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 inaugural Holiday 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 for Coleslaw. 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 need half a giant one or 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 in stir fries and noodles.
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 updates and 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
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:
Nutrition Information:
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!
Anna says
This salad is sooooooo good. Fresh and full of flavour.
It’s going on high rotation!
Jen says
Was such a lovely meal to have after the excess of Christmas and New Year. Fresh, healthy, delicious and so quick to make.
Liv says
I am obsessed with this recipe!!!! Add a thinly sliced mango and it takes it to a whole new level. Thank me later
Nagi says
Thanks for the tip Liv! N x
Jo says
Yum! I made this with some of our leftover Christmas turkey – absolutely delicious, and so quick and easy. I left out the red onion (raw onion does nasty things to me), and added celery instead. I will definitely be making this again!
Nikki C says
This salad will now be a staple in our home, it is so fresh and delish! only takes 10 minutes to make if you use a BBQ chicken. Love it
Carole says
What can I substitute for coriander? Hubby and I are one of the unfortunates that coriander tastes like stink bugs! (Yes, that is a fact)
asking for a friend.
Nagi says
You can just leave it out! N x
Karen says
This was spot on spot! Delicious again Nagi, so many fresh flavours, thank you.
Kaye says
Thanks again Nagi, you are a constant presence at our table.
This was so refreshing and yum
Nagi says
So glad you enjoyed it Kaye! N x
Kaye says
You are a constant presence at the table.
This was so refreshing and yum
Kaye says
You are a genius and a constant presence at the table.
This was so refreshing and yum
Gemma Ashton says
I just made this tonight. So delicious. Thank you for your amazing recipes. Will be on rotation throughout summer!
Gemma says
Forgot to rate it!
Nagi says
Thanks! N x
Nat says
My favorite salad now! Been making it at least twice a week for a few weeks now!!!
How surprise I was seeing my 19 y.o. son using your recipes when he cooks !!!
Sophie says
One of my most favourite salads ! I make it once a fortnight and eat it for a couple days in a row!
I just put on the chicken, peanuts and dressing on top when I get a bowl of salad, so the salad stays fresh for days 🙂
Apneet says
Loved it! I put honey instead of sugar. Tastes so gud. Thank u so much.
Marji says
I used this dressing for a really big vermicelli salad and it was so delicious. I made a double recipe of all the ingredients except the fish sauce (kept it at 1/4 cup) and the balance seemed just right. This recipe will be in constant rotation this summer. Thank you.
Louise Inkpen says
Really easy and tasted so good!
Vanessa says
Loved it !!!!! We didnt’ have enough cabbage, so we turned it into a noodle salad by adding some vermicelli rice noodles and added some bean sprouts to it. A-MA-ZING !!!
We also replaced the peanuts by cashew, since we are not big peanuts fans. Thanks a lot !!!!!
Victoria says
Such a good recipe! The dressing is amazing and it’s all so fresh and delicious. I made it into a noodle salad by adding some rice/vermicelli noodles which really soak up the dressing 🙂
Preets says
I make the no sugar version of this to drop the carbs, so Stevia instead of sugar, I halve the amount of peanut oil, and use half and half fish sauce and soy sauce. It is incredible!
Nagi says
That’s great to know Preets!! N x
sasha worrall says
I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for your recipes! I literally cannot state how much you have saved my life when it comes to making me fall back in love with cooking again. I stopped loving it when it became a chore to do for so many people – now it is the highlight of my day because i know every time it will taste great. I literally, cook every single meal of the week from your site, and saves me so much hassle hunting or and cooking crappy recipes that dont taste that good anyway. thank you from the bottom of my heart you have made my life so much easier and happier.