Vietnamese Shredded Chicken Salad
Here’s a delicious, main course salad to enjoy during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. This Vietnamese Shredded Chicken Salad tastes just like one that you may have had at your favorite Asian-fusion restaurant. It’s a salad guaranteed to induce craves and raves.
I initially made Jennifer Segal’s Vietnamese Shredded Chicken Salad from Once Upon A Chef using pre-shredded rotisserie chicken from Costco (as I’ve previously mentioned, a great convenience item that’s worthy of space in your freezer). More recently I made it using leftover meat from a whole chicken that I simply roasted at home on a rainy evening (I wanted to fill the house with a comfort scent!). You can source your chicken either of these ways or just buy a cooked rotisserie chicken at your local market and pull the meat.
As an alternative, a twist that I tried (and loved!) was to replace the chicken with grilled shrimp. I tossed some shrimp in olive oil, salt and pepper and threw them on the grill for a total of 3-4 minutes (flipping midway). When assembling the salad, I mixed all of the ingredients with the dressing before adding the protein. To each individual bowl, I added the chicken or shrimp and then tossed and topped with peanuts. Big smiles all around.
Vietnamese Shredded Chicken Salad
- For the Salad
- 2 heaping cups cooked shredded chicken, from one store-bought rotisserie chicken
- 4 c shredded napa cabbage
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 c grated or matchstick carrots
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 c roughly chopped fresh mint
- 1/2 c roughly chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 c chopped peanuts
- For the Dressing
- 1/4 c fresh lime juice, from about 3 limes
- 2 tsp Sriracha
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbls sugar
- 3 Tbls fish sauce
- 3 Tbls vegetable oil
- In a large salad bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients except for the peanuts*.
- In a separate bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the dressing; whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
- Right before serving, toss the dressing with the salad.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the peanuts. Serve cold.
- *If you'd like to replace the chicken with grilled shrimp, toss all of the ingredients with the dressing and add either chicken or shrimp to individual bowls.