Larb Gai or Thai salad with chicken and lime is a classic Thai dish that can be served as light dinner or salad. The minced chicken salad with lime dressing combines a mix of classic Thai flavors; hot, sour, salty and sweet.
Craving Bold & Spicy? Larb Gai is a knockout Thai dish that explodes with flavor. This vibrant ground chicken salad is packed with fresh herbs, fiery chilies, and a tangy lime dressing. In just minutes, you can create this healthy and authentic Larb Gai recipe at home. Skip the takeout and impress your family with this restaurant-worthy meal!
What is Larb Gai?
The words are Thai or Laotian. Larb Gai translates to minced meat salad and chicken. The minced chicken is cooked with garlic. The dressing is based in lime juice, sugar and fish sauce which is mixed with hot peppers, shallots, green onion, herbs and salty nuts. The result is a unique sweet and sour sauce with a fantastic texture and some spice. The level of heat is left to the chef. We like it hot and use 5 Thai chilis with a few shakes of habanero flakes.
Is Thai Salad healthy?
Thai Larb Gai Salad is a healthy meal. When served with lettuce cups, it is a low calorie treat loaded with protein and vitamins. It is easy to prepare or a great option when at your favorite Thai restaurant. While categorized as a salad, the dish can easily serve as a healthy main course entree.
How do you make Thai salad?
Looking for a Larb Gai recipe? Thai Larb Gai Salad is simple to make. First you must brown 2-3 tablespoons of rice, then grind into a powder. Place garlic and ground chicken or turkey in a wok. While browning the meat, go ahead and prepare the lime dressing. As with most Asian recipes, it is important to pre cut all of your vegetables to save time when cooking. Once meat is cooked through, mince while in wok. Mix the dressing into the minced chicken.
What do you serve with Thai salad?
Thai salad can be served as a salad either in a bowl with lettuce or in a cup of butter lettuce as displayed below. When served as a salad, pair with summer rolls, steamed vegetables, shrimp, scallops, chicken dumplings or shumai. We avoid spring rolls, the deep fried relative of the summer roll.
Another way to serve Larb Gai is in a bowl with rice for a more substantive meal. By substituting rice for lettuce you will still have a delicious low fat meal, however this modification will increase the carb and calorie intake.
Larb gai is a terrific low calorie meal that isn’t light on flavor. This dish exemplifies our goal of enjoying healthy food without giving up flavor. Try it. We think you will love this recipe.
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Thai salad with Chicken and Lime (Larb Gai)
4
servings15
minutes20
minutesA light and healthy meal or salad that is loaded with essential Thai flavors.
Ingredients
1-2 Head Butter lettuce
4 Tbs Rice, preferably Jasmine
1 .5 Pounds Ground chicken or turkey
1 Tbs Peanut or avocado oil
5 Cloves Garlic
1 Whole Lime, juiced
1 Tsp Brown sugar or honey
1 Tbs Fish sauce
4 Thai chilis minced
1 Shallot diced
1 Small Onion diced
4 Scallions sliced
1/4 Cup cilantro chopped
2 Tbs Thai basil (see notes)
1/2 Cup fresh mint chopped
1/3 Cup Salted roasted peanuts or almonds chopped
Sriracha or chili garlic sauce as an optional topping
Directions
- Clean lettuce and set aside to dry.
- Add rice to dry wok at medium-high heat and roast until browned and fragrant. Do not burn! Remove from wok and grind to a powder. This can be done with a grinder or a mortar and pestle. I’m
- Heat oil in wok at medium to high heat. Add ground chicken or turkey and garlic. Sauté until cooked through, breaking up into small pieces. Remove and set aside.
- Add lime juice, sugar (or honey) and fish sauce to a bowl. Whisk. Stir in rice powder, chilis, shallot, onion, green onion, half the cilantro, Thai basil and mint.
- Add minced chicken and garlic to the liquid. Mix to combine.
- Place chicken on a platter with lettuce leaves on the side. Place meat in the lettuce cups. Top with peanuts and either sriracha or chili garlic sauce if using. Garnish with additional herbs if desired.
Recipe Video
Notes
- The number of Thai chilis can be modified depending on your tolerance for heat.
- Thai basil can be hard to find. If you can’t find Thai basil you can substitue traditional fresh basil.
- Salted roasted peanuts are traditional. We also like roasted almonds.
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