Thai Chopped Chicken Salad (Panera-Style)

What Makes Thai Chicken Salad Better?

A Panera-inspired chicken salad is one I love making, eating, and packing for lunch. The crunchy romaine lettuce, carrots, roasted red pepper, almonds, edamame beans, chicken breast, and baked wontons satisfy my cravings for delicious without the guilt. (Did you know you can bake your wontons to reduce calories?) I baked them and stored them in a ziplock bag.

This salad dressing is easy, healthy, and delicious with sugar-free almond butter. A healthy loaded chicken salad packed with roasted veggies and baked wonton wraps smothered in a guilt-free and delicious homemade dressing. That’s my kind of dieting: filling and indulgent!

What You Need to Make Thai Chicken Salad

1. Chicken Breast – This is a great time to use leftover baked or rotisserie chicken. Of course, you can make it from scratch or replace it with boneless, skinless thighs.
2. Wontons Wrappers – Add a slightly sweet crunch for fun.
3. Salad Greens – Romaine, napa cabbage, spinach, or your favorite lettuce works excellent.
4. Delicious Additions – Shredded carrots, edamame, a red bell pepper, scallions, sesame seeds, and nuts (almonds, cashews, and peanuts—your pick) add color, crunch, and healthy fats.
5. Dressing – Toasted sesame oil, canola oil, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, almond butter (instead of mayo), salt, and sriracha deliver the natural sweetness, acidity, healthy oils, and classic Asian flavor for a chicken salad to remember.

How to Make Thai Chopped Chicken Salad

Salad Prep

• Preheat oven to 400℉ (205℃). Optionally prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil or parchment paper. Spray with cooking oil.
• Bake Wontons – Cut the wonton wrappers into strips and lay them on the baking sheet. Then bake for 8-12 minutes until the wontons are crispy and lightly golden brown (actual time will depend on your oven). Please watch them closely because it happens quickly. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool.
• Roast edamame, carrots, and red pepper on a grill pan or skillet with about a tablespoon of olive for 2-3 minutes. Set aside.
• Prep Chicken – If using fresh chicken breast, pound it with a meat mallet, then season with salt and pepper or your favorite spices.
• Cook Chicken – Lightly spray a nonstick fry pan with oil. Preheat the skillet over medium-high heat. Place chicken in the skillet and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side (until the juice runs clear). You may have to turn the chicken more than once to make sure the chicken browns on both sides.
• Slice – Let it cool, then slice it into strips or shred it. Set aside.

Assembly

• Make the Salad – Combine salad greens, carrots, edamame, red pepper, scallions, sliced chicken, almonds, and wonton strips in a large bowl. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Dressing – Combine the toasted sesame oil, canola oil, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, almond butter, salt, and sriracha in a jar and shake like crazy for about 2 minutes to emulsify. (Be sure to shake it before each use.)
• Serve – Drizzle the toasted sesame and ginger dressing on the salad and toss to coat right before serving. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

You can buy store-bought roasted red bell peppers or roast your own. By the way, did you know that red bell peppers have more nutrients than green bell peppers (about nine times the amount of carotene)? Silly me, I thought it was the opposite—another bonus for this salad.