With the price of food steadily climbing, I’m always searching for ways to save and stretch our food budget. So what do I do? When there’s a sale on meat (of any kind), I stock up then freeze them. Last week, my husband saw a sale on chicken thighs so he bought all the chicken thighs on the shelves 🤣. As for the fresh veggies and fruits, I buy and cook what’s on sale. I saw beautiful cabbage on sale so combining that with the plethora of chicken thighs, I’m making a light and refreshing Vietnamese chicken salad (a.k.a. gỏi gà).
What is Vietnamese chicken salad?
The word “gỏi” refers to a range of salad dishes in Vietnamese cuisine. These salad dishes contains a combination of fresh veggies such as shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, onions, kohlrabi, turnips and even green papaya. It just depends on who’s making it and what ingredients are available at the time. These kinds of salad dishes reminds me of the American fruit salad. There’s no lettuce in the fruit salad, yet it’s still referred to as a salad.
My version of the Vietnamese chicken salad, I will be using green cabbage, red onion, green onion, cilantro, fresh basil, shallot, fresh garlic, fried onions, chicken and nước chấm (Vietnamese dressing made from fish sauce).
How to make Vietnamese chicken salad?
This salad comes together in a breeze because everything, except the chicken, is raw. All you need to do is shred the veggies.
Different types of chicken
You can use rotisserie chicken, poached chicken, or marinated grilled chicken in the salad. Whichever you choose, just shred it first. The fastest way to shred chicken is to put cooked chicken in a Kitchen Aid mixer attached with a flat beater. Turn it on and let the mixer do all the hard work.
Because we have an abundant amount of chicken in the freezer, I’m going to marinade the chicken, grill it then shred it using the stand mixer. After the veggies are shredded and the chicken cooked, just mix everything together and drizzle a generous amount of nước chấm over it.
Vietnamese dressing (nước chấm)
For this particular recipe, I decided to make another version of the Vietnamese dressing because I wanted my son to try the salad. This new version of the dressing does not have hot peppers. So if you are not a fan of spicy foods, use this version of the dressing. However, if you’re like my husband and loves all things spicy, use my other nước chấm recipe. There are a lot of different brands of fish sauce out there, but the brand I like to use for making nước chấm is the Red Boat brand. Check out my nước chấm post to learn more about how to choose fish sauce.
For those who are not fans of nước chấm, you’re in luck because this dish tastes great with a dash or two of a good balsamic vinegar, like the Tuscany Balsamic.
Garnish for the chicken salad
When you order this salad at the restaurant, it will come with crushed peanuts and Vietnamese fried shallots (a.k.a. hành phi) on top, and a side of the Vietnamese dressing. Pour the Vietnamese dressing right before eating the salad, this way everything remains crunchy and fresh.
Fried shallots come in vacuum sealed bags at the Asian store. They are delicious as toppings for different dishes, even rice dishes.
Storing leftover salad
This salad is best eaten when the ingredients are stored separately then assembled right before eating. If you have leftover of all the ingredients mixed in, store it in an airtight container without the Vietnamese salad dressing or fried shallots mixed in. This way the salad or fried shallot does not get soggy.
Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Gỏi Gà)
Equipment
- 1 Kitchen Aid Stand mixer to shred the chicken.
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
Ingredients for the chicken marinade:
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp hot honey
- 1 tbsp chili sauce
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3 cloves chopped garlic, preferably fresh
- 2 chicken breasts cut in half, length wise
- ½ tsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil or canola oil
Ingredients for the Vietnamese dressing (a.k.a. nước chấm):
- 2 tbsp fish sauce I used Red Boat brand.
- 1 tsp white distilled vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar plus 2 tsp sugar if you want it sweeter.
- 6 tbsp hot water this will help the sugar dissolve.
- ½ fresh squeezed lime or lemon
- 3 cloves freshly chopped garlic
- ½ chopped green hot pepper (optional)
- ½ chopped red hot pepper (optional)
Ingredients for the salad:
- ½ thinly sliced red onion
- 2 shredded carrots
- ¼ shredded green cabbage
- ¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro
- 2 stalks chopped green onion
- ¼ cup fried shallots for the garnish.
Instructions
Instructions for cooking the marinated chicken:
- Mix all the ingredients to marinade the chicken in a bowl. Stir the honey until it dissolves and the ingredients are well mixed. Then add to the raw chicken breasts. Make sure the marinade covers all the chicken & cover and leave in the refrigerator to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
- After the 30 minutes, place the marinated chicken breasts on the grill.
- Place the cooked chicken breasts in the stand mixer with the flat beater attachment to shred the chicken. Set the shredded chicken aside.
Instructions for making the Vietnamese dressing (a.k.a. nước chấm):
- Combine the fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, water, lime and garlic in a bowl. Mix well to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Give the dressing a taste and adjust accordingly. If you want a spicy dressing, add in the red and green hot peppers. Set the dressing aside.
Instructions to make the salad:
- Combine the shredded red onion, green cabbage, shredded carrot, cilantro, chopped green onions, and shredded chicken together in a bowl. Toss to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed.
- Right before eating, add a desired amount of Vietnamese dressing (a.k.a. nước chấm) into the vegetables and mix well.
- Garnish the Vietnamese chicken salad with fried shallots on top. Enjoy.
The next time you’re looking for a light yet delicious meal, make some Vietnamese chicken salad. Looking for other chicken recipes, try my marinated grilled chicken recipe or chicken curry recipe.
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