Grilled chicken breasts are smothered with a spicy peanut sauce on top of a vegetable and rice noodle salad. This delicious summer offering will nourish and satisfy your Asian food cravings!

Take a look at our Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam) if you are looking for a true authentic recipe.

top down view of grilled chicken on top of salad

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When hot weather arrives all I want to eat is fresh, seasonal ingredients! Just give me some grilled chicken or steak and a pile of vegetables and I am happy!

This grilled chicken salad is exactly the type of food that makes us pine for summer days all year round. Fresh, vibrant flavours, cooked on a grill and enjoyed outside. What could be better?!

Grilled Chicken Breasts

Let me be completely honest with you. I am not the biggest fan of chicken breasts. I enjoy thighs much more and yes, I do grill them! However my kids love chicken breasts and I have to admit they work much better in a salad.

That being said, they do benefit from extra seasoning, which brings us to the subject of sauces and marinades. Those two are perfect for amping up the taste and flavour of mild chicken breasts!

chicken breasts in marinade in ziploc bag, peanut sauce in a bowl with a whisk

Thai Chicken Marinade

I absolutely adore Thai flavours. This recipe for easy Thai Red Curry with Prawns and Snow Peas is my favourite in any season. Sweet, sour, spicy and salty! The cornerstones of the Thai cuisine. I think these flavours work perfectly in the summer and they are easy to achieve with a little kitchen hack.

Store bought curry paste is what I use for a quick marinade. Just smother the chicken breasts with Thai red or green curry paste and let them marinade overnight or for 2-3 hours.

How to Grill Chicken Breast

No one likes a dry chicken, which can happen very quickly on a hot grill, so let me tell you exactly what to do to avoid this travesty.

Make sure your chicken breast is the same thickness throughout. I cut my chicken in half lengthwise, then pound the thicker part to even it out.
If you are using marinated chicken, you are already ahead of the game as the marinade will tenderise it.
Clean the grill and oil it to prevent the chicken from sticking.
Avoid intense heat! Chicken breast is very lean, so cooking it over high heat will only dry it out and burn the outside.
Use a combination of the direct and indirect heat for the best results. This means you will place the chicken breasts on direct heat for about 2 minutes on each side to get those beautiful grill marks.
Then move over to the indirect lower heat, cover the BBQ and continue cooking until done. This will take approximately 5-7 minutes for chicken cutlets and 15 minutes for a full chicken breast. Don’t forget to flip halfway through.
Although it’s great to have a time marker, what is more important is to rely on the internal temperature of the grilled chicken breast, which should read 165F/74C. Invest in a digital meat thermometer!
Rest your chicken for 5 minutes before slicing so juices have the chance to reabsorb.

top down view of grilled chicken and salad in a large oval platter

Spicy Peanut Sauce

The second part of the flavour building is the sauce. Spicy peanut sauce is delicious and so easy to make at home. If you are allergic to peanuts, substitute with almond butter.

Just a quick mix of the crunchy peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, lime juice and spicy Sriracha will give you the most gorgeous concoction! I prefer using crunchy peanut butter for the texture it adds but a smooth kind will also work.

Just imagine pouring that sauce all over your slightly charred, fresh off the grill tender chicken breasts. Flavour explosion.

Noodle Salad

Since this grilled chicken salad is meant to be eaten as a main meal and not just a little side, I added rice noodles to the mix to make it a bit more substantial.

If you are not a fan of rice noodles, feel free to use either ramen noodles or medium egg noodles from an Asian aisle of your supermarket. Even spaghetti can work in this delicious salad! And if you want to increase your fibre intake, swap for wholewheat noodles!

Now let’s talk about the vegetables. I wanted my salad to have a lot of texture, so I chose red cabbage, carrots and cucumbers to achieve that crunch. I also cut them all into long thin strips to mimic the shape of the noodles in the salad.

A julienne peeler works really well to create that look or use a vegetable grater to keep things simple. You can also use a regular vegetables peeler to shave thin cucumber slices.

I also added a bunch of green/spring onions and fresh cilantro for a punchy flavour. Finally, roasted peanuts are sprinkled all over the grilled chicken salad right before serving.

Recipe tips and notes

The cabbage will need to be cut as thinly as you can, which is easier to accomplish if using a mandolin or food processor, both because it is much faster and it’ll help to achieve a very thin slice. If neither of these are available, use a sharp knife and slice the vegetables as thinly as you manage.
The carrot should also be cut into thin strands. A mandolin or julienne peeler will help with this.
Almond or cashew butter could be used in place of peanut butter.
Rinsing the egg noodles after cooking prevents them from sticking together, and cools them down so they stop cooking.
Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it. This gives time for the chicken juices to be reabsorbed and results in moist, tender meat.

Serving suggestions

I made this grilled chicken salad to stand all on its own as a complete – and incredibly satisfying – meal. With the egg noodles and hearty protein, it’s a salad that is going to tick a lot of boxes.

If you feel like switching things up, you can replace the chicken in this recipe with fish like salmon. My Asian Salmon will be a great addition to the noodle salad.

Storage and leftovers

I’m a fan of making this salad in advance. Make it early and have it ready to go when you feel the urge. You can keep the salad for 4-5 if refrigerated in an airtight container.

More Favourite Summer Salad Recipes to Try

Or explore our large Salad Recipe Collection for inspiration.