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This Thai crunch salad is crisp, colorful, and tossed in a creamy peanut dressing that’s so good, you’ll want to drizzle it on everything.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
If you’ve ever had the Thai Crunch Salad at California Pizza Kitchen, you know how good that combination of crisp vegetables and creamy peanut dressing can be. This recipe is my take on that restaurant favorite, with crunchy Napa cabbage, colorful vegetables, edamame, and a peanut dressing that’s so good, you’ll want to put it on everything!
Don’t be put off by the long ingredient list. You can save time by using pre-shredded carrots and other prepared vegetables from the supermarket, and the dressing comes together in minutes in a blender. The salad makes a wonderful light lunch, and it’s easy to turn into a more substantial meal, too.
“This salad was such a big hit at dinner last night that my guest requested seconds. It’s so over-the-top delicious that it’s insane!”
How to Make Thai Crunch Salad
Make the dressing: Combine all of the dressing ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Chopping the garlic and ginger first prevents the dressing from being gritty or uneven, especially if your blender isn’t super powerful. Add the cilantro.
Blend for just a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. (Adding it at the end keeps the dressing a creamy, natural color instead of muddy green.)
Combine the veggies: In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, cucumber, edamame, scallions, and cilantro. Seeding the cucumbers is key for keeping the salad crisp and avoiding excess water that can dilute the dressing.
Dress and serve: When you’re ready to eat, pour the peanut dressing over the vegetables and toss until everything is nicely coated. That’s it! The salad is best served right away, while all those vegetables are still crisp and crunchy.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
This salad is great for making ahead, as long as you keep the vegetables and dressing separate until you’re ready to eat. You can chop and combine the vegetables up to 2 days in advance and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The peanut dressing can be made up to 1 week ahead and refrigerated separately.
When you’re ready to serve, give the dressing a good stir or whisk, as it may thicken slightly in the fridge. Toss the salad with the dressing just before serving to keep everything nice and crunchy. Once dressed, the salad is best eaten right away.
Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing
Ingredients
For the Peanut Dressing
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, from 1 lime
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- (1-in) square piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
For the Salad
- 4 cups chopped Napa cabbage or shredded coleslaw mix
- 1 cup prepared shredded carrots
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small English cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced
- 1 cup cooked and shelled edamame
- 2 medium scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- ½ cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Prepare the dressing: Combine all of the ingredients except for the cilantro in a blender and process until completely smooth. Add the cilantro and blend for a few seconds until the cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Prepare the salad: Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine.
- Dress and serve: Just before serving, drizzle the peanut dressing over the salad and toss well to coat. If you're not serving the salad right away, keep the dressing separate so the vegetables stay crisp.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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What to Serve with Thai Crunch Salad
This salad is satisfying enough for a light lunch, but you can easily turn it into dinner by adding sliced grilled chicken, shrimp, or steak. It’s also delicious alongside chicken satay or honey, lime, and sriracha chicken skewers for a fun, Asian-inspired dinner. And if you’re bringing it to a potluck or cookout, it’s a nice change of pace from the usual slaw.
More Asian-Style Salad Recipes You May Like
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GURL!!! You are 2-out-of-2 for recipes I’ve tried that were stupendous, lol! First Buffalo chicken dip, now this dressing, which I’m going to probably be making forever. Thank you!
I’ve made this delicious recipe several times as written and everyone loves it! Just wondering if it is as good with shredded cabbage as it is with the Napa cabbage, if anyone has tried it both ways? It’s not always easy to find a good head of Napa cabbage here. That being said, the dressing is perfection…
It’s great on any kind of salad! I just had it with spring greens/super greens mix and I can’t get over how delicious 😋
I use the bagged coleslaw mix and it is great. I am a house of one, so I find it hard to use a whole cabbage.
Great recipe. t takes some time, but well worth it, especially since there’s just 2 of us, so we had multiple meals from 1 recipe. Next time, I’ll make the dressing a day ahead of cutting up the veggies and assembling the salad. I added some cooked chicken for the first round, and cooked shrimp for the second meal to add additional protein. The peanut dressing is the bomb! Than you Jenn!
You absolutely nailed it with the salad dressing! I love the CPK salad and this one tastes just like it (right down to the flecks of cilantro in the dressing). I’m so excited to have a jar of this in the fridge. Don’t forget the crispy wonton strips for the top!
Very good recipe I have made similar for just myself but I wanted to make a salad for guests and this was very popular.
Stellar!
Followed instructions to a T. Perfection. 10 out of 10. Crowd pleaser. Definitely going on some picnics with me this summer. Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s going in my recipe box labeled “secret weapons”.
I’ve been wanting to try making salads out out of my comfort zone. I’ve never even tried peanut dressing before. I made the salad today and it was absolutely delicious.! I have been missing out.!!!
Started on this last night. Did all the chopping except the napa cabbage. Made the dressing following the recipe. When I checked the dressing tasted only like peanut butter. Added more lime juice, vinegar, soy sauce and ginger and it still tasted like Skippy. Put the salad on hold as guests were coming and swore to right a critical review in the morning. Put the dressing into the fridge.
Well it tastes wonderful this morning. I’ll serve the salad tonight. As written the dressing is quite thick. Add more liquids to thin it.
This was delicious! My husband and I omitted the cucumber but added cold lo mein noodles and cold sliced chicken and I’m pretty certain this is going to be on the regular dinner rotation in our house from now on! Thank you!