These Vietnamese Chicken Salad Bowls look vibrant and taste even better! These are super easy to make as I have come up with a sauce that doubles as both a marinade and as a light dressing. I must have been in the mood for something with a little spice, having recently made my South American Sandwich. The Salad Bowls take us across the world and are light and zingy!
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Bowls Marinade/ Dressing
The sauce is similar to the Vietnamese Nuoc Cham but has been amended. My sauce will work perfectly as both a sauce and marinade. Nice and easy! It’s a fairly tangy sauce with the lime juice and the rice wine vinegar with some sweetness from the sugar and some spice from the chilli’s.
The soy sauce and fish sauce give it some saltiness and a much greater depth of flavour. As with most recipes that use fish sauce, the sauce will not taste fishy! The fish sauce gives a wonderful depth of flavour and is essential in Vietnamese cooking.(If you’ve eaten Vietnamese or Thai food at a restaurant, it’s a good chance you’ve had fish sauce! Soy sauce can be substituted for a gluten free option.
The Vietnamese Chicken Salad Bowls contain my favourite mix of ingredients, but this can be amended to suit your preferences. I try to go for a mixture of colours, flavours and textures. It’s highly recommended to have some fresh herbs in there too! Coriander and mint are traditional options but you could try parsley or basil if you preferred.
I like the use the rice noodles in this dish to make it more filling. However, if you were looking for a low carb and calorie lunch, you could skip these.
Check out how to make this dish in the video below
Songs used in the video!
Ultra Nate vs Roland Clark- The first time free (Claptone mix)
Ucha – Yellow Jello Slugs (Superlover remix)
Adam Port- Someone to love
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Bowls
These Vietnamese Chicken Salad Bowls look vibrant and taste even better! These are super easy to make as I have come up with a sauce that doubles as both a marinade and as a light dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 500 to 700 grams of chicken breasts (or chicken thighs) cut horizontally so each piece of meat becomes two pieces.
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil extra for dressing
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons of lime juice
- 4 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar (see notes)
- 4 tablespoons of white sugar
- ¼ cup of water
- ¼ cup of fish sauce (see notes)
- 2 tablespoon of soy sauce (light or all purpose but no dark) See notes for GF alternatives
- SALAD BOWL
- 200 grams of vermicelli noodles
- 1 yellow or red capsicum, cut into thin strips
- 2 carrots, julienned
- 4 cups of iceberg lettuce, finely sliced
- 2 cups of bean sprouts
- 1 cup of spring onions, finely chopped
- ½ cup of coriander (optional)
- ½ cup of mint leaves (optional)
- 1 to 2 red birdseye chilli’s (see notes)
Instructions
1. Place all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and combine.
2. Place the chicken in another bowl and place half of the sauce over the chicken and mix to coat.
3. Place cling wrap over the bowl and marinate for at least an hour or up to a day.
4. Once the chicken has finished marinating, you can start preparing your vegetables, ready to place into the bowls
5. Once your vegetables/ herbs are ready, place a pan over medium high heat and cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes a side or until cooked through.
6. While the chicken is cooking, cook the noodles as per the packet and place into the four bowls. Arrange the salad onto of the noodles so that each vegetable/herb has a separate space.
7. Pour the remanning sauce equally over the salad
8. Once the chicken is cooked, slice each half breast into thin stripes and place on top of the salad.
9. Serve immediately!
Notes
1. You can use either chicken thighs or breast for this dish. If you are using thighs instead of breast you will need to cook for another 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through.
2. Rice wine vinegar is traditionally used in Vietnamese dressings and is the best option for this dish. You could try substituting for 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar or another 3 tablespoons of lime juice.
3. Fish sauce gives a greater depth of flavour than soy sauce and it will not taste fishy when combined with everything else. It is also cheap to buy and a secret ingredient in a range of south east Asian dishes
4. Substitute soy sauce for tamari sauce if you wish for this to be gluten free.
5. Depending on your tolerance for spicy foods, you can choose to deseed the chilli’s. ½ a chilli per person is a good amount for most but you can remove the chilli for those that don’t like spice or for children.
Please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments!
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