My Story in Recipes
  • Recipe Index
  • Blog Posts
  • My Story
  • Connect

Peanut Chicken Salad

1/3/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Why is it that my dishwasher breaks at the most inconvenient times.  (Is there really ever a convenient time for the dishwasher to break?)  We had a dishwasher malfunction in early November, during homecoming weekend while my parents were visiting.  The good news is that we happened to have a big stack of paper plates AND everyone chipped in to help wash the dishes that we did use. 

While the dishwasher was out of commission, (for 7 weeks!)  I learned to be very conservative with the number of dishes that I used while I was preparing dinner.  I think food bloggers use even more dishes than the average Joe cook because we're constantly moving food to clean dishes so it can be photographed.  I had never given it too much thought because I would just put all those dishes in the dishwasher.  Now that I have to wash them all by hand, I'm much more conscious of the ridiculous amount of dishes that I use to create and photograph one meal.  

My non functioning dishwasher has caused me to reevaluate my dish use so my blog posts are going to look slightly different until the dishwasher gets repaired.  Fewer dishes to wash equals a happier food blogger.  

Ryan is well into his wrestling season and he is trying to maintain his weight so we've been opting for more salads for dinner.  I found this recipe on mykitchenescapades.com and since Ryan is such a big peanut fan, I was hoping that he would appreciate this salad.

I changed the recipe from the original quite a bit.   I didn't marinate my chicken but I put about 8 chicken breasts (enough for the whole week) on the Big Green Egg and grilled them with a little salt and pepper.  I left the instructions for the marinade from the original recipe because I think that it would be even better with marinated chicken.  I also couldn't find Thai sweet red chili sauce at my Wal Mart supermarket and I was not in the mood to go to another grocery store so I decided to just leave it out.  I ended up combining the dressing and the peanut sauce into one peanuty vinaigrette.  It was yummy.  As you can see, this is one of those salad recipes that you can change and adjust and adapt to your own taste.  It would be hard to mess this one up.  
Picture
Peanut Chicken Salad
Chicken marinade
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 Tb rice vinegar
1/4 C sugar 
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
dash of salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - about 2 1/2 pounds total

Salad
2 hearts of romaine, chopped
1/2 large head of napa cabbage, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 carrots, shredded
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 green onions, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 C salted peanuts

Dressing
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C Thai sweet red chili sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
pinch of salt and pepper

Peanut Sauce
1/4 C natural peanut butter
2 Tb soy sauce
1 Tb rice vinegar
1 Tb Thai sweet red chili sauce
2 Tb water
In a ziplock bag, combine all the ingredients for the chicken marinade.  Mush it all around, then place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours to marinade.  Cook the chicken either on a hot grill, 6-8 minutes a side or in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  ​Allow it to cool a bit, then chop up all the chicken into bite sized pieces. 
Picture
Picture
​Cut lettuce and cabbage and add to a big bowl.
Add cucumbers.
Picture
Picture
​Add carrots.
​ Add red bell pepper.
Picture
Picture
Add green onions.
Add cilantro.
Picture
Picture
Add peanuts and toss.
Picture
Picture
Combine all the dressing ingredients then pour over the salad. 
Picture
Picture
Stir together the ingredients for the peanut sauce in a small bowl.  If the sauce is too thick to drizzle, add a bit more water. I combined the peanut sauce and the dressing. 
​Generously drizzle the peanut sauce over each serving of salad then top with the peanuts and chicken.
Picture
​This salad was crunchy and nutty and delicious.  Ryan loved the chicken with the peanut vinaigrette.  He didn't eat a lot of the salad but he did pack some for his lunch for the following day.  I thought this was a really delicious salad and I am definitely going to try it again with marinated chicken and some Thai sweet red chili sauce.

Ciao!
Click here for a printable version of this recipe
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Like my page on facebook.

    Follow me on Instagram


    Follow Me on Pinterest

    Categories

    All
    30 Minute Meals
    30-minute-meals
    Big Green Egg Recipes
    Chocolate
    Christmas Classics
    Comfort Foods
    Crock Pot Meals
    Fall Favorites
    Healthy-choices
    Healthy-choices
    My Favorites
    Springtime Treats
    St Patrick's Day Goodies
    Summertime Specialties
    Thanksgiving Classics
    Valentine Treats
    Vegetarian
    Winter Warm Ups

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

  • Recipe Index
  • Blog Posts
  • My Story
  • Connect