This Thai Beef Salad with Crispy Noodles is quick to make in 20 minutes and is fresh, fragrant and light. Made using simple everyday ingredients this is a salad that is made for two and perfect for dinner or lunch. With a zesty citrus dressing, a little heat from some chilli and cooling mango, this is a salad that will get your tastebuds dancing.
Its a perfect quick and healthy asian salad just like this Thai Prawn Salad with homemade Chilli Lime Dressing and this Vietnamese Beef salad.
Recipe Highlights
- Packed with flavours: tangy, spicy, sweet, salty all at the same time, but its easy to adjust the level of spiciness by adding more or leaving out the chilli
- Cook your steak any way you like it! I cook mine in strips, but feel free to cook a whole steak medium rare and slice it after cooking.
- Its made without fish sauce and instead uses a basic 3 ingredient dressing that you can whip up in under 1 minute.
- Easy and Simple to Make: No fuss, fluff free, with ingredients you can get from your local supermarket.
- There's lots of texture and crunch from the noodles, fresh cucumber, red onion and lettuce leaves, juicy tomato, and sweet mango
- Its the ultimate low carb, low calorie food in a bowl
- Perfect for lunch for two, dinner for two, and easy to scale up the recipe for more people, or even to just make for your self.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Steak: Rib fillet, eye fillet, flank steak, sirloin steak are all good options. Slicing the strips the same size will ensure it cooks evenly.
- Fried Noodles: I used Changs fried noodles 100 gram packet, however there are several different varieties of fried noodles available in the asian aisle of the supermarket.
- Garlic, ginger and soy sauce: these act as a marinde and seasoning for the steak and add to the flavour of the dish. This step can be skipped, but you’ll be missing out on extra flavour and taste in the salad
- Lettuce Leaves: Butter lettuce, Gem lettuce, are the best. I find that the packets of loose lettuce leaves from the supermarket are ideal. Failing that use whatever lettuce you have on hand.
- Mango: Make sure the mango you use is ripe and sweet as it will counteract the heat of the chilli in the dressing, like in this Asian Salmon with Mango Salsa
- Tomatoes: I love using mini cherry tomatoes, however regular cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered are great, and alternatively you could also use a regular tomato chopped into small chunks
- Red Onion: provides a savoury note to the dish as well as some crunch
- Cucumber: provides crunch and freshness. I like to use Lebanese cucumber as it has a softer skin than most.
- Mint: fresh mint leaves roughly chopped are ideal
- Corriander/Cilantro: fresh and roughly chopped, both in the salad, and to garnish
- Thai Basil: this adds a peppery note to the salad and additional flavour, however if you can’t find it, you could use regular basil or leave it out and the salad will still taste great.
- Sweet chilli Sauce: I like to use “Light Sweet Chilli Sauce” which is a lower calorie option that the regular varieties as it has a lot less sugar. Its available usually along side the Asian sauces at supermarkets.
- Lime: nothing beats fresh lime juice in a thai salad dressing. A squeeze over the salad to serve is also great.
How To Make
- Season Steak: Add steak strips, garlic, ginger and soy sauce to a bowl and mix together
- Cook Steak: Heat a non stick wok on high heat. (use a little spray oil if using a regular wok). Add beef strips and cook quickly, moving beef around the wok until its brown and cooked to your liking, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Prepare Salad: Add salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl and toss to combine
- Prepare dressing: add dressing ingredients to a small bowl or jug and whisk with a fork to mix together. (Don’t pour directly over salad. Serve on the side)
- Prepare serving bowls: Evenly divide salad between two plates. Drain excess steak juices and place steak strips on top on top of salad, and spoon over the dressing. You may like to give it a gently toss with hands or two forks. Garnish with additional fried noodles and coriander/cilantro.
Recipe Tips for Sweet Chilii Salad Dressing
This has to be the best and most simple thai salad dressing ever. Its like a thai vinaigrette that is addictive and I drizzle it over fish, salmon, chicken and use it as a dipping sauce for sushi!
Dressing: You can use just the 3 base ingredients for the dressing (soy sauce, lime juice and sweet chilli sauce) if that’s all you have, however adding additional chilli and a hit of honey elevates the dish and pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the mango and cherry tomatoes.
Dressing the Salad: Make sure to spoon over the salad dressing, rather than pour it directly on as too much dressing will make the noodles go soggy. As the dressing is so flavourful, only a little is needed.
Leftover Dressing: You will probably end up with more dressing than you need, but you can store leftovers in a jar with lid for upto a week and its great to use as a stir fry sauce and over grilled fish or salmon
Add Ins
- Cashews: for added crunch and texture, add whole or chopped cashews to this sticky beef salad
- Extra Chilli: for additional heat, add a finely diced chilli sprinkled on top to serve
- Fried Shallots: you can these in packets or jars from the asian aisle of the supermarket and a few sprinkled on top to serve adds additional texture and crunch
- Bean Sprouts: this is a great idea to bulk out the salad if making it for alot people, and works great in combination with the lettuce leaves. If adding these, I'd recommend using fresh bean sprouts instead of ones from a can.
- A side of rice: if you really need something extra to go with the salad, a servings of steamed jasmine, or brown rice could be an option
- Wrap: have you ever tried a crunchy thai beef salad in a wrap? and used the thai salad dressing as a dipping sauce for the wrap? Its makes for a good portable lunch option.
This Crunchy Thai Beef Salad is loaded with lively fresh citrus flavours, with hints of mild chilli to give it just a bit of a spicy edge without being hot or overpowering.
There's no dairy of any kind, just clean fresh ingredients that are interesting and taste so darn good all together.
Love Thai Food you can make at home? this this easy Slow Cooker Thai Green Beef Curry or Lemon Chicken Stirfry that are simple to make, big on flavour, but without all the added sugars.
Seriously, this has to be one of the best summer salads ever!
More Healthy Thai Dinners
Thai Beef Salad with Crispy Noodles and Mango
Tangy, salty, and sweet crunchy thai beef salad is a fresh, fragrant and light weeknight dinner, perfect for warm evenings when you have a hankering for thai takeaway, but want to keep to your healthy eating routine!
Recipe Tags: Low Carb
Ingredients
Meat
- 300 grams Steak - thinly sliced into strips
- 1 teaspoon crushed Garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced Ginger
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
Salad
- 4 handfuls Lettuce leaves
- ½ medium Red onion - thinly sliced
- 12 Cherry tomatoes - quartered
- 1 medium Lebanese cucumber - cut into small chunks
- 1 large mango - (2 cheeks) cut into chunks
- I packet crunchy fried noodles - 100 grams
- Handful of Mint leaves
- Handful of Thai Basil leaves/Corriander or Cilantro
Dressing
- ½ Long Red Chilli - diced with seeds removed
- 2 tablespoons Light sweet chilli sauce
- 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Lime Juice
- 1 teaspoon honey/powdered sweetener
Garnish
- Crunchy fried noodles
- Additional Corriander/Cilantro
Instructions
- Season Steak: Add steak strips, garlic, ginger and soy sauce to a bowl and mix together
- Cook Steak: Heat a non stick wok on high heat. (use a little spray oil if using a regular wok). Add beef strips and cook quickly, moving beef around the wok until its brown and cooked to your liking, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Prepare Salad: Add salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl and toss to combine
- Prepare dressing: add dressing ingredients to a small bowl or jug and whisk with a fork to mix together. (Don’t pour directly over salad. Serve on the side)
- Prepare serving bowls: Evenly divide salad between two plates. Drain excess steak juices and place steak strips on top on top of salad, and spoon over the dressing. You may like to give it a gently toss with hands or two forks. Garnish with additional fried noodles and coriander/cilantro.
Notes
- Steak: Rib fillet, eye fillet, flank steak, sirloin steak are all good options. Slicing the strips the same size will ensure it cooks evenly.
- Fried Noodles: I used Changs fried noodles 100 gram packet, however there are several different varieties of fried noodles available in the asian aisle of the supermarket.
- Garlic, ginger and soy sauce: these act as a marinde and seasoning for the steak and add to the flavour of the dish. This step can be skipped, but you’ll be missing out on extra flavour and taste in the salad
- Lettuce Leaves: Butter lettuce, Gem lettuce, are the best. I find that the packets of loose lettuce leaves from the supermarket are ideal. Failing that use whatever lettuce you have on hand.
- Mango: Make sure the mango you use is ripe and sweet as it will counteract the heat of the chilli in the dressing
- Tomatoes: I love using mini cherry tomatoes, however regular cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered are great, and alternatively you could also use a regular tomato chopped into small chunks
- Red Onion: provides a savoury note to the dish as well as some crunch
- Cucumber: provides crunch and freshness. I like to use Lebanese cucumber as it has a softer skin than most.
- Mint: fresh mint leaves roughly chopped are ideal
- Corriander/Cilantro: fresh and roughly chopped, both in the salad, and to garnish
- Thai Basil: this adds a peppery note to the salad and additional flavour, however if you can’t find it, you could use regular basil or leave it out and the salad will still taste great.
- Sweet chilli Sauce: I like to use “Light Sweet Chilli Sauce” which is a lower calorie option that the regular varieties as it has a lot less sugar. Its available usually along side the Asian sauces at supermarkets.
- Lime: nothing beats fresh lime juice in a thai salad dressing. A squeeze over the salad to serve is also great.
- Dressing the Salad: Make sure to spoon over the salad dressing, rather than pour it directly on as too much dressing will make the noodles go soggy. As the dressing is so flavourful, only a little is needed.
- Leftover Dressing: You will probably end up with more dressing than you need, but you can store leftovers in a jar with lid for upto a week and its great to use as a stir fry sauce and over grilled fish or salmon
Nutrition
Calories: 452kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 40gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gFiber: 10gSugar: 11g
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.
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Thai beef salad is always a winner with me. Love all the different variations you can make as well. I like to marinate my meet first before cooking, I find it really intensifies the flavor.