You know what makes my recipe-developing heart super happy?! Recipes that come about by accident OR even out of desperation, like this recipe for Thai Chicken Salad. This recipe was born out of a near empty fridge – I had cooked chicken and cabbage but not enough ingredients to make my usual chicken salad or even just a standard ol’ salad with ranch. After rummaging around the pantry I decided to make an almond butter dressing for this chicken/cabbage creation and voila! a delicious new recipe came to life. Since that day I’ve tested this creation several times and added some more ingredients to make it even more tasty and let me tell you, I AM HOOKED. One hearty serving is 6 Blue WW SmartPoints and 8 Green WW SmartPoints.
It should come as no surprise that I’m obsessed with this one – if ya’ll know me, you KNOW that I am ALLL about chicken salad. I’ll never get sick of it. This recipe is like a hybrid between a standard chicken salad and a chopped salad. It’s crunchy from the cabbage and filling from all the protein and healthy fat, plus the almond butter dressing is insanely flavorful.
The almond butter dressing truly is the star of the show and it’s so simple to make – it’s basically a tweaked version of the almond butter sauce from my Thai Chicken Zoodles. You simply whisk together almond butter, coconut aminos (or soy sauce), ginger paste, sriracha, sesame oil, and a splash of water. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
The base of the chicken salad is shredded chicken and cabbage. I use slaw mix to make my life even easier – it’s perfect for this dish! We also toss in some diced red pepper, mandarin oranges, green onion, and cilantro. This flavor combo is out of this world good, ya’ll! I usually prepare 3 or 4 servings of this to have for lunch throughout the week – it’s great to meal prep because the cabbage stays nice and crunchy.
My Thai Chicken Salad recipe makes 1 serving at 6 Blue WW SmartPoints and 8 Green WW SmartPoints. If you’d like more than one serving simply multiply the recipe by the desired number of servings – it will keep for 3-4 days. Enjoy!
Pssst… If you love chicken salad as much as I do, be sure to check out these other chicken salad recipes:
- Easy Everyday Chicken Salad
- Harvest Chicken Salad – Served Two Ways
- Buffalo Ranch Chicken Salad
- BLT Chicken Salad
- 3 oz shredded cooked chicken*
- 1.5 cups shredded cabbage (I used slaw mix)
- ¼ red pepper, diced
- 1 4oz container no sugar added mandarin oranges
- 2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped (more to taste)
- 1-2 Tbsp green onion, chopped (to taste)
- 8 g slivered almonds
- sesame seeds to garnish (optional)
- 1.5 Tbsp almond butter
- 2 tsp coconut aminos (may sub low sodium soy sauce)
- ½ tsp ginger paste
- ½ tsp sriracha (to taste)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp water
- pinch of salt (use if almond butter is unsalted)
- In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients, set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together the shredded chicken and cabbage. Stir in the almond butter dressing and toss until well combined.
- Drain the juice from the mandarin oranges and lay them out on a paper towel to absorb the excess liquid. Add the oranges, red pepper, green onion, and cilantro to the salad and mix gently.
- Top salad with slivered almonds. Garnish as desired - I typically add more green onion, cilantro, sriracha, and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
*Use any kind of cooked chicken you'd like - I always switch this up. You can poach chicken, bake it in the oven, cook it in a crock pot, instant pot, etc. If you are in a hurry you can even buy precooked chicken from the grocery.
Blue WW SmartPoints Info:
- 1.5 Tbsp almond butter (4sp)
- 1 tsp sesame oil (1sp)
- 8 g almonds (1sp)
- all other ingredients (0sp)
= 6 WW SmartPoints for the recipe
Nutritional information is calculated with MyFitnessPal and may vary based on brands used. Smart Points information is calculated with the Weight Watchers app and may also vary based on brands used.
I am so excited you are making one of my recipes and I would love to see how it turns out! Make sure to share it on Instagram and tag me @rachelshealthyplate and use #rachelshealthyplate so I can see your creation!
