Indonesian-Style Chicken Salad
- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 1whole chicken breast or 2 boneless skinless breasts, poached and shredded about 4 cups shredded chicken
- Salt
- freshly ground pepper (optional)
- 1bunch scallions, white part and green, thinly sliced
- ¼cup slivered fresh mint leaves
- ¼cup chopped cilantro
- 1small red bell pepper, cut in thin strips
- 1serrano pepper, finely chopped seeded if desired
- 2cups mung bean sprouts or sunflower sprouts
- 1romaine lettuce heart, leaves separated, washed and dried
- ¼cup chopped roasted peanuts
- ¼cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
- 1garlic clove, minced
- 1tablespoon Southeast Asian fish sauce
- Pinch of cayenne
- 2tablespoons crunchy or smooth natural peanut butter (more to taste)
- ⅓cup buttermilk
For the Salad
For the Dressing
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
142 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 12 grams protein; 423 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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For the Salad
- Step 1
Place the chicken in a large bowl, and season with salt and pepper. Add the white part of the scallions, the mint, cilantro, red pepper, minced chile pepper and sprouts. Toss together.
- Step 2
Combine the lime juice, ginger, garlic, fish sauce and cayenne. Stir together. Add the peanut butter, and combine well. Whisk in the buttermilk. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Step 3
Line a platter with the lettuce leaves. Toss the chicken mixture with the dressing, and arrange over the lettuce. Sprinkle the peanuts and the scallion greens over the top, and serve.
Tip
- Advance preparation: The poached chicken breasts will keep for three days in the refrigerator. The dressing can be made several hours ahead. Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Meg
I substituted 1/4 cup Greek yogurt for the buttermilk & didn't have sprouts on hand. Still delicious!!
KB
You can add lemon juice to regular milk to make a substitute for buttermilk.
Rachel S
I had no lettuce, jalapeno, or sprouts, so i ditched them and added grated carrot, chopped purple cabbage, and crushed red pepper. DELICIOUS!!!
Gabrielle
Very good With mango cut in small dices, and add a nice color too. I add extra fish sauce to balance out the sweetness of the fruit.
Lois
I made this for a catering gig and the only way the plates could have been cleaner is if they had licked them. Amazing salad. Kudos to Ms. Shulman.
Christina
This is a great summer salad and a great lunch to take to work. I roasted chicken and the shredded it. I also made the sauce with Jiffy peanut butter (which is practically a sin, I know!) because the market didn't have natural peanut butter. Both were fine. The salad was good without the dressing and even better with it!
Guadako
I substituted peanut butter for almond butter and it was delicious!
Allan ditor
Instead of buttermilk try a little chicken broth with
a little lemon juice . Could also quarter in 2 hard boiled eggs.
Tracy
Solution: make this 5 times in a row, because it's that delicious. Buttermilk problem gone.
Gerry
Made for dinner last night. Only changes were ones dictated by what I didn't have on hand. Namely, substituted low fat plain kefir for the buttermilk, pea sprouts for the mung bean and, shredded Napa cabbage for the romaine. Net result was a salad bursting with flavour and texture. Absolutely perfect on a very hot pre-monsoon season Tucson night. It is now top of the go-to summer salad list. Fantastic. Thank you.
Barb
Loved the flavor, but wish I'd doubled the dressing. (I think I used more chicken than called for without making a corresponding change in the amount of dressing.) I wasn't able to find fish sauce at the store, so I left that out. I also used coconut milk rather than buttermilk, which worked really well. Definitely will make this again!
jkeva410
You can make the amount of buttermilk you need by adding 1 tsp of vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk. Just let it stand for 5 minutes or so, and you're good to go. Works like a charm.
pat
Very nice, and easy to adapt to what you have on hand. I used pistachios instead of peanuts. Used chili sauce instead of a hot pepper. Had baby spinach in the fridge instead of romaine, no sprouts. Delicious!
Sherry
I added about 2 tbs brown sugar to balance the taste. This is a keeper.
Ginger
I used more cilantro but no mint; red onion instead of scallions; yogurt instead of buttermilk. Still delicious!
Nate S
This was fantastic. My chicken breasts were large, so I did 1.5x the dressing, but otherwise followed the recipe. Nice, subtle heat, and great tangy acid and umami. Though this would be a 15-minute recipe only if you excluded the ingredient prep time. With washing/drying/de-stemming/chopping/mincing, this is realistically 45 minutes (and I'm pretty fast).
MH
I'm Indonesian and I am confused as to what Indonesian dish this recipe is inspired by. The peanut butter and peanuts reference gado-gado, but the additions of fish sauce, ginger, mint leaves, and butter milk create a very different flavor profile from what is typically considered gado-gado sauce. The combination of herbs and spices as well as the ingredients just don't create anything remotely Indonesian. I think it's misleading to call this recipe Indonesian, or even Indonesian-style.
Corlan Johnson
Red cabbage instead of sprouts. No buttermilk. Rave reviews.
Nancy
I added about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and extra peanut butter to this dressing. I substitute coconut milk for buttermilk. I liked it.
Nic
Took others advice and doubled the dressing, needed most of it. Finished dressing the salad with sesame oil and chile crisp. Also added some vermicelli noodles. Really good weeknight dinner with leftovers for lunch.
Maggie
Amazing, fresh and filling!! Add more mint, spice level was perfect with 3/4 of 1 de-seeded minced serrano pepper. The peanut garnish would have made the dish too salty. Maybe buy unsalted peanuts next time. Shredded rotisserie chicken worked just fine.
MO
Peeps were not lying. Delicious. Noted and will be making for lunches.
barbara sless
Didn’t have buttermilk but did have hummus and it worked! Great salad
HannahT
I used canned coconut milk instead of buttermilk and ended up with the silkiest dressing! I'll be doing the same in future.
Anthony M.
This made a wonderful dinner on the first warm night night of spring. I didn’t have sprouts, so I swapped slivered cucumbers instead. Also, because I am a funk-goblin, I doubled the fish sauce. And, I lucked out and had some Thai basil to add to the rest of the herbs. Altogether a wonderful salad.
carnival in my mouth
Although I'm wild for fish sauce, my very picky partner has a strong aversion to anything fermented. Can anyone recommend a substitute for this glorious ingredient? (Hmm. I wonder if I can sneak it in without him noticing...) Thanks for any suggestions.
nilssons
This is so flavorful and refreshing! I used shredded, sauteed chicken breasts instead of poached and left the seeds in the chili pepper. I wanted this to have on hand for lunch so I mixed together the salad ingredients with the scallion greens and peanuts (but no romaine) and stored the dressing separately. Mixed together as needed for lunch. Easy and delicious. Will make again!
christina
Delicious! Used a sous vide for the chicken (155 deg). Blended the dressing bc my peanut butter was too thick to whisk in, used the lemon juice milk for buttermilk substitution and added soy sauce and sesame oil instead of fish sauce (fish allergy). So tasty!
Subbed Romaine for Butter Lettuce
Instead of using romaine, I moved everything to a serving bowl and used butter lettuce leaves as wraps.
Lauren G.
This is fantastic! Read another commenter’s suggestion to substitute coconut milk for buttermilk and it’s perfect! I can’t imagine using buttermilk now that I’ve tasted this version, actually. And I used the Thai chili lime cashews from Trader Joe’s since I am out of peanuts and I highly recommend these as well.
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