Laab (aka larb) is a famous dish that is iconic of northeastern Thai food, and this version uses chicken, making it laab gai ลาบไก่. It's spicy, tart, and fresh...few things satisfy the palate the way laab does. It's no wonder it's one of the most popular dishes in Thai restaurants around the world! It is probably the healthiest chicken salad ever, and one of the easiest Thai dishes to make. You'll have it on the table in less than 30 minutes!
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What is laab gai? Or is it larb gai?
Let's settle the second question first, the dish is pronounced "laab" without the R. The reason it is often written with R is because, like the British and Australians, Thai people do not pronounce the R when it follows a vowel. So if you're American or Canadian, please pretend you're British for a brief moment when you see "larb" on a menu! (I explain more about this in my video about the madness of spelling Thai words in English.)
Laab is a northeastern Thai salad made of ground meat, and in fact "laab" means to mince in the north/northeastern Thai dialect! The dressing is spicy and tart, made primarily of fish sauce, lime juice, and chilies. It's loaded with tons of fresh herbs and served with sticky rice and fresh veggies.
Gai means chicken, and it's one of the most popular versions served in N. America. In Thailand, however, laab moo or pork laab is the more common one.
Note: This laab is from the Northeast, but there is another kind of laab from Northern Thailand that is entirely different. That laab is called laab nuea or laab kua and it is made with a ton of aromatic spices. If you love spices, try my northern laab (laab kua) recipe here!
Ingredients and Notes
Here are all the ingredients you need to make laab gai and important notes about them. For amounts, see the recipe card below.
- Ground chicken, preferably not lean so as to not make the salad too dry. If you have a choice, choose dark meat ground chicken. For this recipe I grind my own using 50/50 chicken breast and chicken thighs. Grinding your own meat really is much easier than it seems especially if you have a cleaver. You can see the video @3:20 for how to grind your own chicken. I grew up grinding all our own meat (yes, as a child!) because pre-ground meat wasn't readily available where we lived. I also have a laab recipe made with ground pork here.
- Water or unsalted chicken stock. Use chicken stock only if you've got some already open/available, otherwise just use water. It's not necessary to buy/make/open chicken stock for this.
- Fish sauce. This is the main seasoning for the dish so it's important you use a good one. See this post for how to choose good fish sauce.
- Shallots. In a pinch, red onion will also work.
- Fresh lime juice
- Roasted chili flakes. Roasting chili flakes adds a lovely smoky aroma, and if you like spicy food, it's useful to have a bunch of it on hand and you can add it to anything! I use mine all the time. Here's a detailed tutorial on how to make your own Thai roasted chili flakes.
You can also buy Thai chili flakes (if you like spicy) from an Asian market, or if you prefer it mild, use "red pepper flakes" available at Western stores. I recommend toasting store bought chili flakes in a dry skillet over low heat until it darkens slightly and smells smoky - it'll take just one minute or less so be careful not to burn it! - Toasted rice powder. THIS is the heart of laab. It is not laab without toasted rice powder or kao kua (aka khao khua). It adds a magical nutty flavor that helps mellow out the sharpness of the lime. It's very easy to make, recipe below.
- Cilantro and/or sawtooth coriander. You can find sawtooth coriander from some Asian markets, and they're also known as culantro. It's very popular added to laab, but if you can't find it, cilantro alone is just fine.
- Green onion.
- Mint. Mint is an absolutely key ingredient of laab, don't skip it!
- Crispy chicken skin, this is optional, and I have a quick microwave crispy chicken skin recipe here. It's just a way to add a little fun crunchy bits on top. You can also use store bought crispy pork rind instead.
Toasted Rice Powder (kao kua)
- Uncooked Thai sticky rice or jasmine rice. Sticky rice is typically used in Northeastern Thailand since that is the rice that's most commonly eaten there, but I prefer jasmine rice because it is more aromatic. Both will work fine.
- Makrut lime leaf (aka kaffir lime leaf, optional, but if you have it I highly recommend adding it cuz it adds such a lovely aroma). More about makrut lime leaves here.
How to Make Laab Gai (larb gai)
Here's a bird's eye view of the process. If it's your first time I recommend watching the video tutorial first to ensure success.
- To make toasted rice powder: In a small pot or skillet, add the rice and the makrut lime leaf and toast, stirring constantly, over high heat until the rice has a deep brown colour. Not golden brown, you want it DARK brown.
- Transfer into a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Grind until fine (yes, grind the lime leaf too), but if using a coffee grinder, be careful not to over-grind—you don't want it to look like flour, you want it to be like a coarse powder.
- To make the laab : In a wide pot or medium size skillet, add the water or stock and bring to a simmer over high heat. Then add ground chicken and 1 teaspoon of the fish sauce. Cook, stirring constantly to break up any big lumps, just until it is done.
- Remove from heat, then add the shallots and stir to wilt slightly and to make sure all the shallot layers are separated.
- Add fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes, and toasted rice powder; stir to mix well.
- Add all the fresh herbs except mint: green onions, sawtooth coriander and/or cilantro and stir to mix. Taste and adjust seasoning. If you find the acidity a bit too intense, you can add just a half a teaspoon of sugar to balance, though this is not traditionally added.
- Plate and sprinkle the mint on top (the mint is not added into the salad as it turns black in the heat). If you want, garnish with a couple of dried chilies and some crispy chicken skin (which you can make in minutes!). Serve warm or room temperature with sticky rice and fresh, crunchy vegetables such as lettuce leaves, cucumber, long beans, or cabbage.
How to Serve and Eat Laab like a Thai
Laab is always served with sticky rice and lots of fresh crunchy veggies. If you've got some lettuce leaves, you can make little lettuce cups with the laab. You can also ball up the sticky rice in your hands and use it to sop up the dressing. Here is the easiest and best way to make sticky rice.
If you're looking to make a meal of it, here are a few other classic northeastern thai recipes that we often serve with laab:
Advance Prep Tips
Though laab is super easy and quick to make, there are a few things you can make in advance to make it even quicker:
- Toast the rice advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge. I recommend not grinding it until you're ready to cook in order to preserve the aroma as much as possible.
- Toast the chili flakes ahead of time.
- The salad can be made ahead of time, but don't add the toasted rice and fresh herbs until just before serving, otherwise the toasted rice powder will absorb all the dressing and make the salad seem dry, and the fresh herbs will wilt.
Recipe Card
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Laab Gai (larb gai) Spicy Thai Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2
Description
Laab gai (aka larb gai) is a spicy and tart chicken salad iconic of northeastern Thai cuisine. It's one of the easiest Thai dishes to make, and so tasty it's no wonder it's one of the most popular Thai dishes around the world!
Ingredients
- 300 g (11 oz) ground chicken, preferably not lean (if you have the choice, go with dark meat)
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) water or unsalted chicken stock (don't buy stock for this, use stock only if you already have some)
- 1 Tbsp + 2 teaspoon (25 ml) fish sauce
- 1 small shallot, thinly sliced, about ¼ cup
- 2 Tbsp (30 ml) fresh lime juice
- 1-2 teaspoon (5-10 ml) roasted chili flakes or whatever spicy chili powder you have, to taste
- 2-3 tablespoon (30-45 ml) toasted rice powder (recipe follows)
- 6-8 sprigs cilantro
- 2-3 leaves sawtooth coriander (optional, or sub a little more cilantro)
- 1 green onion, chopped
- ⅓ cup mint leaves, roughly torn if large
- Sticky rice for serving, here's my favourite way to make sticky rice.
- Fresh veggies for serving, this can be cabbage, long beans, cucumber, romaine lettuce, carrots, or whatever crunchy veg you enjoy eating raw.
- Crispy chicken skin for garnish (optional, see recipe here)
Toasted Rice Powder
- 3 Tbsp uncooked Thai sticky rice or jasmine rice
- 1 makrut lime leaf (aka kaffir lime leaf, optional)
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Instructions
To make toasted rice powder:
- In a dry saute pan, add the rice and the kaffir lime leaf and toast, stirring constantly, over high heat until the rice has a deep brown colour. Remove from heat immediately and transfer into a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.
- Grind until fine (yes, grind the lime leaf too), but if using a coffee grinder, be careful not to over-grind—you don't want it to look like flour, you still want a bit of grittiness to it.
To make the laab :
- In a wide pot or saute pan, add the water or stock and bring to a simmer. Add ground chicken and 1 teaspoon of the fish sauce, then cook, stirring constantly to break up any big lumps, just until it is done.
- Remove from heat, then, using the pot as your salad bowl, add the shallots and stir to wilt slightly and to make sure all the shallot layers are separated.
- Then add fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes, and 2 tablespoon of the toasted rice powder; stir to mix well. Then add green onions and sawtooth coriander and/or cilantro and stir to mix. Tip: If you're not serving right away, hold the toasted rice powder and stir it in just before serving, otherwise the toasted rice powder will absorb all the dressing and make the salad seem dry, and the toasted rice powder will become slightly mushy.
- Taste and adjust seasoning, if the acidity is a bit too intense you can add ½-1 teaspoon sugar or a little more rice powder to help balance the acidity.
- Plate and sprinkle the mint on top. Garnish with a couple of dried chilies if you want, and sprinkle with some crispy chicken skin, if using (here's my crispy chicken skin in minutes recipe!).
- Serve warm or room temp with sticky rice and fresh, crunchy vegetables such as iceberg lettuce, cucumber, long beans, Belgian endive.
Michelle says
Delicious and so fresh!
Foxy Flamingo says
FANTASTIC AND SO DELICIOUS. easy recipe and it came out beautiful. thank you.
B. Torode says
This reminded me a lot of the "waterfall" beef salad which I've made many times using this site's recipe, which is beyond excellent, I think the only thing omitted is the lemongrass. But it has a beautiful crisp freshness. We used Korean "sanchu" lettuce leaves to wrap it, which made it even more special. I wondering if it could tolerate the addition of some celery for extra crunch ...
S says
Hi!
This is so interesting... I just realized the laab recipes Thai folks provides do not contain garlic. I've been making mine with smashed garlic because a childhood Thai friend's mother makes it with garlic. I guess it's authentically made without? Thank you for the recipes, I'm obsessively reading your past ones. And I love your "laab anything" motto!
Kringkli says
Hi Pai, do you have any tips on how to store this in fridge + reheating it? I’m a college student that happens to be obsessed with laab & sticky rice past 2 weeks 🙂 thank you
Pailin Chongchitnant says
If you know you won't finish everything I would set aside whatever you won't eat and don't add the fresh herbs to it. Reheat in the microwave and toss fresh herbs in when you're gonna eat.
Tananda says
I happened to have ground pork so I made it with this - and - my wife said it was the most delicious thing I've ever cooked for her!
I will go back at some point and try your Laab Gai exactly but this is now about the 4th thing I've tried from following your videos/recipes and the success of a cookbook/cooking show is whether the fans can succeed following along.. In my estimation you are truly excellent in this regard. I look forward to more
Melanie says
Made this the other night and it was so good!! Easy and tasted so fresh with the herbs and lime juice. Wondering how else to use the rest of the toasted rice/lime leaf powder??
Tim says
Ok first of all this recipe is a pure example of delicious perfection.
But I wanted to eat it as a main course and I'm trying to eat healthy. So for one portion I used 100gr of chicken and added 100 gr of diced chestnut mushrooms and I replaced the sticky rice with whole grain jasmine. I can report that this approach didn't hurt the flavor much. I'm glad because now I can eat it more often :p
Lil says
Turned out great but was too hungry to take a picture! Next time. 🙂 This gave me motivation to try making Nam Tok Nuea. Thank you, Pailin!
Jen says
Do you ever put fresh lemon grass in your laab?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Sometimes, usually when I make it with beef. You certainly can!
Nads says
One of the best Thai recipes
Jody Hatch says
Thank you so much! I live in remote Alaska and now can make one of my favorite Thai dishes anytime!
Rachael says
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! So fresh and light! We live in Thailand so it’s easy and cheap to find local dishes like this, but I love being able to make it myself, especially because it means I can adjust things according to our tastes and ensure that no MSG is added. Thanks Pailin for explaining everything so clearly, you are my go-to Thai food expert 😀
Stephen Chan says
Laab is one of my favourite Thai salads, I've tried both the Gai and Moo variations. The addition of the kiffir lime leaf to the rice powder really brightens it up.