Thai Beef Salad is a tangy, slightly spicy salad with plenty of flavorful veggies and tender steak topped off with ginger, sriracha, and lime dressing.
It’s perfect to serve up as a delicious meal on its own or as a Side Dish with other favorite Thai dishes like Pad See Ew and Thai Peanut Chicken.
THAI BEEF SALAD
The dressing for Thai Beef Salad is the perfect blend of sweet, tangy, and spicy. The flavors of lime juice, fish sauce, ginger, sriracha, garlic, and brown sugar all come together in an amazing blend that brings out the best flavors of the beef. Then that deep flavor is topped off with refreshing, crunchy veggies for the perfect blend.
You can toss together this salad in a few minutes to enjoy it with your family. It’s a great way to get everyone eating more vegetables because the tender beef and delicious dressing make irresistible. Thai Salad is an easy low carb salad with tender slices of steak to make it more filling.
It brings your favorite Asian flavors to the dinner table without any complicated steps or having to order takeout. Just a beautiful salad in under 20 minutes.
MORE WAYS TO SERVE THAI BEEF SALAD
This Thai Beef Salad is great to serve as it is for a delicious side dish, lunch, or light dinner, but you could also serve it up over some more filling ingredients like white rice or noodles. Try making noodles like Cold Thai Noodle Salad or Easy Thai Green Curry Noodles. Then top the classic Thai dishes off with this easy salad. You can also make our Pad Thai recipe, but leave out the chicken and use the beef from this salad for your protein.
Instead of serving the salad with noodles or rice, you could make this into a lettuce wrap. Rather than using chopped romaine lettuce, serve the other salad ingredients wrapped in whole butter lettuce leaves. It’s the same idea as our recipe for Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
MORE EASY, DELICIOUS THAI RECIPES
Thai Green Curry
Baked Thai Peanut Chicken
Baked Thai Peanut Chicken
Thai Peanut Pot Roast
FAQ FOR MAKING THAI BEEF SALAD
- When is the steak done? It should only take about 4 minutes of searing on each side for the beef to be done cooking. If you want to double-check it’s at a safe temperature 145 degrees internal temperature is the minimum cooking temperature. You can always cook it slightly longer or shorter for your desired doneness.
- Why cut the beef against the grain? Cutting the beef against the grain makes the meat more tender. Because you’re cutting through muscle fibers it’s easier to chew and juicier.
- Can you make Thai Steak Salad ahead? You can prep the different parts of this salad ahead of time and store them in the fridge. However, it’s best if you don’t toss the salad together until right before serving. The beef tastes best freshly grilled, but you can make it in advance if you need to as well.
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VARIATIONS ON THAI BEEF SALAD
- Meat: For some different kinds of meat try chicken, shrimp, or pork instead of beef. Just grill the meat on your stovetop and toss it in the salad recipe.
- Flavoring: Try adding some extra spices and seasonings to the recipe for different flavors. To add in some more heat, use red pepper flakes for a spicy dish. You can also add sea salt, citrus, soy sauce, or fresh cilantro leaves for some different flavors.
- Add-ins: For some more vegetables add sliced shallots, cherry tomatoes, and avocados. For some extra crunch add some chopped peanut to the top before serving.
- Curry: Mix some curry powder or curry paste into the salad dressing to make a curry salad.
MORE ASIAN RECIPES
Chicken Chow Mein
Cashew Chicken
Garlic Hunan Beef
Ground Mongolian Beef
HOW TO STORE THAI BEEF SALAD
- Serve: Don’t leave Thai Beef Salad at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: If you think you’ll have leftover salad, leave the dressing on the side. You can store the dressing and other salad ingredients separately. Cover the salad bowl in plastic wrap or put the salad in another airtight container. The dressing and salad should stay good for 2-3 days. Pour the dressing over the top and toss before serving.
- Freeze: The dressing and lettuce won’t freeze well, but you can freeze the other salad ingredients for 3-4 months.
Ingredients
Thai Beef Dressing/Marinade
- 1/2 cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/3 cup brown sugar , packed
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger , very finely minced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
Steak Ingredients
- 2 pounds skirt steak , trimmed of excess fat
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Thai Beef Salad Ingredients
- 8 cups romaine lettuce , chopped (about 2 heads)
- 1 English cucumber , sliced (not peeled)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes , halved
- 1/3 cup cilantro , chopped
- 1/4 red onion , sliced
- 1/2 cup green onions , thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh mint , chopped
- 1/4 cup peanuts , chopped (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the lime juice, lime zest, brown sugar, vegetable oil, fish sauce, sriracha, crushed red pepper flakes ginger and garlic.
- Add half the marinade to the steak, coat well and let marinate for 20 minutes and reserve the rest for the salad dressing.
- Add butter to a large heavy skillet on high heat and add sear steak for 4 minutes on each side. Don't crowd the pan as the steak will steam instead of sear.
- Let steak rest for 10 minutes, then thinly against the grain and toss in the dressing.
- To a large bowl add the lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, green onions and fresh mint.
- Toss gently with remaining dressing and top with steak and garnish with chopped peanuts if desired.
Nutrition
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I have now made this salad 5 times and by far it has to be my most favorite salad in the world. I crave it. Thank you!
You are so welcome Adrienne! Thanks for the five star review.
This recipe reminded me of a dish at a local Thai restaurant, and it didn’t disappoint. I made a few minor changes, but the essence remained. I didn’t have Sriracha, so I used Momofuko Chili crunch, and I served it with hot rice (which absorbs the sauce perfectly). The type of meat was a little chewy, so when I ate leftovers at lunch I used roast beef (deli) in place of the skirt steak. It was thinner, so it absorbed the dressing flavor significantly better, and it made a delicious meal. I will enjoy leftovers again tonight for dinner, and I will most definitely will make this recipe again. Thank you!
Using Momofuko Chili crunch was brilliant Shaheen! Thanks so much for the 5 star review.
So delicious and fresh! I love the use of herbs. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ll definitely make it again.
You’re welcome Tamara and thank you for the five star review.
I was too excited to review and didn’t rate it, most definitely 5+ Star rating! Recipe is a keeper and very forgiving on the veggies used.
Aw thanks so much! Appreciate the five star review!
Love this salad! The proportions of the dressing / marinade is perfect! Some recipes its too salty, too sweet but this one is perfect! Thank you for sharing your recipe. A definite keeper for summer meals when I don’t want to cook. We had this with steak for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
This salad is flavorful, easy, and oh so good. We make it on a regular basis. I love how adaptable it is based on what we have in the fridge! Great recipe!!
Thanks Kristin and thanks for the 5 star review.
The best salad I have ever made!!
The marinade/dressing is amazing!!
I’m doubling the meat this time as it was not a lot compared to the amount of lettuce this recipe had
So glad you enjoyed the dressing Sunshine! Thank you for the 5 stars.
Excellent salad. Great dressing!!!
We served Thai rice along
Thank you Andre and thank you for the 5 star rating!
So so so good! Spicy, tangy, crunchy and delicious! I usually don’t love mint in salads, or too much fish sauce, but neither of them stuck out and the flavors were perfect together! Thanks so much for making this I will come back to it often 🙂
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the Salad and thank you Madi for the 5 stars.
My husband and I love this recipe! I’ve made it several times. I not a fan of fish sauce so I use 1/2 that is called for. Thanks!
Amazing recipe! TY ?
I made the salad as part of a Thai dinner party. Everyone loved it so much I sent them the recipe and it’s now on regular rotation at their houses. The salad is amazing and I highly recommend it. Also, I substitute corn, flour fried tofu for the beef and it’s delicious.
Wow those subs sounds soooo good. Thanks so much for the 5 star review! We LOVE Thai so there’s a bunch of Thai recipes on the site. Just type in “Thai” in the recipe index browser to see your options!!
Can’t find the recipe
That’s odd Ana. Here’s a print link of the Thai Beef Salad recipe. https://dinnerthendessert.com/wprm_print/76109. Hope that helps.
Really enjoyed this. I have leftover eye of round roast, sliced thin, add some dressing to the skillet, warmed the meat and topped the salad with it. Delicious. Restaurant quality!
Glad you enjoyed the Thai Beef Salad Donna!
Made this tonight. We devoured it! Will be adding to the rotation!
We love this recipe! Have made it five or six times. We have eliminated beef consumption in our household for environmental concerns so we use ground chicken instead. Turns out great!
Good to know! Thank you Sheila for the 5 star review!
This is a keeper recipe, I would back off some of the onions! We also added some basil into recipe??
Made for 8 gals camping. Then made again 5 days later for family beach gathering. *I added toasted rice — just cuz it needed some texture.
A keeper!
This recipe is a hit at my house! We make it frequently! Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this for my daughter’s baby shower!!! Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe!!! I’m really looking forward to making it again!!!
This has become a staple in my household! I find it difficult to find a quality healthy steak recipe sometimes, and this one hits every time. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome!
This is an AMAZING salad!!! It is the most popular dish whenever i make it for any gathering. Everyone asks for the recipe. Even the young children love it. Thank you for sharing this great recipe
I’ve been making Thai Beef Salad ever since we were friends with a great Thai lady, back in 1975. This is by far, the absolute best recipe! I forgot to add the sriracha, cooked steak 3 minutes each side, otherwise, pretty much followed your ingredients and instructions. Bravo!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Made this for dinner tonight and it was amazing. So flavorful! Will be going into our regular rotation for sure. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed the Thai Beef Salad!
We loved this recipe. Next time I will decrease the brown sugar to 0.25 cup. Very yummy!
Absolutely delicious. Salty, sweet, crunchy,
and tangy. It may not look like much but the flavors are over the top ?. Made ours with chicken, I imagine it would be amazing with the steak.
Can you marinate the beef for longer than 20-30 min. Looking to marinate for 24 hrs. Similarly, could you freeze the uncooked beef and marinade together? Then remove the day before and let the marinade do it’s thing?
Shelley, I’m sorry this response is so late and you’ve probably already tried the recipe! The beef tastes best freshly grilled, but you can make it in advance if you need to as well. I haven’t tested the recipe using the marinaded beef after freezing it, however, when a marinade has a citrus component (limes) it tenderizes the meat and if left too long can actually cause the meat to become tough sometimes. That would be my only hesitation in marinating for longer periods of time.
This was so good! I actually used leftover NY strip roast from Christmas. I sliced it thinly, marinated it and then just before serving the salad, quick sauteed the meat until it was carmelized. Delicious!
This salad has unbelievable flavor! Looks like basic stuff but combined is INSANE! A must try!
This is a definite hit!! The flavors all together made our tastebuds sing with joy. Thank you for sharing this. Plan to make again soon.
What is the max amount of time I can marinate the steak? 24 hours or more?
I loved this recipe. It came out perfectly. Next time, I would add about 1/3 more dressing.
I loved this recipe. I would add about 1/3 more dressing. Thank you.
Love this recipe! Dressing is delicious, add a little more siracha to kick up the heat a bit more.
I made this last night for friends. Only change was I used a sirloin strip steak because that’s what was available. RAVE reviews and definitely a keeper! OUTSTANDING!
This was so easy and tasted great! In addition to the beef I also added some shrimp to the marinade and cooked the beef and shrimp on a super hot outdoor griddle. Fantastic recipe.
Love having nutritional data with recipe. Thank you Concerned about diabetes
This was delicious. I served it with spiralized zucchini heated, omitting the brown sugar. I’ll make it again soon!