thai-inspired chicken and mango salad with noodles and peanut dressing

a dish that tastes even more beautiful than it looks (and it's pretty frickin beautiful!!!!)

Off the bat, I really need you guys to know that this dish is SO EASY TO MAKE AND SO DELICIOUS! Sometimes, beautiful meals look intimidating because if you’re like me, you’re thinking “there’s no way I can make something so beautiful like that,” when you see a gorgeous meal that looks like it’s from a 5 star restaurant. (Yes, even though I’m a professional chef, I doubt my plating skills all the time.) Well, the good news is that this is extremely achievable. Not only did I make the method easy, but I made it efficient so it can be achieved under an hour.

Even better news is that if you make this meal, you will be eating a medley of fruit and veggies happily and dare I say, going for seconds?! My 15 month old even ate this with no adjustments — I just finely chopped it up for him because raw veggies scare me with toddlers.

So what’s going on here? We have juicy peanut/lime/ginger marinated chicken thighs that are cubed (to cut down marinating time without compromising flavor) and then baked. While they’re marinating and baking, we prep the rest of our salad which consists of: sweet and juicy mango, crunchy cabbage, shredded carrots, chewy rice noodles, vibrant cilantro and scallions. All of this is tossed in that same peanut/lime/ginger sauce which is also our dressing and we finish it off with some cashews or peanuts for crunch (totally optional, but I loved it.)

Now, one more moment for this beauty…

This recipe is an exclusive one for my monthly menu club members! Each week, I drop a recipe to help us all romanticize a home cooked meal at home, and every month, I drop a menu booklet! I hope you join the delicious party that we are having!! More info here.