Lime Chicken Salad
- Joe S.
- Jul 26, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 7, 2021
Tangy, spicy , easy to make, and delicious...this cold salad will be a new favorite of yours!
Prep time: less than 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Yields: about 3 cups
Gluten/Soy/Dairy/Nuts Free
Discover the amazing flavors in this refreshing and unique salad inspired by the traditional Asian Lime Chicken Salad found in South East Asia and China. It is spicy, flavorful, aromatic, and above all...so easy to make!
It truly requires no effort to make: boil the chicken, chop some ingredients, mix together, and serve! You can serve it as a snack, an appetizer in lettuce wraps, as entree with rice noddles or over rice, or as a soup over a nice chicken broth. The possibilities are endless!
Aside from being delicious and easy to make, this dish is pretty healthy: no added oils, fats, and it is loaded with fresh herbs and ginger. Perfect for those following a healthy diet or lifestyle!
What is the flavor profile?
Spicy, fresh, herbaceous, and savory.
What ingredients will I need to make this dish?
Chicken breasts, limes, a small red onion, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, star anise, Thai peppers, a Jalapeño pepper, 1 small yellow sweet pepper (optional), fish sauce, water, and sea salt to taste.
What else will I need to make this dish?
A large pot to cook the chicken in, a knife, a cutting board, measuring cups and spoons, a wooden spoon, and a large non-reactive bowl.
Can I make any substitutions?
Yes. You can use a light gluten free soy sauce instead of fish sauce.
Can I make any additions?
You can add carrots for more texture.
How do I serve this salad?
There are multiple ways your can serve this. You can eat it at room temperature or cold. You can make snacks out of it or lettuce wraps. You can use it as topping for a noodle or rice dish. You can even serve it over a nice hot chicken broth.
How do I store this dish?
Store leftovers in a non-reactive container. Refrigerate covered for up to 2 days.
Some Useful Information
What is ginger?
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoots.
Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, which also includes turmeric (Curcuma longa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), and galangal. Ginger originated in Maritime Southeast Asia and was likely domesticated first by the Austronesian peoples. It was transported with them throughout the Indo-Pacific during the Austronesian expansion (c. 5,000 BP), reaching as far as Hawaii. Ginger is one of the first spices to have been exported from Asia, arriving in Europe with the spice trade, and was used by ancient Greeks and Romans. The distantly related dicots in the genus Asarum are commonly called wild ginger because of their similar taste. In 2018, world production of ginger was 2.8 million tonnes, led by India with 32% of the world total.
How is Ginger used?
Ginger is a very popular spice used worldwide; whether it be used to spice up meals, or as a medicine, the demand for ginger all over the world has been consistent throughout history. Ginger can be used for a variety of food or medicine items such as vegetables, candy, soda, pickles, and alcoholic beverages.
Ginger is a fragrant kitchen spice. Young ginger rhizomes are juicy and fleshy with a mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. They can be steeped in boiling water to make ginger herb tea, to which honey may be added. Ginger can be made into candy or ginger wine.
Mature ginger rhizomes are fibrous and nearly dry. The juice from ginger roots is often used as a seasoning in Indian recipes and is a common ingredient of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and many South Asian cuisines for flavoring dishes such as seafood, meat, and vegetarian dishes.
Fresh ginger can be substituted for ground ginger at a ratio of six to one, although the flavours of fresh and dried ginger are somewhat different. Powdered dry ginger root is typically used as a flavouring for recipes such as gingerbread, cookies, crackers and cakes, ginger ale, and ginger beer. Candied ginger or crystallized ginger, known in the UK as "stem ginger", is the root cooked in sugar until soft, and is a type of confectionery. Fresh ginger may be peeled before eating. For longer-term storage, the ginger can be placed in a plastic bag and refrigerated or frozen.
What is Star Anise?
Illicium verum is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China. A spice commonly called star anise, staranise, star anise seed, star aniseed, Chinese star anise, or badian that closely resembles anise in flavor is obtained from the star-shaped pericarps of the fruit of I. verum which are harvested just before ripening. Star anise oil is a highly fragrant oil used in cooking, perfumery, soaps, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and skin creams.
Until 2012, when they switched to using a bacterial source, Roche Pharmaceuticals used up to 90% of the world's annual star anise crop to produce shikimic acid, a chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu).
How is Star Anise used in cooking?
Star anise contains anethole, the same compound that gives the unrelated anise its flavor. Recently, star anise has come into use in the West as a less expensive substitute for anise in baking, as well as in liquor production, most distinctively in the production of the liqueur Galliano. Star anise enhances the flavor of meat.
It is used as a spice in preparation of biryani and masala chai all over the Indian subcontinent. It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, and in Malay and Indonesian cuisines. It is widely grown for commercial use in China, India, and most other countries in Asia. Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese cooking. It is also a major ingredient in the making of phở, a Vietnamese noodle soup.
It is also used in the French recipe of mulled wine, called vin chaud (hot wine). If allowed to steep in coffee, it deepens and enriches the flavor. The pods can be used in this manner multiple times by the pot-full or cup, as the ease of extraction of the taste components increases with the permeation of hot water.
What is Fish Sauce?
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is widely used as a staple seasoning in East and Southeast Asian cuisine and some garum-related fish sauces have been used in the West since the Roman times.
Following widespread recognition of its ability to impart a savory umami flavor to dishes, it has been embraced globally by chefs and home cooks. The umami flavor in fish sauce is due to its glutamate content. Soy sauce is regarded by some in the West as a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce though they are very different in flavor.
Fish sauce is not only added to dishes as a seasoning, but also used as a base in dipping sauces.
Ingredients
2 pounds of chicken breasts, skinless and deboned
1/3 cup of fresh lime juice
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro (coriander), chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, minced and divided
2 Star Anise
1 jalapeño, chopped
2 Thai peppers, chopped
1 or 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 small yellow pepper, chopped ( optional)
4 cups of water
Sea salt to taste
Method
Place the chicken, the star anise, and 1 teaspoon of minced ginger in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, remove the chicken and set aside to cool down. Discard the star anise and the ginger. Once the chicken has cooled down, use your hands to pull into strands. Place shredded chicken into a non-reactive bowl.
Add the following to the bowl: cilantro, red onion, garlic, the remaining ginger, all the peppers, the fish sauce, and the fresh lime juice. Mix well. Taste for salt and add as needed.
Serve immediately or refrigerate covered up to 2 days.
Enjoy!
Printable Recipe (PDF) Below:
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