This Thai Peanut Salad Recipe is so tasty with fresh shredded cabbage, peanuts, chopped veggies, and tossed with a delicious Thai peanut dressing. Eat this healthy salad as a side dish or main dish by adding chopped cooked chicken. Bonus: it's a gluten-free, low carb, and keto salad too!
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🎥 Recipe Video
❤️ Thai Peanut Salad Recipe
"This Thai salad with peanut dressing is so delicious! It has lots of reviews and thousands of shares - try it for yourself!"
This Salad is Addicting
Warning! This Thai Peanut salad recipe is addicting. 🙂 I tested multiple versions of this recipe, and we gobbled up every bit of it. The combination of the fresh chopped veggies, peanuts, and the slightly spicy, salty, sweet peanut dressing is what makes this so good. It's got some crunch from the peanuts and cabbage, so it is just so satisfying and GOOD.
Easy To Make
Simply shred/chop your veggies and toss them with the salad ingredients. Make this a Thai chicken salad by adding 12 to 16 oz of chopped cooked chicken.
Healthy Low Carb Keto Salad
Using coconut aminos and a sugar substitute like monk fruit or erythritol, this Thai salad with peanut dressing is a perfect low-carb, sugar-free, and keto salad recipe. It has so much flavor - it's filling and satisfying - all of which will help you stay on track!
If you want to lower the carbs even further, you could use half the peanuts and green onions. It will reduce the net carbs a couple of grams per serving and shouldn't compromise the taste too much.
16.2 g fat | 7.2 g net cabs | 6.1 g protein
🥘What You'll Need
Here's what you'll need to make Thai Peanut Salad:
Ingredients
Salad
- Cabbage
- Cucumber
- Green Onions
- Salted Peanuts
- Red Bell Pepper
- Optional: make it a full meal by adding 12 oz diced cooked chicken
Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
This peanut Thai dressing is REALLY good! 😉
- Peanut Butter - use all-natural peanut butter and adjust the quantity if needed (every peanut butter is different)
- Olive Oil
- Rice Vinegar - you can also you regular white vinegar
- Coconut Aminos, Soy Sauce, or Tamari Sauce - use the appropriate "soy" product for your dietary needs.
- Sweetener - granulated sugar substitute or regular sugar
- Garlic
- Ginger Paste - use can also use finely minced ginger
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt and Pepper
- Optional: Fresh Cilantro for garnish
Tools
🔪 How To Make It
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making this Thai Peanut Salad.
Make Salad
In a large bowl, add cabbage, cucumber, green onions, peanuts, pepper, and chicken (if you're using it).
Make Creamy Peanut Dressing
In a small bowl, whisk together all of the peanut salad dressing ingredients - peanut butter, olive oil, vinegar, coconut aminos, sweetener, garlic, ginger paste, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Toss
Pour salad dressing over the salad and toss until well coated.
Serve
Adjust salt and pepper, and any other seasoning to your liking. Enjoy!
📖 Variations
- Make it a Thai Peanut Chicken Salad! Yum. Just add about 12 oz of chopped cooked chicken. 🙂 Now it's a full meal and the perfect lunch recipe!
- Adjust seasoning to your liking. Add a little spice if you enjoy the heat.
- Feel free to add fresh cilantro or even a squeeze of lemon or lime to give it a little brightness.
💭 Top Tips
- If using tamari or soy sauce, increase the sugar (or sugar substitute) by a ½ tsp, for a total of 1½ tsp. Coconut aminos was used in this recipe, and it is sweeter than tamari or soy.
- Every peanut butter brand is different. All-natural peanut butter that has not been refrigerated can be quite runny. This is what we used in this recipe. You may need to adjust the quantity of peanut butter or add a little liquid to accommodate any differences.
❓FAQs
Can I lower the carbs in this keto salad?
Yes, you can lower the carbs slightly by using 1/4 cup of peanuts instead of 1/2 cup. To make your peanuts "go farther," chop them before adding them to the salad. This will save approximately 1 net carb per serving. Reducing green onion to 1/4 cup will also save 1 net carb per serving.
Can I make this a broccoli slaw recipe instead of using cabbage?
Yes, you can substitute broccoli slaw in place of the cabbage.
Can I use a pre-shredded cabbage salad mix?
Yes, definitely! You can use a pre-shredded cabbage salad mix instead of shredding your own cabbage.
What is coconut aminos?
Coconut aminos is a gluten-free, msg-free, sugar-free soy alternative. It's a salty and sweet sauce that tastes very similar to soy sauce. It's very popular as in low-carb, gluten-free, keto, and paleo diets. It is made with coconut palm and sea salt.
If substituting coconut aminos for soy, keep in mind that it is sweeter than soy sauce. If a recipe calls for sugar (or sugar substitute), lower the amount of sugar added. Do a taste test and adjust as needed.
✔️ More Salad Recipes
Here are some of our most popular salad recipes:
- Low Carb Coleslaw (Dill Pickle Slaw)
- Best Greek Salad Recipe
- Layered Salad (Layered Overnight Salad)
- Zesty Italian Pasta Salad (with Pasta or Cauliflower)
- Seafood Pasta Salad (Use Pasta or Cauliflower)
- Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad
If you tried this salad recipe, let me know! I'd love for you to come back and give the recipe a star rating and/or a review in the comments! 🙂 Let's stay connected, so please share photos of your creations with me and others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
📋 Recipe
Thai Peanut Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 cups cabbage shredded
- ½ cup cucumber peeled and chopped
- ½ cup green onions sliced
- ½ cup salted peanuts
- ½ cup red bell pepper if you want spice use 1/4 cup hot red pepper, diced
- optional: make it a full meal by adding 12 oz diced cooked chicken
Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
- ⅓ cup peanut butter use all natural peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar or regular vinegar
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos tamari, or regular soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar substitute or regular sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon ginger paste or finely minced ginger
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl add cabbage, cucumber, green onions, peanuts, pepper, and chicken (if you're using it).
- In a small bowl mix the Thai peanut salad dressing ingredients.
- Pour dressing over the salad and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If using tamari or soy sauce, increase the sugar (or sugar substitute) by a ½ tsp, for a total of 1½ tsp. Coconut aminos was used in this recipe and it is sweeter than tamari or soy sauce.
Nutrition
© 2023 Seeking Good Eats™
Thai peanut salad is packed full of Asian flavors! This Thai recipe has everything - creamy Thai peanut sauce, crunchy cabbage and peanuts, sweet and a little spice. Add cooked chicken to make a perfect Thai peanut chicken salad for lunch or dinner. A low carb and keto salad recipe that everyone will go "peanuts" over. #salad #thai #slaw #cabbage #thaifood #thairecipe #healthyrecipe #saladrecipe #lowcarb #glutenfree #sugarfree #keto #ketogenic #ketosalad
Ruby says
Legumes are not on Keto, peanuts and peanut butter are legumes, no? They are on “dirty” keto and low carb though.
Frances says
This looks yummy! I am doing weight watchers and need to know amount of “saturated” fats per serving. You have total fats listed but that would be too much...usually the saturated amt is much less.
seekinggoodeats says
Hello! It has approximately 2.3g saturated fats
Jessica Gazzard says
Can you keep this in the fridge for a couple of days?
Kori says
I think you could, but if you put the dressing on it it will start to get soggy. Maybe you could only put dressing on the part that you plan to eat then save the rest for your next serving? Have a great day! 🙂
Rose says
We loved it. I doubled the peanut sauce and think I must have put too much vinegar is there a way to neutralize it. I did add a little more sugar and tastes better
Kori says
Great so glad you loved this salad! Differences in brands and kinds of vinegar, coconut aminos vs soy or tamari, can alter the taste of the salad slightly so good job adjusting it to your liking! 🙂
Nadia says
Really yummy!!! It was a hit, especially with the boiled chicken!
Kori says
Great! I'm so glad. Thank you for giving it a try! 🙂 I love adding chicken to it too, it's quite delicious!
brandi says
how much peanut butter
seekinggoodeats says
Hello 🙂 1/3 cup. I see the technical glitch. Will get that fixed!
Élise says
Love it! Used apple cider vinegar since that’s what I had in the house, as well as coconut aminos/nectar, and finely cut little less Spanish Onion since I didn’t have green onions on hand . Mixed in some chicken once in our plates. Was a big hit with my husband and my 10 year old son as well!
Thank you for this great recipe
Kori says
I love your substitution ideas - sounds delicious! I add chicken in all the time and it is wonderful! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe and I'm super happy your whole family loved it 🙂
Kimber says
My family loves this recipe!!!
Thanks for sharing it, it’s so crunchy and delicious!!! ❤️
Kori says
Thank you! I'm so glad your whole family loves the salad!! 🙂
Reiko S. says
Great recipe! I added 1T of fish sauce for extra umami to the dressing. Actually doubled the dressing recipe since I added chicken to it.
Kori says
So glad you loved it! 🙂 I'm going to add fish sauce next I make this - that sounds delicious!!
Debra says
I just made this. It's so yum! I did a couple of adaptations. I used a bag of tri-color coleslaw, roasted edamame in place of the peanuts, a tbsp of chili garlic sauce instead of red pepper flakes and garlic, only 1 tbsp of olive oil to cut down on the cals, and I just threw in about a cup of chopped cilantro. Oh, and I only had two tbsps left of rice vinegar, so my third was champagne vinegar. Anyway, I can barely stop eating it. Great recipe. I'll be writing about it on my cooking blog and will # you on Instagram.
Kori says
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Shannon Rich says
Can I replace chicken with white fish instead?
seekinggoodeats says
I have not tried it, but I bet you could! If you do make it, let me know how it turns out! 🙂 I'm a fish lover!
Emily says
Do you think you could use tuna fish instead of chicken on this recipe?
Kori says
You know I've never tried it. Tuna is fairly mild it might work. Maybe try a bite before mixing it all in? Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Samantha says
One of the best salads I have ever had!! Just made this for dinner tonight. Delicious
Kori says
Awwww. Thank you so very much! One of the best compliments EVER 🙂
CJ says
Delicious! We also added finely diced apple to the mix. We usually add it to cole slaw and love peanut butter and apple, so we figured we'd give it a try. Yum!
Kori says
Thank you! You are the first person to mention they added apple and I think that is a fantastic idea! 🙂 I think the sweetness from the apple would go amazing with this salad.
Stacy M says
I’m making salad and dressing ahead of time. Do I need to refrigerate the dressing?
Kori says
It kind of depends on how far ahead, if it's a couple of days I would refrigerate. The peanut butter and olive oil will thicken in the fridge so you may want to bring it to room temp before serving. I hope you enjoy! 🙂
Jayme Olson says
Excellent! I made it as it's written (without chicken). So balanced. No flavor overpowers another. Even better the next day. Really holds up well. We've enjoyed it over 4 days. Flavor and texture fantastic. We eat a lot of cabbage. This recipe will go in our rotation because I always have the ingredients. Btw cilantro is a must!!
Kori says
Great! Thank you for trying the recipe! Super happy you loved it. I am a cabbage lover too and make this recipe A LOT. 😉 I agree cilantro does taste amazing!
renise says
what kind of red pepper are you using?
Kori says
I'm using red bell pepper, enjoy!
Alana says
THIS is a WINNER! You know a SALAD is good when a TEENAGER goes back for 3 portions! 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣😋
Kori says
Yay!! Thank you so much!! Super happy you loved it!! Oh boy do I know what you are talking about - I have 3 teens now and I test a lot of my recipes out on them! LOL 🙂
Doris Bailey says
How many serving is this there are only two of us.
Kori says
I serves 6 to 8, I would halve or quarter the recipe for just two of you. Enjoy! 🙂
Patricia says
This Thai peanut salad was delicious! I followed the recipe, plus added chicken and made it a complete meal. Everyone in my family loved it. We even ate it again two days later and will definitely be eating it again in the near future. This will be one of my usuals. Thanks!
Kori says
Awww thank you so much! That sounds so good, and I love that you added chicken. It really is so good!!
Meg says
I made this as a weeknight meal with rotisserie chicken. My husband stuffed himself on it! 3 days later I needed a dish for a potluck and spouse loudly proclaimed I should take this! It was such a hit. Everyone is asking for the recipe! I made it with oven baked chicken I chopped and cooled (I was out of rotisserie chicken) and without nuts for the party to accomodate dietary needs and it was great.
It is definitely in the meal rotation!
seekinggoodeats says
Awww! Thank you so much. I'm so happy everyone has loved this salad. Thanks so much for making it. I love it with chicken too! 🙂