Chopped Coconut Chicken Salad with Lime Dressing
Chopped Coconut Chicken Salad with Lime Dressing is one of our favorite chicken dinners. Restaurants that specialize in chopped salads have increased in popularity. We all love chopped salads because they include interesting ingredients that are all chopped up in bite sized pieces. And they are well coated in dressing. I like chopped salads, too, but much prefer making them at home. I like making them at home for several reasons.
First of all, I can prepare this salad for much less money at home. In fact, the only thing I had to buy to make this salad was some coconut milk.
Secondly, call me picky, but it really annoys me when I order salad at a restaurant, and some of the vegetables are less than perfect. My personal salad pet peeve is unripe tomatoes. Panera, for instance, is always giving me salads with barely red tomatoes in it. Avocado quality also seems to suffer in restaurants. I really don’t want bruised or brown avocado pieces in my salad. At home, I can really take the time to ripen my tomatoes and avocados on my counter, and then make salad with them when they are perfectly ripe. Another one of my restaurant salad complaints is that they have too much lettuce and not enough of other vegetables. At home, I can clean our the refrigerator and put all kinds of vegetables in my salad.
Lastly, restaurant salads usually have too much dressing on them. At home, I can put on enough dressing to taste some in every bite, but not overwhelm the salad. Plus, I don’t want all the extra calories in all that extra dressing restaurants use; I need to save those calories for dessert!
How I Made my Chopped Coconut Chicken Salad with Lime Dressing
To make my Chopped Coconut Chicken Salad with Lime Dressing at home, I first make my chicken marinade, which is essentially most of the ingredients in a Thai curry, plus coconut milk. I’m not usually a coconut or a curry fan, but I love this chicken. Both the coconut and the curry are very subtle. They don’t give the chicken a strong taste, just a nice, gentle, spiced sweetness. After the chicken is done marinating, I grill the chicken on medium heat, until it’s cooked through. If it gets cooked on the outside, but is still undercooked inside, just put it in a 350 degree oven until the inside finishes cooking. When the chicken is all cooked, I put it into the refrigerator to chill, and then right before serving I chop it into little half inch pieces. After that, I just toss the chicken with the salad and dressing and it’s all ready to serve.
Thai Chopped Coconut Chicken Salad with Lime Dressing
Ingredients
For the Coconut Chicken:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tsp. fish sauce
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. coriander powder
- ½ tsp. cumin powder
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- ¼ tsp. yellow mustard powder
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- ¼ tsp. fennel seed
For the Lime Dressing:
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp. lime juice
- 2 tsp. chopped mint
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1 tsp. brown sugar
- ¼ tsp. kosher salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
For the Chopped Salad:
- 1 head Boston Lettuce, chopped
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
- 1 cup chopped red and orange peppers
- 1 cup diced red onion
- 1 chopped avocado
- 1 cup sliced cucumber
- 1 cup chopped unsalted peanuts
Instructions
For the Coconut Chicken:
- In a bowl mix everything but the chicken together. This will be your marinade for the chicken.
- Cut the chicken breasts in half, horizontally, and then pound them to an even thickness of about a half inch thick. Place them in the marinade, while your grill pan heats up.
- Grill the breasts on a grill pan, on medium heat, until cooked through. Put them back in the refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the salad.
- Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces before tossing with the rest of the salad ingredients.
For the Lime Dressing:
- Shake all the ingredients until well combined, in a small jar.
To assemble the Chopped Salad:
- Toss all the vegetables, chicken, and peanuts in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over everything and toss until everything is well coated with the dressing.
