Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing
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Inspired by California Pizza Kitchen’s recipe, this Thai crunch salad with peanut dressing always satisfies.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
This recipe was inspired by the popular Thai crunch salad served at California Pizza Kitchen. It’s made with crisp Napa cabbage, crunchy vegetables, and edamame, but it’s the creamy peanut dressing that makes it so good. I guarantee you’ll want to put it on everything! Serve this salad as a light lunch or pair it with grilled chicken or steak for a more substantial meal. It’s excellent with my honey, lime and sriracha chicken skewers. This is one of those recipes with a long list of ingredients but don’t let that deter you; you can use many of the prepared vegetables available at the supermarket, and the dressing is quickly puréed in a blender.
“This salad was such a big hit at dinner last night that my guest requested seconds. It’s so over-the-top delicious that it’s insane!”
What You’ll Need To Make Thai Crunch Salad With Peanut Dressing
What You’ll Need To Make The Peanut Dressing
- Creamy Peanut Butter: Provides the rich, nutty base essential for the dressing’s flavor and texture.
- Unseasoned Rice Vinegar: Adds tanginess and helps balance the richness of the peanut butter.
- Fresh Lime Juice: Introduces a zesty citrus note and a bit of tang, enhancing the overall freshness of the dressing.
- Vegetable Oil: Helps emulsify the ingredients and provides a smooth consistency.
- Soy Sauce: Contributes savory depth and a touch of umami flavor.
- Honey and Sugar: Sweeten the dressing, balancing out the acidity and saltiness.
- Garlic Cloves and Fresh Ginger: Infuse aromatic and pungent notes, adding complexity to the flavor profile.
- Salt: Enhances other flavors and helps balance the sweetness.
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes: Provide a subtle heat and depth of flavor.
- Fresh Cilantro: Adds a bright, herbaceous flavor and a pop of color to the dressing.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
What You’ll Need To Make The Salad
- Chopped Napa Cabbage or Shredded Coleslaw Mix: Forms the base of the salad, providing crunch and freshness. (I like to toss in a little shredded red cabbage for color.)
- Shredded Carrots: Add sweetness and color, enhancing the visual appeal of the salad. Buying the bagged shredded carrots at the supermarket saves time!
- Red Bell Pepper: Contributes vibrant color and a crisp texture.
- English Cucumber: Also known as hothouse cucumbers, offer a refreshing and crunchy element to the salad.
- Cooked and Shelled Edamame: Provides plant-based protein, a subtle nutty flavor, and adds substance to the salad.
- Scallions: Impart a mild onion flavor and a pop of green color, enhancing the overall freshness.
- Fresh Cilantro: Adds a fragrant and herbaceous note, elevating the flavor profile of the salad.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by making the dressing. Simply combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. It’s best to roughly chop the garlic and ginger beforehand, as most blenders aren’t able to process large pieces.
Add the cilantro and process for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. (If you add it in the beginning, it will completely blend into the dressing and give it a greenish hue.)
It will look like this.
Next, make the salad. I typically use a blend of Napa cabbage, cucumbers, red bell peppers, shredded carrots, shredded purple cabbage and edamame, but you can use any crunchy vegetables that you like.
If you use cucumbers, be sure to remove the seeds, as they can make the salad watery.
Combine all of the vegetables in a bowl along with the chopped spring onions and cilantro, and toss to combine.
If you’re serving the salad right away, drizzle the peanut dressing overtop and toss; otherwise serve the dressing on the side so the salad doesn’t get soggy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Definitely! The dressing keeps nicely refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.
While you can make the dressing and prepare the veggies ahead (the veggies can be prepped up to 2 days in advance), wait until you’re ready to serve the salad to toss everything together.
Sure, you can use almond butter in place of peanut butter.
You can replace the cilantro with flat-leaf parsley. The salad and dressing will still be delicious!
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Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing
Inspired by California Pizza Kitchen’s recipe, this Thai crunch salad with peanut dressing always satisfies.
Ingredients
For the Peanut Dressing
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from one lime
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1-inch square piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (see note)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
For the Salad
- 4 cups chopped Napa cabbage or shredded coleslaw mix (I like to toss in a little shredded red cabbage for color)
- 1 cup prepared shredded carrots
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 cup cooked and shelled edamame
- 2 medium scallions, thinly sliced
- ½ cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. Add the cilantro and blend for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- For the salad, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. If serving right away, drizzle the peanut dressing over top and toss; otherwise, serve the dressing on the side so the salad doesn't get soggy.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Serving size: Approximately 2 cups
- Calories: 282
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Sugar: 17 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 7g
- Sodium: 505 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This dressing is amazing, but does NOT need sugar. The amount of honey provides enough sweetness and, at the most, you can add a bit of maple syrup if you want it sweeter.
Too sour. I had to double everything other than lime/vinegar in order to get something edible. 4 tablespoons of acid compared to 3 tablespoons oil + some peanut sauce is too sour.
Wonderful salad, just like all Jenn’s recipes! I listened to other reviews and left out the sugar and it was still delicious and sweet enough. I left out the cilantro simply because my family doesn’t care for it. Very bright, vibrant, beautiful and delicious still! Also used a small fresh cut head of cabbage and shredded some carrots instead of using a bagged mix. One mistake I made was using crunchy peanut butter because I thought it would add a texture and save the step of adding peanuts at the end. Wrong….once I blended the dressing the nuts were demolished but still big enough to be a little gritty. Flavor was perfect but texture was not. Next time I will use creamy peanut butter and add peanuts at the end. I mixed everything together and let it sit over night so the cabbage could soften. It was still crunchy and stayed crisp for the 2 days it was in the fridge.
OMGOSH! The dressing was sooo good! I added some kale from the garden with the other ingredients and it turned out fantastic. Luckily I had some leftover dressing that I can use for later. Will look into more recipes from this site!
Very nice! I just made this and forgot to add the sugar and it was still fantastic! I used it on a kale salad with red peppers, purple cabbage, lightly steamed broccoli, rice noodles, and tofu cubes. I was too lazy to mess with my food processor so I used garlic powder, jarred ginger, and a whisk. It started to look like it was going to separate but I kept whisking and it came together just fine. Bookmarked!
I did an experiment, and removed a cup or so of the salad and added the dressing, let it marinate. I found the crisp vegetables stayed crisp and the overnight marination allowed the flavour of the sauce to impregnate the veggies. I also added about 1\2 cup chopped peanuts to add another crunch and accentuate the peanut taste. Great salad to make ahead of time.
LOVED this! The dressing is so delicious!
Chef Segal,
I have been compiling recipes for many, many years and share them via e-mail with my relatives (I have 5 chefs in my immediate family), and this is my latest:
20230816
Thai Peanut Dressing
I’ve been wanting to make the peanut dressing we get when going to Thai restaurants, so today I chose one recipe of many offered in the internet. It was the one by Jenn Segal of Once Upon a Chef (https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/thai-crunch-salad-with-peanut-dressing.html).
The dressing has a lot of ingredients, but luckily I had them all in our pantry.
Dressing Ingredients
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from one lime ( I used lemon)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2½ tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1-inch square piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (see note)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (don’t like them, I didn’t use)
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
Combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. Add the cilantro and blend for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
The taste and aroma were excellent. It was a great choice of recipe and will become my standard for Peanut Dressing.
Chef Segal gives a recipe for the salad part in the recipe, but I didn’t follow it because I didn’t have all the ingredients and had a nice looking red cabbage head waiting to be useful so I proceeded to do the following vegetable mix but before doing anything else, I did cut the red cabbage and put it to soak in a cup of quartered vinegar and left it there until everything else was ready:
Vegetable ingredients
2 cups chopped red cabbage, soaked in vinegar solution, rinsed in cold water and dried
1 large shredded carrot
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 small English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut in little cubes
1 medium scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro
Final assembly:
I tossed all the ingredients together and added the Peanut Dressing.
The results were outstanding, but it wasn’t a salad, it was more like coleslaw, actually better than the regular coleslaw, very enjoyable as such, highly recommended.
Thank you Chef.
JP
I loved the dressing!
Any thoughts on how long it will last in the refrigerator?
Hi Martha, glad you like it! It will last nicely for up to a week in the fridge.
*chef’s kiss* that peanut dressing is exactly what I was craving on my salad – thanks so much for the recipe. I totally forgot to add the granulated sugar, too, and it was still just so damn delicious.
Absolutely one of my favorite salads! Have made numerous times. I gave recipe to a friend because she loved it at my house. She made it but said the dressing was thick. QUESTION…What is the best way to thin the dressing if it thickens? Just water or another ingredient? Thank you
Hi Kathy, Glad you like it! You can thin the dressing out with a little water or coconut milk; just go easy so you don’t water it down.