Chicken salads can be so dull… but not when it’s Vietnamese-style! This slaw-like Vietnamese Chicken Salad is everything you love about Vietnamese food: Fresh and bright, yet full of flavour. Tip: Don’t skimp on the herbs or peanuts. They really bring the dish to life with freshness and texture!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Welcome to Day 10 of the inauguralHoliday Salad Marathon, a series where I’m doing the polar opposite of the usual sugar-loaded baking countdowns out there: I’m bringing you a new salad recipe every day through to Christmas Eve!
Today, it’s a salad that’s an ode to summer!
Vietnamese Chicken Salad
While this exact salad is not strictly authentic, the flavours, texture and spirit of the dish I drew heavily from traditional Vietnamese food. All across Vietnam you see these shredded “slaw-style” salads like green papaya salad and banana blossom salad, loaded with fresh herbs, compared to green leafy salads common in Western cuisine.
And similarly it is with the Nuoc Cham salad dressing that I’m using here. This is the fish sauce-based lime dressing spiked with finely chopped garlic and chilli that the Vietnamese use for literally everything. And that is no exaggeration! Dipping sauce, drizzling, dressing, sauce for meats, noodle bowls… (See it in action here and here and here).
And the most wonderful thing about this salad, like most Vietnamese food? It’s light and fresh and yet SO GOOD it doesn’t even register that it’s actually incredibly healthy!
What you need for Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Here’s what you need for this chicken salad:
Just a note on some of the ingredients:
Chicken – Just using a store bought roast chicken for convenience here. Handy for hot summer nights! Otherwise, poached chicken is perfect.
Cucumber – Two short (Lebanese) or one long one (continental/English/telegraph);
Peanuts – Peanuts are best and most traditional but you can use cashews too. Sunflower seeds or pepitas would be lovely too!
Fresh mint and coriander/cilantro – You really don’t want to skip the herbs. Vietnamese cuisine treats herbs almost as a vegetable itself, such an essential part of the foods they are! I use ordinary mint here not Vietnamese mint (which has a bit of a peppery flavour and is a bit much when used in large volumes like I do here); and
Wombok / Chinese Cabbage (aka Napa Cabbage) – As recently used in Chang’s Crispy Noodle Salad (possibly Australia’s favourite salad!), this is ideal for slaw-type salads because it’s softer and juicier than regular cabbage like what you use forColeslaw. The latter needs to be left to wilt so you don’t have pokey bits of cabbage flicking all around your mouth when you eat it.Chinese cabbage on the other hand is good to eat from the dress-go. (Yeah. I went there. Sorry.) The texture is somewhere between traditional stiffer green cabbage, and soft leafy greens.
You will needhalf a giant oneor a full small one because because I only like to use the top 2/3 that holds (mostly) leafy bits. The bottom 1/3 or so is a bit too crunchy with stems, so the texture doesn’t meld as well with the rest of the salad. I leave it for use instir friesandnoodles.
Here is how I cut the cabbage: Two slits then finely shred. Fast and neat!
Vietnamese Salad Dressing
Here’s what you need for the Vietnamese Nuoc Cham salad dressing:
As mentioned above, this is a salad dressing form of Nuoc Cham, the Vietnamese mother-sauce that you will see used in virtually everything in Vietnam! Everybody has their own recipe and there are subtle differences depending on intended use, but the essentials in it are: Fish sauce (rather than soy sauce), sugar, garlic, chilli and something sour – either lime juice or rice vinegar or a combination of both.
Fish sauce
This is the primary sauce used in Vietnamese cooking to add salt, savour and flavour into dishes, rather than soy sauce which is common in some other Asian cuisines.
Made from fermented anchovies, it packs a punch of umami like soy sauce. Yes, the smell is strong and it is fishy-tasting in plain raw form! When cooked or diluted and mixed with other elements, that funk fades away and leaves behind incredible rich and savoury taste in anything it is used (like this reader favourite Vietnamese Pork Bowls).
When used in dressings, you really need to be careful to ensure the fishy flavour is balanced and diluted enough by the other flavours in the dressing. Many people find very traditional Vietnamese salad dressing recipes a bit too fishy!
So in this case, I’ve dialled the fish sauce down, using just enough so we have great savoury flavour in the dressing but people rarely pick that there is fish sauce in it.
How to make Vietnamese Chicken Salad
There’s a bit of chopping involved here to get everything into shredded/baton shaped form. But it’s worth it! The slaw-like texture is so great here – it holds the dressing like a mop!
By the way, if you don’t have a carrot shredding tool (as pictured above), just grate it using a standard box grater.
How to serve it
Having meat included and on sheer bulk, this is a salad that’s intended to be a meal. It makes a big bowl that will easily serve 3 hungry adults, or 4 normal servings. And it’s satisfying because it’s quite a “dense” salad because the shredded vegetables pack down, slaw-style, rather than being a deceptively large mound of fluffy leafy greens.
So you won’t be starving 30 minutes after eating this. It’s actually a filling meal. Healthy and delicious and filling? That’s a food trifecta, right there! – Nagi x
PS. If you skipped the chicken, this would make a terrific side salad for anything Asian. Otherwise another great meatless, Asian-style option is My Favourite Quinoa Salad.
What is the Holiday Salad Marathon?
This is my inaugural Christmas recipe countdown where I am sharing 30 salad recipes in a row until Christmas Eve – something completely different to people’s usual baking countdowns!
These salads are in addition to my regular 3 new recipes a week. Because aren’t you bored of the usual tomato-cucumber-lettuce garden salad routine??
Click here to see all the Holiday Salad Marathon recipes to date, or sign up for instant updatesand you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new salad! 🙂
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Author: Nagi
Prep: 15 minutes mins
Salad meal
Modern Vietnamese
4.98 from 69 votes
Servings3 – 4 as main
Tap or hover to scale
Recipe video above. Big, juicy, slaw-like salad with chicken, and singing with signature Vietnamese flavours: Lots of fresh herbs and a zingy Nuoc Cham salad dressing. I like cutting the chicken into thin batons so it sort of blends into the cabbage – and it makes less goes further!
Don't skimp on the herbs and peanuts here. It really brings added freshness and texture to the dish.
This will serve 3 hungry adults or 4 normal servings (as a meal). Skip the chicken for a perfect Vietnamese side salad.
Ingredients
Salad:
- 350g/12oz cooked chicken , cut into thin batons (2 large cooked breasts, Note 1)
- 6 heaped cups wombok cabbage (Napa cabbage), finely shredded (Note 2)
- 1/2 red onion , very finely sliced (so it’s floppy)
- 1 red capsicum / bell pepper , finely sliced into thin batons
- 2 cucumbers , remove seeds then finely sliced into half moons (or 1 long continental/English cucumber)
- 1 large carrot , peeled then julienned (I use a shredder)
- 1 large chilli , deseeded then julienned, optional (Note 3)
- 1 cup (tightly packed) mint leaves , large leaves roughly torn by hand (Note 4)
- 1 cup (tightly packed) coriander/cilantro leaves (Note 4)
Dressing:
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup fish sauce (sub light or all purpose soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable, grapeseed, peanut)
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 large garlic clove , very finely minced
- 2 tsp red chilli , deseeded then very finely minced (birds eye or Thai Red Chilli best, Note 3)
Finishing:
- 1/2 cup peanuts, roasted unsalted , finely chopped (~1/3 cup once chopped, Note 5)
Instructions
Dressing: Shake Dressing ingredients in a jar. Set aside 10 minutes to let flavours meld.
Toss: Place all Salad ingredients in a very large bowl. Pour over half the Dressing and toss well. Set aside 5 minutes (veg will soften slightly, making it more "slaw-like").
Toss again: Just before serving, toss again then add most of the remaining Dressing. Taste then add more Dressing if you want.
Serve sprinkled with lots of peanuts! (Note 6)
Recipe Notes:
1. Chicken – Any cooked chicken is fine here, I just used both breasts from a store bought roast chicken. If cooking your own, use my Foolproof Juicy Poached Chicken (it is excellent for this recipe because the breast is so tender it “flops” and really melds in with the rest of the salad!)
To cut into batons, cut slices then cut the slices into batons about 1/2cm / 1/5″ thick. The drier bits of chicken will end up sort of shredding which is ok too.
2. Wombok cabbage / Chinese cabbage – also called Napa Cabbage in some countries.See video for how I shred this cabbage – cut two slits then finely shred. I only use the top 2/3 as the base tends to be a bit too thick and crunchy with stems (but ideal to use in stir friesand stir fried noodles!).
Best sub is iceberg lettuce but serve immediately, do not set aside for 5 minutes before serving as instructed in recipe. Green cabbage will also work but you will need to toss with some dressing and set aside to let it wilt for 30 min or so before adding rest of ingredients.
3. Chilli – 2 teaspoons gives this a slightly warm tickle and is not really spicy. Split in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds then finely chop.
If you’re concerned about spiciness, use the large red chillies instead (cayenne pepper), they are less spicy. If you don’t want spicy at all, skip it (but a hint of heat really is great in this!)
Chilli for salad – An optional extra for visual aesthetics and an extra hint of heat, use a large red chilli (cayenne pepper) in the salad as well. Cut in half, scrape out seeds, then finely slice into strips.
4. Coriander/cilantro and mint – Really jam pack the leaves into a cup to measure them out. When not tightly packed in, you’re measuring out only half needed amount. We want to use lots! Fresh herbs are key to Vietnamese food!
Mint – I use ordinary mint here not Vietnamese mint (which has a bit of a peppery flavour and is a bit much when used in large volumes like I do here)
5.Peanuts – Use roasted, unsalted, and finely chop it so you get some “dust” (my favourite because it soaks right through into the salad!)
Peanut alternative – Cashews are best, though sunflower seeds or pepitas would be lovely too!
6. Serving:If serving individually, sprinkle each serving with a generous amount of peanuts. If letting people help themselves, sprinkle the salad with half the peanuts and have extra so people can help themselves for their own bowls. Remember: do not skimp on the peanuts!
7. Storage – It won’t keep so well once dressed, as the cabbage will wilt quite heavily and drop water. If you want to make ahead, chop all your ingredients and simply dress at the last minute.
8. Nutrition per serving, assuming 3 (very big) servings.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 440cal (22%)Carbohydrates: 21g (7%)Protein: 28g (56%)Fat: 29g (45%)Saturated Fat: 4g (25%)Cholesterol: 56mg (19%)Sodium: 1230mg (53%)Potassium: 1041mg (30%)Fiber: 6g (25%)Sugar: 10g (11%)Vitamin A: 4752IU (95%)Vitamin C: 86mg (104%)Calcium: 182mg (18%)Iron: 3mg (17%)
Keywords: Chicken Salad, Vietnamese salad
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Life of Dozer
A familiar sight – Geoff, the local who lives at the dog park (the unofficial caretaker!), sampling some recipes I’m working on. And Dozer, hot on his heels!