Larb, Thai Chicken “Salad”

Larb is one of my favorite summer foods. Light and tangy, this chicken is great on its own or served as part of a rice  or noodle bowl.

Larb is a minced meat salad from Thailand. Flavored with lime juice, fish sauce, chile and a touch of sugar,  it has that whole spicy sweet and sour thing going on!

Topped with peanuts, it is the perfect filling for lettuce wraps or the star when placed on a bed of greens or rice. You will love it!

I know this ground chicken larb isn’t an easy sell when it comes to its name. Really Hollywood does a much better job promoting second rate actors.

But after one bite, you will love me. I promise. This is a great dish. Now if one could just think of a better way to promote it. 

A minced meat salad, often thought to be from Thailand; it is actually the national dish of Laos. Frankly, I don’t care where it’s from, as long as I can eat it.

This is a great summer dish and so easily prepared. It is perfect to keep in your fridge for something healthy and easily snacked on. I even caught someone spooning it onto a tortilla chip!

Dice up a few mangoes or cucumbers for a side salad, and one has a perfect meal on a hot summer’s day!

Feel free to use any ground meat in this dish. You could use already ground chicken, beef, pork or turkey if you want to skip the food processor, but I like grinding  the chicken with all the spices in the food processor. Easy and quick!

This dish has lots of salty tanginess and frankly, makes the best lettuce wrap I’ve had in awhile.

Larb often contains toasted rice in the dressing. To me that is just one more step, and truthfully I didn’t feel it was necessary.

Want more herbs? Besides cilantro, mint is also good as are scallions or thinly sliced onions.

This larb recipe tasted great straight out of a container that sat in the fridge for a few days. Nothing was lost in translation!

Add a squirt of sriracha and a few ground peanuts, and you may not need air conditioning any more!

A Few More:

Goi Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Salad)

Poached Chicken with Pineapple Salad

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Larb, Thai Chicken Salad

★★★★★ 5 from 1 review

• Author: Abbe Odenwalder
• Prep Time: 10 Minutes
• Cook Time: 10 Minutes
• Total Time: 20 Minutes
• Yield: 4 - 6 Servings 1x
• Category: Salads
• Method: Stove Top
• Cuisine: Thai

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Description

Larb is an amazing ground chicken salad with lime juice, lemongrass, and chiles. Topped with peanuts and cilantro, this is one salad I can’t get enough of!

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

Dressing:

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar

For the chicken:

• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemongrass paste
• Zest from one lime
• 1 small red Thai chile, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 8 small iceberg lettuce or hearts of romaine leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
• Sriracha, to taste
• Cilantro leaves and stems, roughly torn

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Instructions

Mix up dressing ingredients and set aside.

Place chicken breasts, shallot, lemongrass paste, zest of a lime, chili, garlic, fish sauce, salt, and 1 T of oil in food processor. Pulse until meat is minced. Do not over process or this will make the mixture too fine.

Heat remaining oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken mixture and cook until chicken starts to brown, breaking up meat as it cooks.

When finished cooking, stir in dressing and top with peanuts, cilantro and a good squirt of sriracha!

Serve with lettuce leaves to wrap or over rice.

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