Thai Beef Salad is a colorful and flavorful Thai salad that bursts with tangy flavors and vibrant colors! Layered with sweet mango, fresh mint and basil and drizzled with a sweet chili lime dressing that coats the grilled steak beautifully. If you are looking for a new favorite weeknight salad recipe with loads of textures and flavors, you will love this zesty Thai inspired beef salad!
This gorgeous Thai beef salad (also called Yum Nua) is prized for its intense range of colors, coming from all the fresh ingredients, including fresh mango, crisp cucumbers, sweet cherry tomatoes and loads of fresh basil and mint.
The chili lime dressing is inspired from Thai flavors and includes sweet chili sauce that's whisked with fresh lime juice, a dash of fish sauce and savory garlic. The flavors of sweet, spicy, salty and savory are out of this world!
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🥒 Recipe Highlights
- Thai beef salad is layered with bold flavors of sweet, salty, tangy and fresh!
- Loads of fresh herbs, including fresh cilantro, mint and basil.
- The steak marinade includes sweet chili sauce, which caramelizes the steak as it grills, giving the steak a delicious crispy and charred exterior with a tender and perfectly cooked interior.
📋 Ingredients
There are a lot of ingredients for Thai beef salad, but most of them overlap. See below for a breakdown of ingredients for the steak, salad and dressing.
🥩 Steak Ingredients
- New York Strip Steak: This cut has some marbling and grills up very well. If you prefer a more tender steak, substitute with filet mignon.
- Sweet Chili Sauce: A staple in Thai cuisine, you can often find sweet chili sauce in most grocery stores in the international aisle. Sweet chili sauce is a sweet and spicy condiment made up to chili peppers, sugar, vinegar and vinegar and is fantastic served with fresh spring rolls with Kalbi ribs.
- Soy Sauce: Use your favorite brand of soy sauce or for a gluten free option, use tamari.
- Ginger and Garlic: Both the fresh ginger and garlic are grated with a microplane and added to the steak marinade for a savory layer of flavor.
🌶️ Chili Lime Dressing Ingredients
- Sweet Chili Sauce: This is a sweet and spicy condiment that is great in a salad dressing or served alongside for dipping.
- Lime and Garlic: Both are aromatics that give a pop of freshness and savoriness to the chili lime dressing. Use a microplane to zest the lime and grate the garlic instead of chopping.
- Fish Sauce: A staple in Southeast Asian cuisine, fish sauce is a salty, savory and slightly funky sauce that gives recipes a fantastic layer of umami. A little goes a long way, so start small and keep it on hand to add to cucumber kimchi and chicken coconut curry with lemongrass.
- Olive Oil: Usually olive oil isn't used in Asian cuisine, but I love the flavor of it. If you prefer a more neutral and light flavored oil, substitute with avocado oil.
🥭 Salad Ingredients
- Salad Greens: Use your favorite salad mix, anything from spring mix, baby arugula, baby kale or spinach.
- Fresh Herbs: This is what makes the salad pop with freshness! Add fresh basil, fresh mint and cilantro to the salad mix. Use all 3 or any combination of the 3 herbs.
- Mango: Look for a ripe mango that is fragrant and has some give to it when you gently press into the mango.
- Cucumber: Persian cucumbers and English cucumbers will have a thinner peel and less seeds, which means it will be less watery. If you are using a regular cucumbers, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds before slicing.
- Tomato: Cherry tomatoes are sweet and easy to find and you can also use in season heirloom tomatoes or vine ripened tomatoes that are cut into ½ inch cubes.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🍋 Substitutions and Variations
- Instead of making a Thai beef salad, substitute with lemongrass grilled chicken.
- Add cooked rice noodles (after making fresh rice paper rolls).
- Instead of New York Strip, grill a tender filet mignon or flank steak.
- For a vegetarian option, omit the steak and marinate large portobello mushrooms in the same marinade and grill.
- Add thinly sliced Fresno or serrano pepper to the salad for added heat. Or chop it finely and add the chili to the salad dressing.
⏲️ Instructions
Step 1: Whisk the ingredients for the steak marinade, including the sweet chili sauce, garlic ginger, lime zest and juice and soy sauce.
Step 2: Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and add them to a resealable plastic bag. Pour the dressing over the steaks.
Step 3: Once the bag is sealed, rub the dressing all over the steaks and marinate for at least 20 minutes.
Step 4: Once the steaks have marinated, grill the steaks until charred on both sides and medium rare to medium on the inside (or to desired doneness). Once done, set aside.
Step 5: While the steaks rest, whisk the chili lime dressing for the salad.
Step 6: Assemble the salad onto a platter with the salad mix on the bottom and add the chopped mango, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh herbs.
Step 7: Slice the New York strip against the grain into thin strips.
Step 8: Lay the sliced steak onto the Thai beef salad and drizzle with the chili lime dressing.
📍 Recipe Tips
- Marinate the steak for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour if you have the time.
- Once the steak is cooked, let the steak rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Salad can be assembled up to 2 days in advance, but don't add the dressing until right before serving.
Recipe FAQs
The dressing for Thai beef salad includes sweet chili sauce, fresh lime zest and lime juice, fish sauce and oil. Whisk the chili lime dressing until emulsified and drizzle over the salad.
Yes, assemble the salad up to a day in advance and keep the dressing seperate, until ready to serve.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
More Vibrant Salad Recipes
Thai Beef Salad with Mango
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Equipment
Ingredients
Steak Marinade
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 garlic clove peeled and grated
- ½ inch piece of ginger peeled and grated
- ½ lime zested and juiced (about 1 tablespoon lime juice)
- 1-1 ½ pounds New York strip steak
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil or avocado oil
Sweet Chili Lime Dressing
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 1 garlic clove grated
- 2 tablespoons lime juice from 1 whole lime
- ¼ cup olive oil or other neutral oil such as avocado oil
For the Salad
- 4 cups spring mix
- 1 large mango peeled and chopped into 1 /2 inch cubes
- 1 Persian cucumber chopped into ½ inch cubes
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes cut in half
- ½ cup fresh cilantro thick stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
- 4-5 sprigs fresh mint stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves stems removed and leaves roughly chopped
- 2 green onions sliced thin
- 1 lime cut into quarters, for serving
Instructions
- Marinate the steak. Whisk the steak marinade ingredients together and set aside. Pat the steaks dry well and place them in a resealable plastic bag. Pour the marinade over, seal the bag and massage the marinade making sure it coats the steaks evenly. Marinate for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.
- Grill the steaks. Heat a grill pan or outdoor grill to high heat. Remove the steaks from the marinade, allowing any excess sauce to drip off.
- Grill the steaks for 3-4 minutes on each side, until there is a good seared char on the outside and the center is medium-rare to medium (or desired preference). Once done, remove the steaks from the grill and set aside to rest.
- Make the Chili lime dressing. In another bowl, add all the sweet chili vinaigrette ingredients together and stir together until emulsified and well combined.
- Assemble the salad. Scatter the salad greens onto a platter and layer the cubed mango, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and scatter the fresh herbs.
- Slice the steak. Once the steak has rested, slice the steak into thin slices, across the grain and layer the steak onto the salad.
- Garnish and Serve. Drizzle the chili lime dressing over the Thai beef salad and garnish with extra fresh herbs and lemon wedges.
Video
Notes
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- Marinate the steak for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour, if you have the time.
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- Once the steak is cooked, let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
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- Salad can be assembled up to 2 days in advance, but don't add the dressing until right before serving.
Amy says
This sounds great! I love adding mint to salads. My secret ingredient.