Lemongrass chicken herb salad is a unique and interesting twist on your ordinary salad. This salad has an Asian undertone with its chicken poached in lemongrass, ginger and garlic and the lemongrass vinaigrette with fish sauce and lime juice, which reminded me of Vietnamese nuoc cham.
This salad is packed with plenty of fresh herbs. They make up a large part of the greens here. The salad includes basil (if you can get Thai basil that would be great here, but regular basil is fine too), mint scallions, and cilantro. Additionally, the green beans, cucumber and tomatoes bring extra nutrition and freshness here too. I had extra chicken left from this and it has been great for a snack/lunch.
I recommend Three Crabs Fish Sauce for this salad dressing. Furthermore, if you want to boost the lime flavor, you can add a few packets of True Lime to it. If this salad doesn’t seem like your style, I have a ton of other really good salad recipes you can try.
Lemongrass Chicken Herb Salad
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 4 inch piece fresh ginger cleaned and sliced
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 10 black peppercorns or some ground black pepper
- 1 lemongrass stalk washed and cut into 4 inch pieces
- 3 boneless chicken breasts
- 1 lb green beans trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
- 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 4 cups lettuce leaves optional
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 Persian cucumbers sliced
For the dressing:
- 1 stalk lemon grass All but root end removed, outer layers removed, minced finely
- 3 scallions sliced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 2-4 packets true lime optional
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk well. Allow to sit while you make the rest of the food so the sugar has time to dissolve.
- In a skillet with a tbsp or two of oil heated over medium high, add the chicken breasts and sear them until golden. Add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, salt, peppercorns or pepper along with enough water to come about 3/4 of the way up the chicken breasts. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, then use a spoon to break up the chicken a bit to allow the broth to penetrate more of the meat. Simmer another 10 minutes, then cool and shred.
- Heat a sauce pan of water to the boil and add the green beans. Cook for 1 minute, then drain and rinse in cold water.
- Wash and prep the lettuce and herbs and distribute onto plates. Evenly distribute the herbs, tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers among them. Top with some of the shredded chicken and drizzle with dressing then serve with extra dressing on the side.