Use this simple, four-ingredient Thai dressing to make your favorite authentic Thai salads. Adjust the ratios to taste—add more sweet, sour, salty, or spicy notes.
Thai salads are different from Western-style salads. Even though we call them “salads,” they’re not often made with lettuce or other greens, and they usually focus on balancing the core flavors of Thai cuisine: sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.
When I visited Thailand, these salads were perfect for lunch. On very hot days, they’re satisfying and refreshing, delivering a big burst of flavor to carry you through the afternoon.
And this dressing is what delivers that fabulous flavor.
The beauty of mastering this simple dressing is that you can take the basic recipe below and tweak it until it tastes exactly the way you like. Don’t like heat? Reduce the amount of chili ! Prefer things more tart than sweet? Add more lime juice!
Once you’ve made this dressing, you’re just a few ingredients away from truly amazing Thai salads like Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam), Spicy Thai Pomelo Salad (Yam Som O), Glass Noodle Salad (Yam Woon Sen), or the famous Thai Beef Salad (Nam Tok).
Here’s how to make it!
Ingredients for Thai Dressing
- Thai chilies: These small, super-spicy chilies are the traditional source of heat in this dressing. Be careful! They can burn your hands. If needed, swap in other chilies to your taste.
- Palm sugar: Palm sugar is less sweet than white sugar and is the traditional sugar used in Thai cooking. It’s easy to find at an Asian grocery and is dried into small discs. The great thing about this sugar is its flavor: slightly citrusy with a hint of caramel. If you don’t have palm sugar, try brown sugar instead.
- Lime juice: It wouldn’t be Thai cooking without plenty of fresh lime juice.
- Fish sauce: Fish sauce adds loads of classic Thai savory depth. Don’t be afraid of this rich, flavorful ingredient.
Ingredients
- 2 Thai chilies, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
Optional
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Whisk together by hand or blend until combined2 Thai chilies, thinly sliced, 2 tablespoons palm sugar, 3 tablespoons lime juice, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- Serve and enjoy
Made this dressing for a quick papaya salad and my spouse immediately said it tasted like our favorite Thai restaurant, then asked if I could keep a jar in the fridge at all times 😊
Made this vinaigrette for a family birthday lunch and used it on green papaya and glass noodle salads. Everyone kept going back for seconds and loved how bright the lime and fish sauce tasted together, with just enough heat. Even the picky eaters asked for the recipe 🙂
Made this vinaigrette for a family birthday dinner and used it on a green papaya salad and a quick cucumber salad. Everyone kept going back for more and loved how fresh and punchy it was, especially the sweet-sour balance with the fish sauce. Next holiday meal, I’m doubling the batch because it disappeared fast 😊
Bright, punchy, and perfectly balanced.