Quick Vietnamese Chicken Salad
This dish is perfect for a casual summer lunch when it’s so hot out you don’t dare turn on the stove or the oven. Onions are pickled in lime juice, fish sauce and rice wine vinegar and then tossed with store-bought rotisserie chicken and bagged slaw mix for a crunchy, bright, healthy and refreshing salad.
Note: Bagged slaw mixes vary quite a bit—feel free to dial up or down the amount of slaw based on what kind you get. And if you find varieties that include kale—even better. This is a very forgiving and easily adjustable recipe.
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
⅓ cup rice wine vinegar
3 limes, zest and juiced, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce, plus more as needed
1 medium red onion
1 bird’s eye chili or red chili, deseeded and thinly sliced (optional)
1 rotisserie chicken
16 ounces of prepared shredded slaw mix (see note)
2 tablespoons neutral oil such as grapeseed
1 cup roughly chopped cilantro and their tender stems, packed, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, divided
½ cup roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
In a medium bowl, add rice wine vinegar, lime zest and juice, sugar and fish sauce along with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and stir until sugar and salt is dissolved.
Peel onion and cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into very thin slices and add to the bowl along with chili (if using). Stir to coat onions and chili in pickling mixture and set aside on the countertop for 15 to 20 minutes or until onions are tender.
In the meantime, remove skin from the chicken—then debone and use your impeccably clean hands to shred chicken into small bite sized pieces. Add to a large serving bowl along with slaw mix.
To the large bowl with the slaw and chicken, stir in pickled onions along with all the liquid into the large bowl, then stir in vegetable oil, cilantro and half the sesame seeds. Season with salt and pepper and add a splash more fish sauce or lime juice as needed.
To serve garnish with cilantro leaves and remaining sesame seeds. Add peanuts to a small bowl to serve alongside.