It’s All About the Dressing: Panera’s Thai Chopped Chicken Salad

Mar 25, 2011 by M. Velez

Salad combinations are somewhat hard to critique mainly because almost any raw ingredient (e.g. vegetables, nuts, fruits) can work well with lettuce. There are the exceptions; however, for this article, I’d like to focus on something that I consider critical to the success of any salad. It is the one component that can make or break any salad combination.

The Salad Dressing

Just like you, I’ve eaten through my share of salad inventions, but the most memorable ones all had one thing in common: A great salad dressing. The dressing is important. It is, in my opinion, what defines a salad, gives it character. Don’t believe me? What’s a Caesar salad without the Caesar dressing? or a Thai Salad without the Thai dressing? My point exactly. If anything has the power to clinch a theme, it’s the salad dressing. The issue with Panera’s Thai Chopped Chicken Salad wasn’t the combination, it was their Thai Chili Vinaigrette.

It wasn’t awful. In fact, I found it reasonable. I would best describe it as a bitter-sweet concoction with a vinegary punch. To be fair, it is advertised as a low-fat vinaigrette on Panera’s nutrition calculator, which would make sense of the vinegary punch. Understandably, Panera is not an authentic Thai restaurant, but for the sake of the theme, I think their dressing could have been done better.

In my mind, the word “Thai” conjures up things like fresh red chili peppers, garlic, mint, ginger, shallots, and fish sauce (although I’m not particularly fond of fish sauce, I will make exceptions under certain circumstances). Panera’s Thai version reminded me of vinegar, sesame oil, bits of chili peppers and lime. Yes, in that order. You can argue that these ingredients can be used for a Thai theme and I would agree, but my argument is that it could have been done better. A Thai Chili dressing should be pleasantly memorable. It should agree nicely with your lettuce and not insult your mouth with a bitter aftertaste.

Personally, I don’t think spiciness belongs in a salad dressing—meat marinades, yes. If you’re a spicy aficionado, it won’t matter, and if salad dressings are all the same to you, enjoy your salad.