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Chopped Thai Crunch Chicken Salad. With lots and lots of crispy, salty, fried wontons. This yummy Thai-inspired salad is a mix of fresh greens, chicken, mango, creamy avocado, and delicious crunchy peanuts, all topped with those delicious crispy wontons. Everything is tossed together with my favorite toasted sesame, garlic, and ginger peanut dressing. I’m pretty sure you’ll find it delicious. This salad is a wonderful mix of savory, sweet, and salty. It’s no-cook, easy to toss together, bright and colorful, plus, of course, totally delicious!
This salad! Ah, of all the salads I’ve shared, this one might be the most addicting. I have to blame that all on the salty peanut dressing. Anything peanut butter, plus sweet and savory, is always on the addictive side. We love it.
With Easter taking place this weekend, I’ve been in major spring mode – even though it’s still March. We actually had a full week of sunshine, so it did feel like spring would soon be here! But, alas, the snow is back, such is life in the mountains.
The upcoming holiday and sunshine inspired a handful of bright new recipes. This salad being one of them!
When I first started cooking, I used to make this exact peanut dressing for grilled chicken. Until now, I’ve always saved the dressing for summer days. But it’s so delicious tossed up in this yummy Thai-inspired salad, why wait?
This salad will be great for serving over Easter. It’s a light spring dinner, and what’s even better is that any leftovers can be enjoyed for lunch the following day!
OK, these are the details
Step 1: make the peanut dressing
This is one of the yummiest dressings. It’s a mix of creamy peanut butter, tamari (or soy sauce), toasted sesame oil (this adds such a good flavor; if you have it, definitely use it), lime juice, garlic, pickled ginger, spicy red Fresno peppers, hot sauce (try sambal oelek or sriracha), and honey.
I prefer to mix everything together in the food processor and then thin it out with the ginger juice from the pickled ginger jar.
If you do not love spicy, you can omit the hot sauce and or chile pepper.
Step 2: the wontons
This step is not technically a part of the recipe. You can choose to buy store-bought crispy wontons or make your own.
If you make your own, you just need oil for frying, wonton wrappers (or use egg roll wraps), and sea salt. I fry the wonton strips in hot oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and sometimes lime zest. These are so yummy!
Step 3: the salad
Next up is the salad. I use shredded green cabbage, shredded chicken, carrots, and mango. Then I mix in chopped Thai basil, cilantro, and green onions too.
For the CRUNCH – peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.
And the sliced avocados go on top!
Step 4: toss it
Now toss the chopped salad with the peanut dressing. I use half the dressing, then save the remaining dressing for serving.
The dressing really is key, it’s what brings in all the flavor. Then finish the salad with extra avocado slices and so many fried wontons, they are delicious! Oh, and lots of extra dressing and lime juice too!
Fresh and totally delish! A great salad for spring and summer.
Looking for other dinner ideas?
Crockpot White Chicken Chili Burrito Bowls
Red’s Favorite Spicy Tuna Poke Bowls
Skillet Chicken Adobo with Coconut Rice
30 Minute Pineapple Chicken with Coconut Rice
Weeknight Sesame Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger Rice
Sesame Ginger Orange Chicken Salad
Lastly, if you make this Chopped Thai Crunch Chicken Salad, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chopped Thai Crunch Chicken Salad
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 542 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
Peanut Dressing
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup tamari/soy sauce
- 1/3 cup toasted sesame oil (or olive oil)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped pickled ginger
- 1 jalapeño or Fresno pepper, chopped (seeded if desired)
- 2-3 tablespoons hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
Salad
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
- 1 cup chopped cilantro/basil
- 1/2 cup chopped or thinly sliced mango
- 1/3 cup chopped peanuts
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions
- crispy wontons, for serving (see notes)
Instructions
- 1. To make the dressing. Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse to combine, thin with water as desired. 2. To make the salad. In a salad bowl, combine the cabbage, chicken, carrots, herbs, mango, and peanuts. Pour over half the dressing, then toss to coat the greens. 3. Add the fried wontons, sesame seeds, green onions, and serve with a squeeze of lime. ENJOY the yumminess.
Notes
Crispy Wontons: Heat the avocado or olive oil in a skillet. Add the thinly sliced strips of wontons and let cook, 1-2 minutes, until deeply golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with flaky salt.
This post was originally published on March 25, 2024
Thank you for this delicious and SUPER nutritious meal.
There’s quite alot of prep involved but we made a fun morning of it with the kids teaching them all about food prep, weights measures etc.
We reduced the hot sauce, left out the chillies and added cucumber and egg noodles… also only tossed the dressing in the chicken and noodles before assembling all on a big platter.
Thank you 🤗
Hi Jessica! Looove to hear that you and your fam enjoyed this salad! Thanks for giving it a try! 🙂 xT
Can you use mandarin oranges instead of mango?
Hi there! Yes, you can definitely use mandarin oranges instead of mango! xT
So good I could almost drink it!! Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much Colette! Sooo happy to hear you enjoyed this salad! 🙂 xT
I made this this week. It was OK but not great and I won’t make it again. It required many ingredients that I will only use for this dish (pickled ginger, green onion, etc.) and I really wasn’t a fan of the dressing. It was too salty and just “one note” without giving the salad any complex flavors.
Hi Ligita,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it was not enjoyed!
Do you have a suggestion for subbing out the hot sauce to make it a little more mild for kids?
Hi Renee,
You can skip it, no big deal. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
I am serving this salad minus the chicken with Thai chicken zucchini meatballs in red curry sauce. When I read through all the notes I noticed it says to add sliced avocado on top yet they aren’t mentioned in the ingredients. It does say to fry the wontons in avocado oil. Should I get avocado? Thank you in advance. Love all your recipes!
Hi Mindy,
If you want to add avocado to the salad you absolutely can, but you do not have to. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
can the Crispy Wontons be made a day or so ahead and kept in airtight container ready for serving at last minute?
Hey Janelle,
Totally, that would be just fine for you to do! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Don’t remember if I rated and commented before but it deserves another 5 stars regardless! My husband actually said this is so well balanced-he doesn’t say stuff like that! But it is so good! The only change I made was to replace most of the oils with water. Thank you Tieghan!
Hey Laurie,
Fantastic! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your comment, so glad it was delish! Have a great weekend:) x
In the story above it talks about mango but mango is not listed as an ingredient?
Hi Rachel,
Sorry about that, you can use 1 sliced mango in this recipe. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT