Saigon Chicken Salad

Saigon chicken salad is a great summer salad with moist, tender, flavorful shredded chicken, a lot of good healthy crisp veggies, sweet mango slices, fresh herbs of Thai basil and mint. It is tossed with a tangy lime vinaigrette dressing and served with chopped salty peanuts and a spicy peanut sauce.

4.94 from 16 votes

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Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 50

Servings: to 8 servings

Calories: 401kcal

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

To Poach the Chicken:

4 cups water more as needed
2 teaspoons salt
1 Fresno red chili pepper sliced lengthwise and seeds removed
1 2- inch piece of ginger root peeled and thinly sliced
4 chicken breasts about 1 1/4 pounds

For the Salad:

6 cups shredded green cabbage about 1/2 head
1 mango peeled, pitted and julienned
1 large carrot shredded
1 cup grated daikon radish
1 Fresno red chili pepper seeded and sliced into thin rings
5-6 green onions thinly sliced, white and green parts
1 cup coarsely torn fresh Thai basil leaves
1 cup coarsely torn fresh mint leaves
2 fresh limes cut into wedges
1 cup chopped salted peanuts
1 cup spicy peanut sauce
Mint and Thai sprigs for garnish

For the Lime Vinaigrette

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 garlic clove grated
4 tablespoons soy sauce
pinch of fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped pickled ginger
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil

Instructions

In a deep saucepan or skillet, combine the water, salt, chili pepper, and ginger root slices. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the chicken breasts (add more water so the chicken is full covered), reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit until the chicken is fully cooked, (testing in the thickest part with an instant read thermometer to 165°F) for an additional 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks and place on a plate. Refrigerate chicken until cool.

For the Lime Vinaigrette:

Whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, soy sauce, pepper and pickled ginger. Slowly add the toasted sesame oil and whisk to combine.

For the Salad:

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, mango, carrot, radish, chili pepper, onions, basil and mint. Add 1/2 of the cooled shredded chicken and the prepared lime vinaigrette. Toss to combine.
To serve: Divide the tossed salad between 6 individual chilled plates and top each with an equal portion of the remaining shredded chicken. Garnish each salad with sprigs of basil and/or mint. Serve with lime wedges, salted peanuts and the spicy peanut sauce.

Notes

Nutrition values represent a portion size, 1/6 of the salad and vinaigrette and without the peanuts and spicy peanut sauce.

Nutrition