Vietnamese Chicken Salad Lettuce Boats With A Honey Chili Dipping Sauce

Vietnamese Chicken Salad Lettuce Boats with a Honey Chili Dipping Sauce offer a harmonious blend of flavors and textures.

The tender chicken, marinated in traditional Vietnamese spices, is nestled within crisp Romain lettuce leaves, providing a refreshing contrast.

The Honey Chili Dipping Sauce adds a perfect balance of sweetness and heat, that complement the dish wonderfully.

Just wrap the salad in crisp Romain lettuce leaves, dip it in the sauce, and enjoy a burst of flavors in every bite!

Vietnamese Chicken Salad Lettuce Boats With A Honey Chili Dipping Sauce

4-6 romaine lettuce leaves, cut ends off, can also opt for butter lettuce or little gems

2-3 cups Vietnamese Chicken Salad – Find Recipe HERE

For The Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tablespoon white sugar

1-2 teaspoons sambal oelek chili paste or Sriracha sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard *See Cook’s Notes

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Cook’s Notes

Mustard can serve as a thickening agent in culinary applications.

When added to a sauce, in this case a dipping sauce, it acts as an emulsifier binding ingredients together (that would otherwise be runny and separate) to create a smooth and thick consistency.

Careful consideration of the type and amount of mustard used is crucial to avoid overpowering the dish with its distinct pungency, ensuring a harmonious balance of flavors.

With that in mind, we used a Honey mustard, being honey is the main source ingredient for sweetness in the dipping sauce.

Most Asian dipping sauces call for vinegar (though it would be a rice vinegar with a more sweet flavor) and honey mustard has vinegar.

So as not to over power the honey sweet chili flavor that we want to achieve, only 1 teaspoon of honey mustard is used.

In a small saucepan over low heat add honey and sugar. Bring to a low boil and stir until sugar is melted, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Next add chili pasta, honey mustard, fish sauce and sesame oil to honey mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into a small 5-inch round ramekin.

Place the ramekin at the center of a large plate. You can do either of following.

Place lettuce leave boats on plate to one side of ramekin. On the other side spoon on to the plate the Vietnamese Chicken Salad.

You can also choice to serve the plate with the lettuce boats stuffed with chicken salad and placed around the ramekin with the Honey Chili Dipping Sauce.

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