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This green papaya salad is crunchy, flavorful, and healthy. Served with an oil-free dressing that’s sweet, spicy, and tangy—it‘ll be a hit with you and your family! So, stick around and read on to learn how to make green papaya salad with my recommended ingredients and alternatives.

What To Know About Papaya Salad

For today’s recipe, the main star is shredded green papaya. It is the unripened stage of papaya, which is also called young papaya. This fruit has a clean tasteless flavor and crunchy texture similar to carrots.

To make it flavorful, I drizzled a sweet, spicy, tangy dressing. The dressing gets its spiciness from Thai chili peppers and chili garlic sauce, and its savoriness from light soy sauce. A splash of vinegar makes it tangy and a bit of minced garlic makes it pungent.

The best way to prepare papaya as a salad side dish is by shredding it into matchsticks, making it easier to eat and firm up.

Active preparation takes only about 10 to 15 minutes, which includes peeling, chopping, and shredding. The only long inactive step is marinating the shredded papaya in salt for two hours.

While marinating, why not add more fruit and vegetable recipes to go with your salad? Here are more easy all-veggie recipes to try:

Ingredient Tips And Alternatives

Here are some recommendations on how to customize the sauce with the best alternatives:

Green papaya: I used a whole papaya that is peeled and shredded. Use a vegetable peeler to make peeling more convenient. Then, chop it in half to remove the seeds in the center using a spoon. To cut it into shreds or matchsticks, I recommend using a julienne shredder. You can buy green papaya in Asian grocery stores or in large farmers’
Salt for marinade: Before adding the dressing, it is best to marinate the shredded green papaya in salt for two hours. In this way, it helps tenderize the papaya. Moreover, the salt aids the papaya in absorbing the seasonings better. Use any type of salt, such as sea salt, pink salt, and kosher salt and adjust to taste.
Salad dressing: It is a mix of garlic, Thai chili pepper, sugar, rice vinegar, light soy sauce, coriander, and chili garlic sauce.
- Garlic: Garlic adds a nutty and pungent flavor to the dressing. If you don’t have garlic but want the garlicky taste, you can substitute 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic. This will give you the garlicky flavor without the chunks of garlic cloves. Alternatively, you can also incorporate pre-cooked crispy fried garlic.
- Thai chili pepper: Thai chili pepper or bird’s eye chili makes it hot and spicy. Aside from Thai chili peppers, you can also use green or red chili peppers, crushed red pepper flakes, chili flakes, or cayenne peppers. Omit this if you are not a fan of spicy foods.
- Sugar: Add sugar to make the dressing sweet and balance the saltiness and spiciness. You can use any type of sweetener, including white sugar, palm sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Rice vinegar: Add a mild sweet taste with less acidity using rice vinegar. If you want a stronger acidic taste, use white vinegar instead. You can also swap this with apple cider, malt vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice.
- Light soy sauce: Impart a savory, umami taste with light soy sauce. You can also use tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce. Aside from light soy sauce, you can also incorporate a bit of fish sauce for a fishy, salty taste.
- Coriander: A few tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander imparts a tart, lemon-like taste. You can swap fresh coriander with chopped green onions, parsley, mint, Italian basil, or Thai basil.
- Chili garlic sauce: This adds that extra zing to the dressing. It is garlicky, savory, spicy, and smokey. You can buy this in small glass jars in most grocery stores or Asian markets. Alternatively, you can swap this with chili oil using my chili oil recipe. I made another shortcut version of this chili oil recipe with fewer ingredients for my Szechuan dumpling recipe.
- Optional ingredients: For more variety, I recommend incorporating chopped long beans or snake beans. Add more crunch and juicy texture with some cherry tomatoes, and roasted peanuts.

Ingredients And Kitchenware To Prepare

Kitchenware:

Vegetable peeler
Knife
Spoon
Julienne shredder
Mixing bowl
Serving platter

Ingredients:

1 whole papaya (peeled and shredded)
2 tbsp of salt (for marinade)
20g of minced garlic
20g of Thai chili pepper
1 tbsp of sugar
2 tbsp of rice vinegar
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
2 tbsp of coriander
2 tbsp of chili garlic sauce

5 Easy Steps To Make Green Papaya Salad

Prepare the papaya, marinate, and mix in the marinade—and you’re done! Follow the detailed instructions below and watch my 30-second tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok. If you liked this recipe, give my video a heart and share it with others.

Do you have tips and recommendations on how to customize this salad? If yes, I’d love to hear them! Simply leave a comment in the comments section and tag me @kitchenmisadventures.

Peel the papaya skin using a vegetable peeler, chop it in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds in the center with a spoon.
Shred into matchsticks using a julienne shredder.
Place the shredded green papaya in a bowl and marinate with salt for 2 hours.
Add sliced garlic, Thai chili pepper, sugar, rice vinegar, light soy sauce, coriander, and chili garlic sauce.
Mix everything together thoroughly until the shredded green papaya turns slightly brown and fully absorbs the sauce.
How to Make Green Papaya Salad

This green papaya salad is crunchy, flavorful, and healthy. Served with an oil-free dressing that's sweet, spicy, and tangy—it'll be a hit with you and your family! So, stick around and read on to learn how to make green papaya salad with my recommended ingredients and alternatives.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes
Marinating Time 2 hours

Course Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese

Servings 2
Calories 141 kcal
Ingredients
1 whole papaya peeled and shredded
2 tbsp salt for marinade
20 g minced garlic
20 g Thai chili pepper
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp coriander
2 tbsp chili garlic sauce
Instructions
Peel the papaya skin using a vegetable peeler, chop it in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds in the center with a spoon.
Shred into matchsticks using a julienne shredder.
Place the shredded green papaya in a bowl and marinate with salt for 2 hours.
Add sliced garlic, Thai chili pepper, sugar, rice vinegar, light soy sauce, coriander, and chili garlic sauce.
Mix everything together thoroughly until the shredded green papaya turns slightly brown and fully absorbs the sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 141kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 3gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.1gSodium: 8832mgPotassium: 393mgFiber: 4gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 1590IUVitamin C: 120mgCalcium: 60mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!