palm sugar is used a lot in Thai cooking. If you can't find that, brown sugar is the next best option, followed by white sugar. Sugar is the sweet element.

Fish Sauce - fish sauce also adds an element of salty to the dish. I know a lot of people are allergic to fish sauce, or want a vegan option. Simply omit this if that is the case.

Sesame Oil - I love the nuttiness sesame oil brings to the dish. Oil heaps the salad to nicely combine.

Lime Juice - the last element - sour. Lime juice is also used regularly in Thai cooking.

Combine these ingredients into a jar and shake well, adjusting flavours as you go.

How to Make this Recipe

1. Cut all your vegetables to size.
2. Place the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake together until well combined.
3. Layer your salad. This requires a bit of thought because you want the colours to come through the entire salad.
4. Add the mix salad greens first, then strategically place the carrot, onion, red pepper and cucumber around the mixed greens.
5. Top with the fresh herbs and scatter over the peanuts if you're using them.
6. Finish up with the dressing. Add the dressing just before you want to serve the salad otherwise it'll go soggy.

Tips & FAQ

What should I serve this salad with?

This salad basically goes with anything, but in particular, pairs really well with light proteins such as salmon.

You could also serve it with beef marinated in a bit of lime juice, chili, tamari soy and sesame oil for a Thai-inspired flavour.

Does this salad keep?

This salad is great the next day HOWEVER if you're planning on leftovers, I would have the salad dressing separately. The salad tends to go soggy overnight if it's dressed.

Can I Make it Ahead of Time?

Absolutely! If I'm having a big dinner party, I tend to make a lot of my salads the morning of. To do this, I would wash my greens and herbs first and get them ready. Then I would pre-cut my onion, red pepper, carrot and cucumber. Store the veggies separately in an air tight container.

The salad dressing can be pre-made as well. In fact, this is good as it allows the flavours to develop.

What dish can I serve this salad in?

I love using a long, oval platter for this dish. You can easily see the ingredients laid out and it looks absolutely beautiful and colourful. A flat oval or rectangle plate would also work.

Want more Thai recipes? Try these

• Thai Chicken Sausage Rolls
• Thai Red Curry with Chicken
• Red Salmon Curry
• Thai Vermicelli Noodle Salad by It's Not Complicated
• Thai Chicken Larb by It's Not Complicated
• Thai Pomelo Salad with Roast Duck by The Devil Wears Salad

Georgie x 

Thai Salad

The Home Cook's Kitchen

This fresh & simple Thai salad is a perfect combination of fresh and healthy ingredients. Easy, quick and delicious!

5 from 6 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Thai

Servings 4 people

Calories 74 kcal

Ingredients

 

• 3 cups mixed salad green
• 1 Lebanese cucumber julienned (also known as a Persian cucumber)
• ¼ cup red onion very finely sliced
• ¾ red pepper finely sliced
• 1 carrot julienned
• ¼ cup mint roughly chopped
• ¼ cup cilantro roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon peanuts roughly chopped

Dressing

• ½ red chilli seeds removed finely diced (note 1)
• 2 tbs tamari note 2
• 2 teaspoon coconut sugar note 3
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

Instructions

 

• Slice onion, cucumber, carrot and red pepper.
• Place salad leaves in a large bowl
• Top with onion, cucumber, carrot and red pepper.
• Make dressing by placing all ingredients in a jar and shaking. Adjust flavours according to taste.
• Pour dressing over salad and lightly toss.
• Top salad with bean sprouts, mint, coriander and top with peanuts.

Notes

Note 1 - use as much chilli as you desire. I don't like a lot of spice so I use half a chilli seeds removed. I also prefer using the red bird's eye chilli but have a hard time finding them in America, so use green serrano's instead.

Note 2 - tamari is a gluten free soy sauce and has a really nice flavour. If you don't have tamario, regular soy sauce will do.

Note 3 - coconut sugar can be substituted for brown sugar or palm sugar, or regular white sugar if you have it.

Keyword Fall Salad Recipe, green salad, Thai salad

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