Name: Gado Gado (Indonesian Salad with Peanut Sauce)
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 1 cucumber, sliced; 1 cup bean sprouts; 4-5 boiled eggs, halved; 7oz green beans blanched; 2 cups red cabbage, shredded; 7oz baby spinach; 5-6 baby potatoes roasted; red chili for garnish; cilantro for garnish; peanuts for garnish; 5 Tbsp peanut butter; 2 Tbsp coconut milk; 4 Tbsp lime juice; 1.5 Tbsp fish sauce; 1 garlic, minced; 1.5 tsp red chili flakes; 1.5 Tbsp brown or regular sugar; 1 lb chicken thighs; 1 tsp turmeric; ½ tsp black pepper; 2 Tbsp fish sauce; 2 Tbsp oil

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Gado Gado… meet my Javanese salad feast. I get to taste the rainbow on a plate with a mix of different colors, flavors, and textures. This simple salad turns into a super tasty complete meal with a good dose of protein, carbs, and loads of nutrients.

This big salad is eaten any time of the day in Indonesia, not just as a side dish, but as a whole meal. My bowl of salad never looked so inviting, thanks to the perfect sweet, savory, and spicy peanut sauce drizzled generously over the crunchy veggies and perfectly cooked chicken.

Gado Gado is a famous salad out of Indonesia. It's loaded with veggies, carbs and protein for a complete meal, and topped with the most amazing peanut dressing.

I love making Gado Gado, one of the most popular foods from Indonesia. It’s simple yet very impressive. It’s versatile and customizable, and naturally so healthy and tasty. Much better than my usual green smoothie.

Who wouldn’t want to eat something healthy and nutritious with delicious flavors instead of a plain old salad and a blanched piece of protein? Eating a big bowl of veggies guilt-free is what dreams are made of.

This salad has loads and loads of veggies, and they taste amazing with that super delicious peanut sauce all over. I can use any veggies I have in my fridge. Don’t want potatoes? There is cabbage or zucchini. Don’t have red cabbage? I use Napa cabbage or carrots. I can even swap in snap peas instead of sprouts.

I fill up my Gado Gado platter with anything and everything. Having a giant platter full of veggies is the whole idea behind this Indonesian favorite salad, and I absolutely love it.

What is Gado Gado ?

Gado gado’s literal translation is “mix-mix” in Indonesian language. It’s a mix mix of all the ingredients on a platter. As mentioned earlier, it’s treated as a whole meal, rather than just a salad. It has all the different components of carbs, protein and veggies to make a complete meal.

For most Indonesians, gado gado is their beloved national salad. Apparently, since 2018, gado gado has been designated as one of Indonesia’s five national food, the other four being sate, rendang, nasi goreng and soto.

Ingredients Needed

Most versions of Gado Gado have some form of protein. Fried tofu, fried tempeh or some form of seafood or chicken is usually seen in bowls or platters. Boiled eggs are also very common protein.
Carbs, usually in the form of boiled or roasted potatoes.
An assortment of blanched or raw vegetables.
Spicy and savory peanut sauce.
It’s sometimes served with prawn crackers, steamed rice cakes or fried shallots.

How to Make Peanut Dressing/Sauce?

In Indonesia, peanut sauce is a favorite and accompanies many dishes. There are hundreds of variations across the country.

A typical Gado Gado peanut sauce is made from fried or roasted peanuts, garlic, palm sugar, bird-eye chilies, shrimp paste, salt, tamarind, lime, sweet soy sauce, and water.

When you order Gado Gado from an Indonesian restaurant, the sauce is usually made fresh right after you order. Sometimes, they even grind the sauce in front of you, and you can ask for adjustments like more garlic or less chili.

A great shortcut is using peanut butter instead of grinding peanuts to make a super tasty peanut sauce.

This is What I Used

Protein – chicken thighs, eggs
Veggies – cucumber, red cabbage, spinach, beans sprouts, green beans
Carbs – baby potatoes
For peanut sauce – peanut butter, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, red chili flakes, sugar
For chicken skewers – turmeric, salt, pepper, fish sauce, oil
For garnish – red chili, cilantro and peanuts

Gado Gado Recipe

Gado Gado is made up of simple, yet individual components. Most of my prep work is cutting the veggies. Once my veggies are prepped, it’s just a matter of cooking the eggs, chicken, and whipping up a quick peanut sauce.

I start by prepping the potatoes, as they take the most time for roasting. I place the sliced potatoes onto a parchment paper-lined baking tray, then drizzle with oil and season with salt. Then, I roast them for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until they’re soft and deep golden brown. When they’re done, I set them aside to cool.
For the chicken skewers, I mix chicken pieces with turmeric, salt, pepper, and fish sauce in a mixing bowl until the meat is evenly coated, then thread the chicken pieces onto soaked bamboo skewers. I heat a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat, drizzle in some olive oil, and fry the chicken skewers for about 6-8 minutes, until I see some nice color and caramelization. I flip the skewers and cook them on the other side for another 8-10 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked all the way through.
For the peanut sauce, I place all the ingredients in a small food processor and blitz until very smooth.
For the rest of the veggies, I can use sprout beans straight from the package, but I like to blanch them for 2 minutes in boiling water. In the same pot of boiling water, after removing the sprouts, I blanch the green beans for 3-4 minutes.
For the eggs, I use the same pot to boil them. I like to boil eggs for 7-8 minutes for soft-boiled eggs. I peel the eggs and cut them into halves.
To assemble Gado Gado, I arrange spinach, bean sprouts, red cabbage, cucumber, potatoes, eggs, and chicken skewers on a big platter. I drizzle peanut sauce all over before serving.

Can You Make This Ahead of Time?

Yes, absolutely… This is a great meal prep idea if I have all my veggies prepped ahead of time. I make a giant batch of chicken and eggs and a good batch of peanut sauce. Then all I need to do is make up my Gado Gado bowl whenever I want, for a week’s supply of healthy lunches.

So here it is… Gado Gado. Make this salad for your every day lunch, or make it as a center piece next time you’re entertaining. I assure you, people will love this new display of beautifully arranged colorful salad.

It would be a great conversation piece, as you would simply even enjoy saying “Gado Gado” a few times. It rhymes well, and people will be all ears to hear about this new salad all the way from the exotic land of Bali, Indonesia… Make Gado Gado and have loads of fun times…

Be sure to check our other cracking Asian Recipes on GypsyPlate, and come back again for all the new flavors coming to you.

Gado Gado, on our Gypsy Plate… enjoy!

Try these other great salads from around the world!
Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Spanish Pipirrana
Israeli Couscous Salad
Middle Eastern Balela
Tortellini Pasta Salad
Thai Chicken Larb
Tabbouleh