A Fresh, Crunchy Salad Packed With Classic Vietnamese Flavour
This Vietnamese Chicken Salad is fresh, zesty and full of crunch—everything you love about Vietnamese food in one easy bowl. With juicy poached chicken, crisp cabbage, loads of herbs and a punchy Nuoc Cham dressing, it’s the perfect hot-weather dinner and a brilliant make-ahead meal for lunches.
This is one of those salads I make on repeat every summer. It’s fresh, crunchy and somehow feels indulgent while still being light. The kind of recipe you can throw together after a long day and instantly feel like you’ve made something really good without trying too hard.
Why You’ll Love This Vietnamese Salad
- Big, bold flavours that taste exactly like your favourite Vietnamese restaurant.
- Light, fresh and naturally healthy—without feeling like “diet food”.
- Juicy poached chicken that’s tender every single time.
- Loads of herbs for freshness and crunch.
- Perfect make-ahead recipe for work lunches, camping or picnics.
- Easy to scale up for entertaining.
How to Make The Salad
Poach your chicken until tender, shred it, toss your crisp veggies and herbs together, shake up the Nuoc Cham dressing, then drizzle, toss and serve. It comes together fast and couldn’t be simpler.
Tips for the best Vietnamese Chicken Salad
- Use poached chicken for soft, tender pieces (leftover roast works too).
- Wombok is ideal for its soft texture and ability to soak up the dressing.
- Julienne carrots for the proper Vietnamese crunch and look.
- Control the heat by deseeding chillies or using milder long red chillies.
- Be generous with herbs — mint and coriander bring the dish alive.
- Choose your crunch — peanuts are traditional, cashews also work.
- Dress just before serving to keep everything crisp.
Serving suggestions
This Vietnamese Chicken Salad is perfect on its own, but if you want to make it more substantial, add a scoop of steamed jasmine rice, vermicelli noodles or serve it as part of a shared spread with spring rolls, grilled chicken skewers or rice paper rolls. It’s a brilliant “everyone helps themselves” kind of dish.
Storage
Keep all the elements separate until you’re ready to serve. The poached chicken will stay fresh for 2–3 days, the chopped salad will keep crisp for 1–2 days, and the Nuoc Cham dressing lasts up to a week in the fridge. When it’s time to eat, just toss everything together for maximum crunch and flavour.
PERFECT MEAL PREP FOR LUNCHES
More Recipe You Might Like To Try:
- Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)
- Coriander & Hoisin Chicken Wings
- Thai Chicken Larb Salad
- Crispy Pork Belly Bahn Mi
- Red Cabbage Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breast fillets
- ½ Chinese wombok or green cabbage, thinly sliced
- ¼ red cabbage, finely sliced
- 2 large carrots, julienned
- 4 spring/green onions, thinly sliced
- ½ bunch coriander, roughly chopped
- ½ bunch mint leaves, roughly chopped (If using Vietnamese mint, use slightly less)
- 2 long red chillies, thinly sliced (deseeded for less heat if desired)
- ⅓ cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped (or cashews)
- 2 tablespoons store-bought fried shallots or toasted sesame seeds (optional)
NOUC CHAM DRESSING
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2-3 small birds eye red chilli, finely diced (deseeded for less heat if desired)
- ⅓ cup fish sauce
- ⅓ cup caster sugar
- juice of 1 lime
- 1-3 tablespoons lukewarm water
Instructions
SALAD
- Place chicken breasts into a large wide saucepan. Add chicken breast fillets and a good pinch of salt. Cover with cold water to cover by at least 3cm. Place over a medium high heat and bring gently to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Turn heat off and cover the pan with a lid. Allow the chicken to continue cooking in the hot poaching liquid for a further 10 minutes. Remove chicken and transfer to a plate. Allow to cool at room temperature for around 20 minutes or until you are able to handle with your fingertips.
- Once chicken is cool enough, using your hands, shred the chicken into rough bite size pieces. Cover and chill until required. (This can be prepared up to 2 days in advance)
- Place the cabbages, carrots, spring/green onions, herbs and chilli in a large bowl. Add half of the chicken, peanuts, fried shallots and Nuoc Cham Dressing. Toss well combine. Transfer to a large plate or platter and top with remaining chicken, peanuts and fried shallots then drizzle with remaining Nuoc Cham Dressing. Serve immediately.
NOUC CHAM DRESSING
- Place garlic and chilli into a mortar and pestle and crush until roughly smooth. Add the fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and enough water to dilute (start with 1 tablespoon and go from there to adjust to your tastebuds) and stir until well combined. Alternately, place ingredients into a screw-top jar and shake until well combined.
Notes
- COOKS NOTES:
Oven Temps: Oven temperatures are for conventional, if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C.
Measurements: We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 20 ml & 1 cup = 250 ml.
Herbs: All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed.
Vegetables: All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified.
Eggs: We use extra-large size and eggs are 55-60 g each, unless specified. - MAKE AHEAD
This salad is ideal for making ahead. Simply keep the chicken, chopped salad, nuts, shallots and dressing in separate containers, then toss everything together just before serving. It’s also a great option for picnics or easy lunches.- Poach and shred the chicken 2–3 days in advance.
- Make the dressing up to 1 week ahead.
- Prep and combine the salad ingredients up to 2 days earlier.
- Chop peanuts and store with the fried shallots well in advance — they’ll keep for weeks.
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