Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad - Keto

This Crunchy Thai Chicken Salad is a keto and low carb version of my favourite Panera Bread salad. A quick and simple spicy Thai salad dressing combined with leftover rotisserie chicken and some shredded cabbage...the perfect weeknight dinner keto idea!

this recipe

Keto Copycat Panera Bread Salad

I love a good salad.

Ever since I moved to Florida and 90% of the year is sunny, bright, and hot, salad has quickly become my "go-to" meal for a quick and healthy lunch or dinner. I mean seriously, how can you possibly go wrong with a bowl of crispy greens, fresh veggies and homemade salad dressings like my Keto Ginger Salad Dressing.

These days, my Keto Warm Asparagus Bacon Salad, Keto Maple Bacon Broccoli Salad or my Keto Asian Chicken Noodle Salad - Whole30 and Paleo, have been made countless times.

So, craving something a little different, I decided to make a keto and low carb version of one of my favourite Panera Bread Salads - The Spicy Thai Chicken Salad.

Keto Thai Chicken Salad Ingredients

• Peanut Butter - I used smooth Jif Natural. I would not suggest using your own Homemade Nut Butter as it is not creamy enough for this salad dressing. If you don't want to use Peanut Butter, you can always you almond butter instead. Also, if you want to keep this salad nut-free, you can use sunflower seed butter.
• Keystone Pantry Honey - ChocZero makes by far the most DELICIOUS sugar-free honey on the market. If you don't have any, you can always use real honey, liquid allulose or VitaFiber Syrup. If you are in a pinch, you could try Sugar-free Maple Syrup but there will be a slight "maple" flavour to your salad. You can always add Honey Extract as well or make my Homemade Sugar-Free Hot Honey Syrup and omit the peppers
• Soy Sauce - You can not omit this ingredient as it is the quintessential ingredient to give this salad its "Thai" flavour. However, with that being said, you can easily replace it with coconut aminos which taste just like soy sauce. Coconut aminos are slightly sweetener than soy sauce so you may want to adjust the amount of liquid sweetener to suit your taste.
• Vinegar - I used Shaoxing wine. Shaoxing wine, or shàoxīng jiǔ (绍兴酒), is a type of Chinese rice wine that hails from Shaoxing, a city in China’s Zhejiang Province famous for rice wine production. It’s a key ingredient in many dishes and will create that authentic restaurant flavor you may have found difficult to replicate at home.  Clear rather than cloudy, it has a dark amber colour, with a mildly sweet, fragrant aroma. If you can't find it, use regular rice vinegar instead.
• Sesame oil - Toasted sesame oil is beloved for its rich, nutty, toasty taste. It has a distinct toasted sesame aroma and adds a punch of flavor to recipes. The best tasting Toasted Sesame Oil is by Ottogi and you can easily buy it from Amazon.
• Ginger - To make this recipe super easy, I use ginger paste by Gourmet Garden that is found in nearly every grocery store in the US. You can easily replace this with minced ginger instead but it takes longer than just squeezing a bottle!
• Garlic - Again, to help make this a quick and easy weeknight keto meal, I use prechopped garlic from Gourmet Garden. You can easily mince 1 clove of garlic which is equal to 1 teaspoon of garlic paste.
• Shredded cabbage - I buy the Taylor Farms shredded cabbage from Sam's Club. It costs under $2 for 2 lbs! Most grocery stores have shredded cabbage - it is sometimes labeled as "coleslaw" and is usually found near the lettuce section.
• Peanut nuts or sliced almonds - You can slightly roast the almonds by placing them in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring every 30 seconds until they begin to brown. Be careful because the plate will get VERY hot and the almonds can burn very quickly. I also like to use Keto Spicy Maple Candied Nuts if I have any leftovers!
• Leftover chicken - Using leftover chicken helps to speed up the time for this meal. I like to use a rotisserie chicken that has been shredded.

Instructions for making Keto Thai Cabbage Salad

There are only a few steps to making this Crunchy Thai Chicken salad. Because we are using leftover pre-cooked chicken along with already shredded cabbage, it means that this recipe comes together in minutes!

Step 1: Prepare the Thai chili vinaigrette by whisking all of the ingredients together. Taste the salad dressing and add any additional salt and pepper

Step 2: In a large salad bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, chopped peanuts, roasted chicken and the salad dressing. Toss everything together to combine all the ingredients. Taste the mixture once again and add any additional salt.

Step 3: Divide the salad equally and top with some additional chopped nuts.

Leftovers or Make Ahead

What if you want to make this salad ahead of time so you have a quick and easy keto dinner ready in minutes after a long day at work? Or, what if you want to bring some of the leftovers for lunch?

To be honest, this salad is best served within about 30-60 minutes of assembling it. However, I still absolutely LOVE it as a lunch leftover, even if it does lose some of its crunch.

Ideally, if you want to make this nice and fresh for each meal, don't toss all the ingredients together at once. Store the cabbage and chicken in one container, and the salad dressing in another. When you are ready, simply toss together the ingredients in the amounts you plan on using and top each salad with some peanuts.

The vinaigrette, chicken, and shredded cabbage should last at least 5 days if stored separately.

Looking for more Keto Salad recipes?

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Easy Keto Dessert Recipes

These are my favourite dishes to serve with keto Thai chicken salad:

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