Larb Gai is a fresh and juicy Thai chicken salad packed with lime and coriander. This is a tasty, weeknight version you'll love.
Are you ready to take your taste buds on a trip to Thailand? You can on a weeknight, because this simplified version of Larb Gai skips some of the more complicated steps, but in my opinion, still tastes just as delicious.
Packed with bold flavours that will transport you straight to the streets of Bangkok, Larb Gai is perfect for those who love a good balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. And the best part? It's incredibly healthy and versatile. You can adjust the spice level to your liking and substitute the chicken with pork, beef, or tofu for a vegetarian option.
What does Larb mean in Thai?
Larb is a spicy minced meat salad, popular in Laos and Thailand. It’s packed with delicious spices and flavours, and one of my favourite Thai dishes. Every mouthful is just bursting with flavour. It’s cooked with a lime juice and fish sauce dressing, which brings out the most intense and wonderful flavours.
What is Larb Gai made of?
To make Larb Gai, you will need
- Mince: I use chicken mince because it is readily available and delicious with lime and fish sauce.
- Aromatics: Larb Gai is packed with flavours. You’ll need garlic, ginger, chilli (optional), green onions, coriander, maple syrup and fish sauce. We’ll also use cornflour as a thickener for the sauce.
- Serve with rice and cos (romaine) lettuce.
How do you make Larb Gai?
There are many complicated versions of Larb Gai out there that involve all sorts of extra steps (like toasting rice), but this is a simple version that I think tastes just as good.
You can make this in just a few simple steps
- Mix a sauce - maple syrup, lime juice, fish sauce and cornflour. Cornflour is used to thicken the sauce when it cooks.
- Fry chicken, garlic, ginger, chilli and coriander. Break up chicken mince when you are cooking.
- Add sauce and cook for a few minutes to thicken. The sauce makes the dinner deliciously juicy.
- Serve with rice, lettuce leaves, coriander leaves and lime wedges.
Top tip when making Larb Gai
Make sure you give the sauce a good stir before adding it to the pan - this way the cornflour will mix through.
Substitutions
- Alternative proteins - Swap chicken mince for pork mince.
- Vegetarian - Use crumbled tofu or future chicken mince. Use vegan fish sauce.
- Dairy Free - This recipe is dairy free.
- Gluten Free - This recipe is gluten free.
Kid-Friendly Variations
- Serve kids plain rice, chicken and lettuce separately. Skip coriander and try to avoid green onions.
Equipment
You will need a frying pan, a stovetop, a microwave.
More Thai Recipes
Recipe
Larb Gai
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Stovetop
- Microwave
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoon ginger
- 1 long red chilli opt.
- ½ bunch green onion
- 1 bunch coriander
- ½ cos lettuce romaine lettuce
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1.5 lime 2 pcs total for the recipe
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 500 g chicken mince
- 450 g microwave rice
- ½ lime 2 pcs total for the recipe
Instructions
- Crush garlic. Peel and grate ginger. Deseed and finely slice chilli. Slice the white part of green onion finely and the green part into 3 cm slices. Roughly chop coriander leaves and finely chop stalks.2 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoon ginger, 1 long red chilli, ½ bunch green onion, 1 bunch coriander
- Pick lettuce leaves and rinse. For kids, slice their lettuce up.½ cos lettuce
- Mix cornflour and water. Squeeze juice from limes and add with maple syrup and fish sauce. Stir to combine.1 tablespoon cornflour, 3 tablespoon water, 1.5 lime, 2 tablespoon maple syrup, 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- Heat a frying pan on medium heat, add vegetable oil, garlic, ginger, white part of green onions and the coriander stalks, and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.2 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoon ginger, ½ bunch green onion, 1 bunch coriander, 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Turn up the heat and add chicken. Leave for a minute to brown on one side, then cook, breaking up mince for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.500 g chicken mince
- Stir the sauce then add to the chicken with the green part of the onions. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Meanwhile, microwave rice and cut lime into wedges.450 g microwave rice, ½ lime
- Serve adults chicken with lettuce cups, rice, lime wedges and coriander leaves. Add chilli to adult dishes.Serve kids rice, chicken (avoid the green part of the green onions), lettuce slices and a wedge of lime.1 bunch coriander, ½ cos lettuce, ½ lime, 1 long red chilli
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