15-Minute Thai Beef Salad

This authentic Thai beef salad uses any leftover steak or beef roast, so it’s super quick to assemble. It’s gluten-free with no added sugar but bold flavors.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make an authentic Thai beef salad at home, the most important ingredient is the dressing.

The second most important factor is fresh herbs. Specifically, we are talking about three herbs—basil (preferably Thai basil), mint, and cilantro—all of which must be fresh. Dried ones can’t really do anything here.

Wait? What about the beef?

How Can You Make Thai Beef Salad in Just 15 Minutes?

The simple answer is to use any leftover steak or beef roast.

If you have that on hand, all that’s left to do is to make the dressing and prepare the fresh vegetables and herbs to assemble. No cooking is required. It’s truly one of the quickest and most delicious meals you can make on the fly.

Over at StreetSmart Kitchen, I do a lot of sous vide meal prep, and one hack is to use my sous vide machine to batch cook one main item once and turn it into multiple meals across different cuisines.

For this Thai beef salad, I’m using pre-cooked sous vide beef cheeks from my freezer. The collagen-rich meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender with an intense beefy flavor. Once in contact with the Thai salad dressing, it instantly transforms into Thai cuisine.

Thai Beef Salad Dressing / Marinade

Now, the dressing! Here’s what you need.

• Tamari is a gluten-free version of soy sauce. If gluten isn’t an issue, you can use regular soy sauce.
• Fish sauce is a cooking staple in Thai cuisine.
• Coconut aminos are naturally sweet and have an umami flavor. To sweeten the dressing, you can use honey or brown sugar.
• Sesame oil has a unique aroma that’s commonly used in Asian cooking, especially in dressings.
• Lime juice has a slightly bitter and acidic taste that complements the sweetness in the dressing well.
• Garlic and Ginger are essential in Thai cooking.
• Thai chiles, also known as bird’s eye chiles, are my favorite. I love the heat and bright red color they add to the salad. You can also use red pepper flakes for mild heat.

This salad dressing can also be used as a marinade.

Thai Beef Salad Ingredients

Once you’ve got the dressing ready, the rest can go straight onto the plate.

To Assemble the Salad

No Leftover Steak? No Problem.

If you don’t have any cooked steak at home and want to make the Thai beef salad from scratch, I’ve got you covered. Simply double the dressing ingredients and marinate your preferred steak cuts (flank or skirt steaks work well) in half of the dressing overnight.

When ready to cook, grill the beef to your preferred doneness, slice it, and then follow the above steps to assemble the salad and serve it with the reserved dressing.

You see, we’ve just created a completely new meal with new flavors using the same old leftover beef. Try it and let me know what you think in the comments below. Happy cooking!

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