Coconut Crusted Chicken Asian Salad w/ Spicy Peanut dressing

Get ready for a salad that cures the ” oh no, not another boring salad” sentiment and really steps up your office lunch game! The chicken is crusted with unsweetened coconut and baked- so it’s nice and crispy without the grease & fat from frying and topped with a delicious peanut asian dressing. Highly recommend you cycling this into your Sunday meal prep plan! It would also make some delicious asian taco’s with a shredded carrot and cabbage slaw… I’ll work on testing out that idea asap.

First thing’s first, all props go to Clean Eating for the chicken recipe! While I did make my favorite peanut dressing and spice up the salad a bit with extra toppings and veggies, I left the chicken recipe pretty much the same. 🙂 It’s crunchy and not overly coconutty which is good for all of you peeps who don’t love coconut, plus that means if sub the whole wheat flour for almond flour, this crispy chicken is gluten free!

Instead of using eggs or butter, you dip the chicken pieces in light coconut milk that was mixed with a touch of curry powder, to help with the dredging process. Once they’re coated in coconut milk, cover with the seasoned coconut flakes & flour combo and stick on a foil covered sheet pan. You also can cook this on the stove in some olive oil or coconut oil ( gluten free alternative), I’ve made it in a cast iron skillet before and it turned out great.

After about 5-10 minutes of baking, once the outer layer is getting crispy flip the chicken over so both sides can cook evenly. I usually cut off a small piece just to make sure it’s done- still have not perfected the eye balling it and just knowing thing. It’s a work in progress… haha

 

 

As the chicken cooked I chopped up some butter lettuce, purple cabbage, cucumbers, mango’s and green onions and tossed together for the salad. You could really make the salad base out of anything, but I loved the splash of color with the purple cabbage and the extra crunch.

Peanut Dressing

For the peanut sauce dressing I will admit I didn’t measure anything and really just made it to suit my taste. I know this can sound scary to not have exact measurements for something but in a lot of way’s it will make it even easier for you!  This gives you the chance to make it your own and make it taste more peanutish if you want or more on the vinegar/soy sauce side.

Combine peanut butter ( I used about 2 tbsp of crunchy natural peanut butter, my favorite brand is the 365 brand from whole foods), soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, splash of sesame oil, some chopped ginger, garlic powder or chopped garlic, and a touch of sriracha.  Mix all together and then adjust with any of the ingredients according to taste. If the dressing is too thick, add a touch more rice wine vinegar or soy sauce, or even a splash of water if you don’t want to really change the flavor much but make it easier to dress the salad with.

 

Top the salad off with some chopped cilantro and dig in!  

The best surprise was that this chicken kept well in the fridge and I just warmed it up in the oven the next day to make the salad again!  This chicken could be used for a lot of different meals throughout the week, lettuce wraps, over some rice with a side of veggies and peanut sauce etc… so I’d definitely make extra your next meal prep day and see what combo’s you come up for it.

Tell me if you make anything amazing with it and what you think!!

Print Recipe
Coconut Crusted Chicken Asian Salad w/ Spicy Peanut dressing
Crispy and tangy coconut crusted chicken topped with an asian peanut sauce, spicing up your weekday office lunch or weekend plans!
Course Salad
Prep Time 10
Cook Time 20
Servings
Course Salad
Prep Time 10
Cook Time 20
Servings
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
  2. Cut chicken breasts in halves or thirds, making 4- 6 pieces. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine coconut milk and ½ tsp curry powder.
  4. In a shallow dish, combine coconut flakes, flour and remaining 1½ tsp curry powder.
  5. Dip chicken in coconut milk, letting excess drip off, then dredge in coconut flakes/flour mixture.
  6. Place the chicken on a foil covered sheet pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, flipping the chicken over half way through.
Salad
  1. Chop up greens and veggies of your choice! I used butter lettuce, purple cabbage, cucumbers, green onions and diced mango. Top it off with cilantro and sesame seeds.
Peanut Sauce
  1. Combine soy sauce or coconut aminos, rice wine vinegar, peanut butter (smooth or crunchy- your choice), sesame oil, garlic powder, chopped ginger and a splash of sriracha. Mix together and pour on top!
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