Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Princess Lori is coming over for dinner tonight to help me with a project tonight. I love cooking for people who love to eat.  Well, I love cooking in general, but especially when I'm cooking for someone who appreciates every bit of it.

I decided to keep it relatively light and make Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce. I had seen this recipe on FB a month or so ago and thought it looked delicious. 

I actually followed this recipe too. Crazy I know.  I grilled the chicken inside because I couldn't get the grill to work outside.  I did the chicken early and put it in the fridge so when I make the salad it'll chilled and the same temp as the salad. Oh I should say I didn't put in the red bell peppers cuz those are gross. But otherwise, I followed the recipe.

Photo from
 mykitchenescapade.com

Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Recipe from MyKitchenEscapade.com
serves 8

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 (I doubled this part of the recipe. It didn't seem like very much dressing for so  much salad.)
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 creamy 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.

Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl, except for the peanuts, then add the chicken. Combine all the dressing ingredients then pour over the salad.  Toss until the salad is evenly coated with the dressing.  Dish out the individual servings of the salad.

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.  Generously drizzle the peanut sauce over each serving of salad then top with the peanuts.