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Spicy Thai Beef Salad Recipe – delicious sweet and spicy cold Thai Beef Salad is a cool, refreshing summer hit – great for a hot day, picnic, or lunch on the go. Tastes just like takeout Thai Beef Salad, but a million times better in less time than it takes to pick up takeout!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
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Table of Contents
Delicious Spicy Thai Beef Salad
This sweet and spicy Thai beef salad is so delicious – and super easy! If you love sweet and spicy Thai food flavors, this salad is a hearty but refreshing dish you can make ahead and take for lunch at work or on the go – and it’s naturally low carb, making it a delicious keto Thai beef recipe!
This salad is great with pre-cooked sirloin, as a way to use up leftover steak, or with some quick stir fried beef. You can even use ground beef instead of sliced steak or change it up and use precooked chicken or shrimp, even tofu or tempeh – this recipe is really versatile!
Tips to Serving Spicy Thai Beef Salad Recipe at a Dinner or Potluck
This Thai Beef Salad is one of my favorite meals to make ahead for an easy on the go meal – in part because it tastes best when cold!
-Let your beef marinate in the dressing for at least an hour before serving.
Letting your beef sit in the dressing will help soak up all the delicious flavors and help your dressing come together.
-Don’t dress lettuce until you’re going to eat.
Dressing your lettuce shouldn’t happen until you’re ready to eat (unlike the other vegetables and the beef) because it will wilt and get super soggy.
-Keep chilled.
For food safety’s sake, keep your dish chilled the entire time.
-Vary up your veggies.
If you don’t love the vegetables I’m adding to this spicy beef salad, change them up and pick vegetables you love. Try sugar peas, zucchini, onions – whatever you have on hand or love!
To Make This Spicy Thai Beef Salad Recipe You’ll Need
This delicious cold beef salad is seriously one of the easiest recipes ever – you don’t need any special equipment to make a delicious restaurant quality Thai beef dinner.
To make this recipe, you will need:
Mixing Bowl
Since we’re making the sweet and spicy Thai beef dressing and letting it marinate, you’ll need a bowl that is easy to mix the dressing in and stir well to dissolve the sugar to create an addictive layered flavor.
Pre-cooked Beef or Steak
This recipe doesn’t require any cooking whatsoever – you’ll need chilled pre-cooked beef that was quickly browned or stir-fried. Leftover steak sliced thin works great.
Sharp knife, shredder, or mandoline
To make the most delicious salad, I prefer very very thinly sliced vegetables – think coleslaw sized strips instead of chunks. This will give your salad more surface area for the deliciously addictive dressing to stick to!
Spoon
You’re going to need to stir or whisk the dressing to get it to come together.
Plastic Wrap or airtight container
Since we’re going to chill the beef salad for about an hour before serving, letting the flavors come together beautifully, it’s important to keep the dish chilled in an airtight container or under plastic wrap to prevent contamination, oxidation, or taking on funky fridge flavors.
What to Enjoy with Spicy Thai Beef Salad
If you love this easy and delicious Thai inspired salad, please check out some of my other favorites: Easy Chicken and Shrimp Pad Thai Noodles Recipe, 10 Minute Pan Seared Thai Chili Scallops Recipe, and One Pot Easy Beef Drunken Noodles.
If you love this sweet and spicy Chilled Thai Beef Salad, be sure to try my favorite hearty low carb salads like Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad Recipe, Creamy Avocado Steak Salad, and Scallop & Pepper Antipasti Salad.
Try these other Asian recipes:
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Spicy Thai Beef Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 lb thin sliced ribeye or sirloin, cooked and peeled
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 4 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil, cilantro, and mint
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
- 3 cups butter lettuce
Instructions
- Season beef with a pinch of salt and pepper, sprinkled evenly across beef.
- Heat a large skillet or wok on high heat.
- Add oil and swirl around pan until shimmery.
- Add beef to pan and cook until well browned, stirring often to prevent burning; about 5-8 minutes.
- Remove beef from pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine fish sauce, oil, lime juice, sugar, and bell pepper and mix well until combined and sugar is dissolved.
- In a large bowl, add beef, herbs, and vegetables and drizzle sauce over.
- Toss well and chill, covered, for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
- Add lettuce to a bowl and toss beef and vegetables over the top.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It looks yummy I will make this Thái salad tomorrow. Thanks for sharing the recipes.
I made this vegan by subbing seitan (instead of meat) and soy sauce (instead of fish sauce) and it was AMAZING! Thank you!