vietnamese lemongrass chicken salad
I had a hankering for a Vietnamese salad one day, so I thought I’d just make one. As you do.
This is one of those recipes I come back to every now and then, especially in summer when you want something that feels light but still satisfying. It’s bright, zesty, fresh—everything a summer salad should be. The lemongrass chicken is herby and sweet, there’s a little kick of heat from the chilli, a little salty from the peanuts, and the veggies keep everything crisp, crunchy and vibrant.
It’s the kind of salad that actually tastes like something, not just sad lettuce pretending to be a meal. Delicious, refreshing, and worth the effort of chopping all those veggies.
serves 4
Ingredients
Lemongrass Chicken
- 2 tbsp lemongrass paste
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 500g chicken thighs
Salad
- 400g vermicelli noodles
- 200g iceberg lettuce
- 1 cucumber, julienned
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 red chilli, chopped
- 1 handful of chopped roasted salted peanuts, to serve
- Fresh mint to serve
Method
- Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl to form a marinade. Cover the chicken with the marinade and refrigerate for two hours.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and bake the chicken for 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 75 degrees Celsius.
- Once the chicken has been cooked, let it rest, and then slice.
- Assemble to salad. Divide the ingredients into four and add the noodles, iceberg, cucumber, carrot and chicken to four bowls. Top with lime juice, chilli, mint and peanuts.
- Serve immediately
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