This healthy Thai mango salad recipe is one of our easiest recipes here on Healthy Recipes 101.
It takes so little time and effort, yet produces a delicious, beautiful, and vibrant salad that will let you feast with your eyes as well as your tastebuds.
What Are the Ingredients in Thai Mango Salad?
The ingredients for Thai mango salad recipe may seem like a lot, but they’re actually simple. First, let’s put them into groups:
- Fruits and vegetables: apart from green mangoes— the star of today’s show, we’re also using cherry tomatoes, and carrots. You can also add more veggies such as bell peppers to customize the recipe to your liking.
- Protein: we use shrimp as the main source of protein in this recipe as they take minutes to cook. If you’re vegetarian, crispy fried tofu should fit this recipe well.
- Flavorants: if there is one thing that breathes soul into this salad and binds everything together, it’s the sauce. We’re making a simple sauce with roasted peanuts, chili powder, olive oil, honey, lime juice, fresh ginger, onion, and garlic.
- Seasonings: for the sauce, consisting of salt, ground black pepper, and a hint of fish sauce.
- Garnishes: adding cilantro, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes give the salad more depth of flavor and increased visual interest.
Grouping the ingredients like this can give you a basic understanding of the structure of a salad. Most importantly, this makes it easier for you to alter the ingredients and create your very own Thai salad recipe.
Calories
There are 253 calories per serving of our Thai mango salad recipe.
Keep in mind that this is not enough calories for a full meal so you will have to add other foods/beverages to make it whole. If you’re not sure how many calories you should eat, check out our healthy eating guideline for reference.
Is This Salad Healthy?
For every serving of this salad, there are 3 grams of dietary fiber (about 12% of your recommended daily intake).
A fiber-rich salad like this will make you feel full longer. It also brings many health benefits, such as maintaining bowel health and controlling blood sugar levels.
This Thai mango salad recipe also contains almost 30% of your vitamin C RDA per serving. Vitamin C is one of the crucial nutrients that may help prevent cancer and many other diseases.
In addition to that, there are 17 grams of total carbohydrates per serving. This is relatively low and suitable for anyone following a low-carb diet.
If you love quick and nutritious salads, check out our healthy fruit salad recipe— it can be made in minutes… and is usually gone in minutes, too!
How Long Does It Last?
Thai mango salad can last up to 3 days when properly stored.
If your salad is dressed and leftover, it is best to finish it within the next 24 hours. Leaving the salad too long can cause the salad to get soggy and lose its freshness.
An undressed salad can last 3 days in the fridge and still be fresh. Be sure to store the salad and dressing separately in airtight containers.
For any food preservation, you should always keep your food in an airtight container. This prevents the food from being exposed to air and getting oxidation.
Check out this healthy salad compilation for more tasty salad recipes.
Top Tips
1. What Is the Best Way to Cut a Mango?
There are many ways to cut a mango.
You can cut it into slices, chunks, or dice it. However, the best way to prepare a mango for our Thai mango salad recipe is to julienne it.
Here’s how you do it:
- Wash the mango and pat it dry with a kitchen towel.
- Remove mango skin with a peeler.
- Place the mango in an upright position on the cutting board. Slice off the sides to harvest the mango flesh.
- You will see an area in the middle of the mango with a deeper color. That is the pit. Cut along the sides of the pit to get the rest of the mango flesh.
- Cut the mango flesh into thin strips with a julienne cutter.
Your mango is now ready for the salad.
2. How To Mix Thai Mango Salad
Some salads can only be mixed with a wooden spoon and fork as they can be easily bruised. Other salads only need a light mixing.
Our Thai mango salad recipe, on the other hand, requires a very thorough mixing. And the best utensils to do this are your hands.
Remember to wash your hands very carefully when handling food. Or wear a pair of food gloves if you’re feeling extra cautious/have a cut.
To mix Thai mango salad, toss the vegetables first so that they are evenly distributed. Add the dressing and mix well.
If you don’t like using your hands, just use a set of salad utensils or chopsticks. Either way will work because mixing a salad is a simple process.
Healthy Thai Mango Salad Recipe
This healthy Thai mango salad recipe is one of our favorites because it is so fresh and vibrant. And it only takes roughly 15 minutes to make.It's so simple, but at the same time, full of complexity!
- cook TIME 5 mins
- prep TIME 10 mins
- total TIME 15 mins
- COURSE Side Dish
- CUISINE Thai
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 253 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 4 oz green mango (about 1/3 medium, skin and pit removed, grated)
- 8 oz raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
- 3 oz cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)
- 3 oz carrots (peeled and grated)
- 0.25 oz fresh red chili peppers (thinly sliced into strips)
- 2.1 oz unsalted roasted peanuts (about ½ cup)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp chili powder (divided)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper (divided)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
- 1/2 tsp Thai fish sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 0.25 oz fresh ginger (about 1-inch knob, peeled and minced)
- 1.2 oz yellow onion (about ⅓ medium)
- 1 tsp garlic (minced)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (roughly chopped)
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp unsalted roasted sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
Make shrimp seasoning mix: combine 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 teaspoon chili powder and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Mix well.
Cook the shrimp: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and sear 8 oz shrimp. Sprinkle the seasoning on top. Cook for 5 minutes or until each side has just turned pink, flipping halfway. Turn off the heat. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Make the peanut dressing: in a food processor, blend together 1/2 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp honey, 3 tbsp lime juice, 0.25 oz ginger, 1.2 oz onions, 1 tsp garlic, 2.1 oz roasted peanuts, 1/8 tsp salt, and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon each of chili powder, and black pepper. Set aside.
Mix the salad: In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked shrimp, 4 oz mango, 3 oz carrots, 0.25 oz fresh chili peppers, 3 oz cherry tomatoes, and the peanut dressing. Mix well to marinate.
Plating: Transfer the salad to a serving plate. Garnish with chopped cilantro, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Head Chef, Culinary ConsultantLuna Regina
Writer, AuthorLizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
Nutrition Reviewer- Dennis Yannakos
I love Thai’s cuisine. Thanks for sharing the recipe!