Chicken Salad Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Sesame, Peanuts and Coriander

Our quick and easy chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce, sesame, coriander and chillies will make you a deliciously light chicken salad made with shredded poached chicken breast, drizzled with homemade peanut sauce, sprinkled with peanuts and sesame seeds, and garnished with fresh coriander sprigs and optional slices of red chillies.

One of our best chicken recipes, and one of our best recipes with peanuts, this easy chicken salad recipe will make you a deliciously simple year-round salad that you can eat cold during spring-summer and warm during the autumn or fall and the winter months. Eat it as a light lunch or serve with steamed rice or noodles for a more substantial meal for dinner.

We love our shredded chicken salads and this Southeast Asian style chicken salad is one of our favourites. Made with shredded poached chicken breast, drizzled with an addictively delicious homemade peanut sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and peanuts, and garnished with fresh coriander and slices of red chillies, it’s one of our best poached chicken breast recipes.

While the salad comes together quickly, make the peanut sauce and poach chicken breasts ahead of time and you can get this salad on a plate in ten minutes. Poached chicken breasts last a few days in the fridge, and a jar of peanut sauce even longer. We often poach 3-4 chicken breasts and eat them in everything from chicken salads to chicken soups and rice porridges.

Before I tell you more about this chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce, sesame and coriander, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo. For instance, you could book a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, or gifts for Asian food lovers.

Now let me tell you more about this chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce, sesame, coriander and chillies.

Chicken Salad Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Sesame, Coriander and Chillies

If you’re cutting back on carbs or looking for zero-carb meals to make, then this chicken salad recipe with shredded poached chicken breast meat, homemade peanut sauce, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, fresh coriander, and (optional) chillies is for you.

For health reasons, Terence has increased his protein intake and dramatically reduced carbs in his diet, and it was Terence who created this poached chicken salad recipe by drizzling on some homemade peanut sauce we had left over after making these spicy peanut butter noodles.

We grow plenty of herbs on our balconies here in Siem Reap, so Terence plucked some coriander sprigs for his salad, and sprinkled on some sesame seeds, which we always have handy. He crushed up some peanuts in the mortar and pestle, and sliced up some bird’s eye chillies for a kick of heat. You could use mild chillies or skip them entirely.

These days we always seem to have some poached chicken breasts in the fridge and homemade peanut sauce on hand, which keeps for days in the fridge in a mason jar or clip-top Kilner jar and can be used not only on chicken salads, but can be drizzled over noodles and rice bowls.

I haven’t cut back on carbs (though I probably should), so while I do enjoy Terence’s chicken salad exactly as pictured, I also like to eat it with steamed rice and noodles. The result is not too dissimilar to this chicken noodle salad recipe with sesame sauce and peanuts.

Our chicken salad recipe includes a Chinese style peanut sauce recipe that I adapted from a Fujian peanut butter noodle recipe from Shaxian. There, wonton noodles are combined with a sauce made from dark soy sauce, shallot oil or sesame oil, scallions, and peanut butter. China produces an infinite array of peanut butters, many of which feature sesame seeds.

If you prefer a Thai style peanut sauce, then you could make this authentic Thai satay sauce recipe for a genuine Thai peanut satay sauce from scratch, which is usually served with these Thai chicken satay skewers from Southern Thailand.

It’s a slightly tweaked recipe from chef David Thompson’s Thai Street Food cookbook, which means it’s a bit of a cooking project. That recipe calls for dried red chillies to be soaked, coriander seeds and cumin seeds to be pan-roasted separately, and then pounded in a mortar and pestle.

I use dried ground coriander and ground cumin instead. You could also throw the ingredients in a food processor or blender, although the paste won’t taste as good, as the ingredients are torn apart rather than pounded together. Coconut cream brings richness to the sauce.

Like this Chinese peanut sauce, the Thai satay sauce also keeps well in the fridge for a while if it’s stored in well-sealed jar, so in my opinion it’s worth the effort as you’ll get more than one meal out of it. But I do adore this Chinese-style peanut sauce.

Just a few tips to making this homemade peanut sauce and chicken salad recipe as it really is a cinch to make.

Tips to Making this Chicken Salad Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Sesame, Coriander and Chillies

We only have a few tips to making this chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce, sesame, coriander and chillies as it’s super easy to prepare. We suggest making the peanut sauce first, in a round flat bottomed wok, as it takes longer to cool than the chicken.

Use a quality sesame oil and Chinese sesame paste (we use the brand ‘Wangzhihe – not available Amazon). Try not to use the Middle Eastern sesame paste called tahini, as they’re quite different, unless you can’t source Chinese sesame paste.

When it comes to fish sauce, we recommend Thailand’s Megachef, as its sodium levels are always consistent. You could also try the Vietnamese-American brand Red Boat Fish Sauce, which our American readers often recommend, although we haven’t tried it as it’s not available here in Southeast Asia

For the chilli oil, we use our own homemade Szechuan chilli oil but you could use a store-bought chilli oil. You’ll want a quality organic peanut butter or natural peanut butter if you can source it, as it won’t thicken too quickly and won’t take on the gluggy texture of the more processed peanut butters that contain additives and preservatives.

You only need once chicken breast for this salad for two people, but we always poach a few chicken breasts as we use them a lot. Chicken breasts can be poached ahead and will last a few days in a sealed container in the fridge.

You’ll need a digital kitchen thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken breasts so they remain moist and don’t over-cook. Poke it into the thickest parts of the breasts. When it reaches 74°C/ 165˚F remove the chicken breasts.

You can easily substitute poached chicken breast with store-bought rotisserie chicken, especially if you have leftovers to use up.

If you’re one of those people for whom coriander or cilantro tastes like soap, then you could use fresh basil, fresh dill or any other fresh Southeast Asian herbs.

We love Thailand’s Tong Garden salted peanuts, as they’re super crunchy. Use a mortar and pestle to crush the peanuts a little.

If the bird’s eye chillies are too hot for you, opt for the longer, milder fresh chillies, sprinkle on some chilli flakes or squirt on your favourite Sriracha sauce, or skip the chillies if you’re not a fan of the heat.

Chicken Salad Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Sesame, Coriander and Chillies

Chicken Salad Recipe with Peanut Sauce, Sesame and Coriander

AuthorLara Dunston

Our quick and easy chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce, sesame, coriander and chillies will make you a deliciously light chicken salad made with shredded poached chicken breast meat, drizzled with homemade peanut sauce, sprinkled with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds, and garnished with fresh coriander sprigs and (optional) slices of red chillies. Eat as is or serve with steamed rice or noodles.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main, Salad, Lunch

Cuisine Southeast Asian, Asian

Servings made with recipeServings 2

Calories 979 kcal

Equipment

Saucepan Pot

Waterproof Digital Meat Thermometer

Salad Bowls

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

Peanut Sauce

• 3 tbsp soybean oil - or another neutral cooking oil
• 100 g purple shallots - peeled finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic - peeled & finely chopped
• 1 knob ginger - grated
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp Chinese sesame paste - not tahini
• 3 tbsp chilli oil - store-bought or homemade; see our recipe in tips
• 3 tbsp peanut butter - natural crunchy
• 2 tbsp fish sauce - best quality
• 1 tsp tamarind sauce - or made from fresh tamarind pulp (optional)

Poached Chicken

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 knob ginger
• 1 lemongrass stalk - (optional)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves - (optional)

Chicken Salad

• 3 tbsp peanut sauce
• ¼ cup peanuts - partly crushed in a mortar and pestle
• ½ cup coriander sprigs
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 bird’s eye chilli - sliced (optional)

Instructions

 

• First make the peanut sauce: in a wok over medium-high, heat the cooking oil, fry the finely diced shallots until soft and translucent for two minutes or so, add the finely chopped garlic and fry for a minute until fragrant, then add the grated ginger, combine, fry for 30 seconds, then reduce the heat to medium.
• Add the sesame oil, Chinese sesame paste, chilli oil, natural crunchy peanut butter, fish sauce, and optional tamarind sauce using it, and stir to combine well, as the peanut butter breaks down and softens and a sauce forms. Taste and adjust to your palate. Turn the heat to low or, if the sauce has thickened right up, turn the heat off completely, and set aside to cool.
• Poach the chicken breast while the sauce is cooling: lay the chicken breast down in a small pot, pour in just enough water to cover it and add the aromatics (ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves). Turn on the heat, bring the water to boil then reduce the heat to low to a simmer.
• Use a digital kitchen thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken breast: when it reaches 74°C (165°F) in the thickest part of the chicken, remove the breast with tongs and set it aside until cool enough to touch.
• When the poached chicken breast has cooled, pull it apart using your fingers or two forks.
• Assemble the salad on a serving plate: lay out the shredded chicken breast pieces, drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the peanut sauce over the chicken, sprinkle on the crushed peanuts and sesame seeds, and garnish with fresh coriander sprigs and (optional) slices of red chillies.

Notes

You won’t use all the peanut sauce in this recipe, so store the rest in a mason jar or clip-top Kilner jar. The peanut sauce can be made ahead and will keep in a well-sealed jar in the fridge.
The chicken breasts can be poached ahead and will last a few days in a sealed container in the fridge.
You can easily substitute poached chicken breast with store-bought rotisserie chicken, especially if you have leftovers to use up.
A few pounds with a pestle in a mortar is perfect for crushing the peanuts.
Coriander tastes like soap to you? Try fresh basil leaves.
If you find bird’s eye chillies too hot, opt for milder long fresh chillies or even red capsicum (bell peppers), or squirt on some Sriracha or your favourite chilli sauce.
Serve the salad as is for a light lunch or with steamed rice or noodles for a more substantial main course for dinner.

Nutrition

Calories: 979kcalCarbohydrates: 29gProtein: 39gFat: 81gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 26gMonounsaturated Fat: 36gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 2004mgPotassium: 1077mgFiber: 5gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 540IUVitamin C: 40mgCalcium: 92mgIron: 3mg

Please do let us know in the comments below if you make our chicken salad recipe with peanut sauce as we love hearing how our recipes turn out for readers.