Som Tum Salad
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Aug 18, 2025 
How to Make Green Papaya Salad – This authentic Thai Som Tum recipe makes a delicious salad with crunchy and tart unripened papaya, beans, and vibrant seasonings. Serve as a refreshing appetizer or side dish this summer!
Green Papaya Salad
This Green Papaya Salad recipe makes a wonderfully simple, light, and refreshing dish that can be enjoyed on its own, as an appetizer, or served as a side with your favorite Thai main dishes!
Sommer’s Recipe Notes
Several years ago, my family had the opportunity to travel through Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. It was an adventure in many ways, especially in the culinary arena. We ate traditional dishes that are popular in the United States, like Chicken Pad Thai and Vietnamese Chicken Salad (Goi Ga), but we also experienced quite a few recipes we had never even heard of. It was like a roulette game for the taste buds!
One dish we experienced across all three countries is Som Tum, AKA papaya salad. Som Tum (also Som Tam) is one of the best-known, most loved salads in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and surrounding Southeast Asian countries.
It’s made with hard, tart, unripened papaya, long beans, and chopped peanuts for a terrific crunchy slaw-like consistency. And everything is tossed with classic Asian seasonings – including fish sauce, garlic, and chiles for incredibly bold flavors in every bite.
Similarly, Vietnamese papaya salad is also made with thinly sliced green papaya. However, the Vietnamese version tends to also have other shredded veggies, like carrots and cabbage, as well as cooked shrimp and fresh basil. It’s very tasty, but it can be a bit more complicated to make at home, so we’re keeping things easy with this authentic Thai version that comes together in only 25 minutes!
Ingredients You Need
A traditional Thai salad includes simple, wholesome, and wonderfully vibrant ingredients. To make this classic Som Tum recipe, you need:
- Green papaya – hard and unripe
- Garlic cloves – peeled
- Scallions – green and white parts separated
- Thai bird chiles – seeded and sliced
- Dry roasted peanuts – or cashews, for those with a peanut allergy
- Fish sauce – can sub with soy sauce or tamari
- Lime – zested and juiced
- Sugar – granulated white sugar or coconut sugar
- Long beans – also known as snake beans (or skinny green beans), cut into segments
- Roma tomato – seeded and chopped
Pro Tip: You can usually find green papayas, long beans, Thai chiles, and fish sauce at all Asian markets, and many large grocery stores with a good “international” section.
This salad can also be made with green mangos and dried shrimp.
How to Make Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)
From start to finish this dish is ready in under 30 minutes. It’s great to chill before serving, and can even be made ahead!
Tips for Success: It’s helpful to have a julienne tool and a mortar and pestle for this recipe. You can make it without cutting the papaya with a knife and smashing the ingredients with a wooden spoon, but it will take longer than directed.
Find the full Som Tum recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Salad Variations
- Swap fish sauce with soy sauce or tamari to make a vegetarian and vegan-friendly Thai salad.
- If you can’t find unripe papaya, you can substitute it with green unripe mango.
- As-is, this Som Tum recipe has just a bit of heat from the Thai chilies. Use only 1 or 2 of these chilies for a fairly mild version, or include 3 to 4 to really kick up the spiciness.
- If you can’t or don’t want to use peanuts, swap them with chopped cashews.
- You could also add sweet cherry tomatoes sliced with a sharp knife, if you can’t find Roma tomatoes.
- Other ingredients often added are bell peppers and dried shrimp.
Serving Suggestions
Enjoy Som Tum as a side with classic dishes like Easy Chicken Pad Thai, Tom Yum Soup (Hot and Sour Soup), Chicken Satay, and our Best Thai Panang Chicken Curry.
Use it as a sweet slaw on your favorite East Asian-inspired sandwiches. Try Som Tum on a roll with Sweet Chili Pulled Pork, on a Vietnamese Bahn Mi, or add to Keto Larb Rolls for some extra flavor and crunch.
And don’t forget the Thai Mango Sticky Rice Pudding for dessert!
Som Tum Recipe (Green Papaya Salad)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 green papaya hard unripened
- 4-5 cloves garlic peeled
- 4-5 scallions green and white ends separated
- 2-4 thai bird chiles seeded and sliced
- 3 tablespoon dry roasted peanuts
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 lime zested and juices
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ cup long beans snake beans, or skinny green beans cut into 1 inch segments
- 1 plum or roma tomato seeded and chopped
Instructions
- Prep the Papaya: Use a vegetable peeler to peel the papaya. Then cut the hard flesh into long “julienne” slivers. Do this by using a julienne tool, or by tapping a large chef's knife rapidly over the surface of the papaya, making many slashes in the same direction. Then shave them off, perpendicular to the slashes. You will need 6-7 cups of julienne papaya total.
- Place the papaya slaw in a large bowl. Then pile ice over the papaya and fill the bowl with cold water. Let the slaw soak in the cold water to firm for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Set out a mortar and pestle. Place the garlic cloves, the white ends of the scallions, and the chopped chiles in the bowl. Use the pestle to smash the ingredients until very soft and broken. Then add in the peanuts and lime zest. Smash and break the peanuts into fine pieces.
- Now pour in the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, long bean segments and tomatoes. Mix and smash all the ingredients together.
- Once the papaya has soaked for at least 10 minutes, drain off the ice and water. Move the papaya to a large salad bowl. Pour the dressing mixture over the papaya. Toss well to coat.
- Chop the scallion greens and sprinkle over the salad. Sprinkle additional chopped peanuts over the top if desired. Chill until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is really great for making ahead of time. Kept covered in the refrigerator, Green Papaya Salad will keep well for at least a week.
Som Tum has a lot of the same benefits that you get from vegetable salads, including fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It offers plenty of nutrients without being high in calories, carbs, or fats. Experience exotic taste and flavor with all these amazing benefits!
Thanks for Sharing. Easy to cook! just make it and enjoy.
This looks incredible! I’ve never tried a green papaya before, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Can’t believe how much flavor this salad has! It’s so light, but filling & so good! I will be making this all the time!
I love papaya so much, this allows me to have it planned with some of my favorite dinner recipes and I could not be more excited! I love it!