Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken & Peanut Dressing
Prepare this Asian noodle salad with marinated chicken thighs and a sweet and tangy peanut dressing for a filling, nutritious meal in about 30 minutes!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Chicken
- 5 chicken thighs
- 3 tbsp honey (or maple syrup)
- 3 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos)
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Peanut Dressing
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup soy sauce (or tamari or coconut aminos)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 inch piece ginger root
- 1 tbsp water
Salad
- 5 oz rice noodles
- 4 cups chopped romaine
- 2 persian cucumbers thinly sliced
- 1 cup grated carrot
- ⅔ cup chopped cilantro + more for garnish
- ½ cup chopped peanuts + more for garnish
- 1 bunch scallions chopped
- 1 fresno chili cut in half, deseeded and thinly sliced
- 3-4 tbsp Chili crisp or your favorite chili oil
Instructions
- Add the chicken thighs to a bowl along with the honey, soy sauce and ginger powder, garlic powder and salt. Toss to coat and leave to marinate for a few minutes.
- Make the dressing by combining all of the dressing ingredients in a nutribullet or high speed blender and blending until smooth. Taste and adjust the flavor as desired by adding more honey, vinegar etc.
- Cook the noodles according to the package instructions and then place in a colander and run under cold water
- Heat a skillet on medium high heat. Add in the chicken thighs plus and of the excess sauce from the bowl and leave the chicken to cook for 5-6 minutes per side until golden brown in color. Once cooked through place on a cutting board and slice, spoon any excess sauce from the pan overtop
- Add the lettuce and noodles to a large salad bowl along with the cucumbers, cilantro, scallions, peanuts and sliced chili. Finally add the chicken and pour the dressing overtop. Toss until well coated. Serve with chili oil/chili crisp spooned overtop for an additional kick of spice and garnish with additional peanuts and cilantro
Notes
Nut/Legume Free: Swap the Peanut Butter for Cashew Butter or Almond Butter if you have a peanut allergy or alternatively use tahini
Gluten Free: look for gluten free rice noodles, or your favorite gluten free asian style noodle and swap the soy sauce for tamari or coconut aminos
Vegetarian: use tofu in place of chicken
Grain Free: There are some great grain free glass noodles available that can be used in place or rice noodles. Just be sure to swap the soy sauce for coconut aminos.
Paleo: for a paleo option you can swap the rice noodles for raw cucumber noodles (I like to use a julienne peeler but you can alternatively use a spiralization), just be sure to leave them in a colander for a few minutes to drain excess moisture. Be sure to use cashew or almond butter in place of peanut butter and coconut aminos in place of soy sauce.