My Keto Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad is a delicious, protein-loaded vegetarian meal that’s full of flavor. Raw, boiled, steamed vegetables and crispy tofu are served with a spicy peanut sauce.
This vegetarian gado gado salad makes a great lunch or light dinner and is easy to make. A plate full of textures, colors and flavor.
Dipping vegetables and tofu slices into a peanut sauce is a great way to enjoy a meal!
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WHAT IS GADO GADO?
Originally from Indonesia, the name of this salad means "mix-mix" as the dish is full of mixed vegetables and boiled eggs. All served with a peanut sauce.
Traditionally a gado gado salad is served with boiled potatoes but we omit them to make a low carb salad. There are many variations of gado gado but this recipe is a simplified version.
We use peanut butter to make the sauce but the traditional recipe uses roasted peanuts and grind them. You could try this for a more authentic flavour.
INGREDIENTS
The key to a great Gado Gado is the peanut sauce. We like ours spicy but you can tweak the sauce to your own taste.
- Peanut Butter - use unsweetened and smooth
- Brown Monk Fruit Sweetener - we prefer a brown low carb sweetener for the flavor but any regular low carb sweetener such as erythritol or allulose could be used.
- Cayenne Pepper - If you don't want your peanut sauce spicy, this can be omitted.
- Tamari - A gluten-free alternative to Soy Sauce.
HOW TO MAKE GADO GAGO PEANUT SAUCE
The peanut sauce for gado gado can be made ahead and used when you want to make this dish or used for a satay recipe.
Cook the onion, garlic and spices
Add the peanut butter, sweetener and coconut milk
Simmer until smooth
Serve and enjoy!
Once you have made the sauce, all you have to do is prepare the vegetables and serve!
WHAT VEGETABLES TO USE
The great thing about a gado gado salad is that you can use any mix of low carb vegetables. A few suggestions are:
- Green beans - serve them blanched
- Tomatoes - halve or quarter. We like cherry tomatoes too.
- Cucumber - sliced
- Radishes - these can be raw or fried
- Broccoli - steamed or raw
- Cabbage - shredded finely
- Cauliflower - cut into florets they can be served raw or roasted
- Bean sprouts
- Bell Pepper - Sliced
THE PROTEIN
For the protein element of the salad, hard boiled eggs are often used. Fried tofu and tempeh slices make a great vegetarian and vegan option.
STORAGE
As with all salads, store any leftovers in the fridge. Keep the peanut sauce in a sealed glass container in the fridge and it will keep for a couple of weeks.
RECIPE TIP
When choosing gado gado in a restaurant, check the peanut sauce ingredients because some versions may contain shrimp paste.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
To make a vegan gado gado, omit the hard boiled eggs and replace with other low carb vegetables.
Sometimes gado gado is serve with rice or fried crackers. Since these are not low carb, we omit these.
MORE KETO VEGETARIAN SALAD RECIPES
Salads are not just lettuce and cucumber! Enjoy these tasty low carb salads.
Grilled Zucchini Salad with Feta & Mint
Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad
Ingredients
Peanut Sauce
- ½ cup peanut butter unsweetened and smooth
- 1 shallot peeled and chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons brown monk fruit
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
The Salad
- 3 hard boiled eggs peeled and halved
- 8 oz green beans, trimmed and steamed
- 7 oz Tofu sliced, firm Fried or air fried
- ½ medium cucumber cut into slices
- 4 radishes sliced or halved
- 4 medium tomatoes halved or quartered
Instructions
Make the Peanut Sauce
- Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Cook the shallots for 3 to 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the cayenne pepper and cook for a further minute.
- Add the coconut milk, tamari, lime juice and monk fruit sweetener. Stir until smooth and simmer for 5 minutes. Add water if the sauce is too thick.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings. We don't use salt in this recipe but you might want to add it.
Assemble the Salad
- Place the vegetables, tofu slices and boiled eggs on a large platter. Pour the sauce into a serving dish and place on the plate.
- Enjoy dunking the vegetables and tofu into the sauce!
Notes
YOUR OWN NOTES
