Thai-Inspired Baked Crispy Rice Salad (Nam Khao Tod)
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This Thai-inspired baked crispy rice salad hits all the right notes with a bright and acidic fish sauce dressing, fresh herbs and crunchy peanuts. It’s perfect on it’s own or paired with leafy greens for making lettuce wraps. For a more complete meal, serve it alongside proteins like roast salmon, crispy chicken thighs. The dish is based on nam khao tod, a popular Lao and Northern Thai dish featuring deep-fried, seasoned rice balls crumbled and mixed with fermented pork sausage. This recipe uses a baked version of the crispy rice for an easy weeknight preparation. I omit the fermented pork sausage to keep it vegetarian. I was introduced to this dish at Night + Market in Venice, California and order any version I find on a menu!
This is the kind of recipe that gets me excited about flavors, just like Thai baby bok choy salad with salmon or Thai crispy duck salad.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Great contrast of flavors and textures – Crispy baked rice seasoned with curry paste, fresh herbs, crunchy roasted peanuts, and a bright, punchy dressing all in one bite.
- <strong>Endlessly customizable – Keep it vegetarian or add shrimp, chicken, or crispy tofu. The dish works with almost any protein.
Key Ingredients in This Recipe
- Rice – Long-grain jasmine rice is used as the base for this herby salad. It has a slightly floral flavor and firm texture that holds up well when baked, giving you crispy edges without falling apart.
- Curry paste – Red curry paste isn’t difficult to make but can be tricky to track down some ingredients so using a pre-made red curry paste like the Mae Ploy brand saves time. Be sure to test the saltiness of your red curry paste. The saltiness can differ based on brands, some are much saltier than others and can change the overall flavor of the dish.
- Oil – I use vegetable oil, though any neutral oil will work for drizzling to crisp up the rice in the oven.
- Fish sauce – A staple in Southeast Asian cooking, the funky umami flavor of fish sauce comes from a process of fermenting fish over a long period of time.
- Lime juice – Freshly squeezed lime juice adds a brightness to balance the flavors of the salad.
- Birds eye chilies – Small but mighty, Thai birds eye chilies add a fruity, fiery heat ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 Scoville units. If you can’t find them at your local grocery store, check an Asian market and buy a large bag to keep in the freezer, as they’re easy to slice even when frozen.
- Ginger – Julienned ginger delivers bursts of sharp, peppery heat throughout the dish.
- Herbs – A combination of green onion, cilantro, and mint leaves adds more body to the crispy rice salad while adding the perfect hints of freshness.
- Peanuts – The peanuts add a nutty flavor that balances the herby dish. Because the fish sauce is so salty, I recommend using unsalted peanuts.
- Tomatoes – I love adding halved juicy cherry tomatoes to cut down on the heat while adding a contrast to the crispy rice.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Pro tip
I recommend getting the rice in the oven first then chopping the herbs while the rice cooks for the best time management!
Swaps and Substitutions
- Rice: While I recommend using fragrant jasmine rice, you can also use leftover long-grain white rice.
- Onion: You can easily swap the red onion for thinly sliced shallots for a more mellow flavor.
- Spice level: I wrote this recipe for a medium heat level. Prefer it more mild? Use 1 Thai bird’s-eye chili. Prefer more heat? Up the number of chilies to 3 or 4 and add chili flakes.
- Ginger: A fine mince of the ginger works if you find that the julienned strips are too intense.
- Mango: Try adding a bit of diced mango for a contrasting sweet flavor.
- Protein: Add some diced chicken (I love air frying some chicken fingers to chop up!). Shrimp or crisp tofu work great as well.
How to Make Thai-Inspired Baked Crispy Rice Salad (Nam Khao Tod)
Heat oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Spread the rice out on a quarter sheet pan and top with the curry paste. Drizzle with the vegetable oil and use your hands to evenly coat the grains of rice with the curry paste and oil. Spread in an even thin layer and bake until the rice is crispy, about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
In a small bowl stir together the fish sauce, lime juice and chiles. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl add the crispy rice with the ginger, green onion, cilantro, red onion, mint, peanuts and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with the fish sauce dressing and toss to combine.
Divide among bowls and serve.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
I love the floral notes of jasmine rice for this recipe but it can easily be swapped for long grain white rice instead.
Day old rice is optimal for this baked crispy rice since it has dried out a bit. The goal is to make it crispy rather than steaming it to the point that it is mushy. While day-old rice isn’t required it definitely makes for the best texture.
If you don’t have leftover rice you can mimic the dried rice by spreading the cooked rice in an even layer on a baking sheet and refrigerating it for an hour or freezing it for about 15 minutes to 30 minutes. This shortcut will draw the moisture out while saving time.
Yes! Toss the rice in the curry paste as directed then fry in oil until crispy, using a fine mesh sieve to remove the rice to a paper towel-lined plate once crispy.
Add the fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, green onion) right before serving, never ahead of time. If you’re prepping components in advance keep the herbs separate, wrapped in a slightly damp paper towel in the refrigerator, and toss them in at the last moment.
Other Recipes to Try
If you enjoy this Thai baked crispy rice salad, give these recipes a try:
Thanks for cooking with me! If you made this recipe, leave a 🌟 rating and share your thoughts or tips below. I’d love to hear from you!
Thai-Inspired Baked Crispy Rice Salad (Nam Khao Tod)
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Ingredients:
- 2½ cups cooked jasmine rice (day-old rice is best)
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 Thai bird's-eye chilies, finely chopped
- ½ cup thinly sliced green onion
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup julienned ginger
- ¼ cup shaved red onion
- ¼ cup thinly sliced mint leaves
- ⅓ cup roasted unsalted peanuts
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Spread the rice out on a quarter sheet pan and top with the curry paste. Drizzle with the vegetable oil and use your hands to evenly coat the grains of rice with the curry paste and oil. Spread in an even thin layer and bake until the rice is crispy, about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
- In a small bowl stir together the fish sauce, lime juice and chiles. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the crispy rice with the ginger, green onion, cilantro, red onion, mint, peanuts and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with the fish sauce dressing and toss to combine.
- Divide among bowls and serve.
Notes:
Nutrition:
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WOW – we loved this recipe! Already big fans of other crispy rice dishes created by Kylie (https://cookingwithcocktailrings.com/crispy-rice-with-spicy-shrimp-salad/!!!), we couldn’t wait to try this one. This salad packs a HUGE amount of flavor with minimal effort needed.
The crunchy rice and crisp herbs give this dish a great texture, but the vibrant flavors and perfect kick of spice stood out the most for us. This a unique and fun take on crispy rice that brought a fun mix to our typical weeknight rotation.
Recipe notes: we followed the recommendation to use day-old rice, which definitely made a difference in getting the right texture. We added protein – chicken (as suggested) – to make it a complete meal, which worked great and did not take away from the balance of flavors and textures. Overall, this was easy to prepare, very flavorful, and great to accompany other Thai-inspired dishes.
We are already excited to enjoy this again!
I am so happy to hear it was a hit and that my crispy rice recipe is also a favorite! Thank you so much for the notes!!