We absolutely love a hearty, nutritious bowl recipe for dinner (like one of our most popular recipes: Hot Honey Chicken Bowls!), and this one is quickly becoming a new favorite. These Thai-inspired ginger peanut chicken bowls are the perfect weeknight dinner!
Chicken breast is marinated in a spicy and tangy peanut sauce, then seared and paired with white rice, a carrot-cabbage slaw, and cucumber. The whole thing is topped with more peanut sauce, fresh cilantro and a handful of peanuts for an extra crunch. It's meal-prep friendly, filling and absolutely delicious!
Why You Should Make These For Dinner
This looks like a lot of components, but it's actually pretty easy to make. Just whisk together the marinade (being sure to set half aside to drizzle over the top of your bowls), slice up your chicken, get it marinating, and make your vegetables while the chicken is absorbing all of that delicious spice and peanut flavor.
In a perfect world, you'd let the chicken marinate for about 2 hours, but it's not necessary. Just sear it it up in a hot pan and serve it alongside your vegetables and a serving of rice or noodles.
It's an easy weeknight dinner that's both delicious and convenient! We make this recipe all the time and absolutely love it.
Side note: you've probably seen all sorts of "Thai peanut sauce" recipes on the internet, but apparently peanut butter is actually not a commonly used ingredient in Thai cuisine. So when we say "Thai-inspired", that's really just a reference to the Americanized version.
If you love flavors like peanut, ginger and soy sauce, try our Peanut Quinoa Salad, Crunchy Tofu Salad with Peanut Dressing, or Vegan Pad Thai next!
Jump to:
Key Ingredients Needed for Peanut Chicken Bowls
- Chicken breast: We used chicken breast and sliced it into strips, but you could also use chicken thighs as well.
- Peanut butter: A natural (unsweetened) peanut butter is best here, since it's a bit runnier and will be easier to stir together with the other marinade ingredients.
How to Make this Peanut Chicken Bowl Recipe
- To a small mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, coconut cream, rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce, water, garlic, ginger, red sesame oil, red pepper flakes, lime juice and red pepper flakes and stir to combine. Seat aside ½ of the marinade to use later to top your bowls. If you're making rice or noodles to pair with your bowl, now's the time to get those going.
- Add the remaining half of the dressing to a medium-sized bowl and add in the sliced chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and move to the fridge to marinate.
- To a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the cabbage and carrots and add the rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, salt, and sugar, whisking to combine. Repeat with the cucumbers.
- To a saucepan over medium heat, add a touch of oil and the chicken, searing until cooked through, about 3-5 minutes, or more, depending on the thickness of your chicken.
- Assemble your bowls: Add in a scoop of rice or noodles, a scoop of your chicken, some of your quick pickled cucumbers and carrot-cabbage slaw, a drizzle of the marinade you set aside earlier, a handful of peanuts, some chopped cilantro, and a lime wedge. Enjoy!
Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!
- If you're the type of person that's super organized (not me!), you can prep the chicken (and the slaw) up to a day in advance. This will definitely cut down on both prep time and clean up!
- Slicing the chicken into thin strips allows more surface area for the marinade, which means your chicken will be more flavorful. You can also marinate the chicken breasts whole, but we would suggest marinating for longer (4-8 hours). Bonus: it also cooks much faster when sliced thinly!
- To skip some prep, you can leave the vegetables plain. They taste best tossed in a little rice vinegar, salt and sugar (more similar to a quick pickle), but they're still great plain. If you have a batch of quick pickled cabbage or red onion in your fridge, just use those instead!
More Chicken Recipes You'll Love
We can't wait for you to make these ginger peanut chicken bowls in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!
Print📖 Recipe
Ginger Peanut Chicken Bowls
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 4 bowls 1x
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free
Description
These Thai-inspired ginger peanut chicken bowls are the perfect weeknight dinner. Chicken breast is marinated in a spicy and tangy peanut sauce, then seared and paired with rice, a carrot-cabbage slaw, and some fresh cucumber. The whole thing is topped with more peanut sauce and a handful of peanuts for an extra crunch.
Ingredients
For the marinade/sauce:
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter (creamy and unsweetened)
- 2 tablespoons full fat coconut milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Chicken:
- 1 lb (454g) chicken breast , sliced into thin strips
- 1 tablespoon high heat cooking oil (peanut oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, etc.)
Assembly:
- 2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 1 ½ cup thinly sliced (julienned) carrots
- 1 cup thinly sliced mini cucumber
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar, divided
- A pinch of salt and sugar to taste
- Optional: 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 ½ cups dry white rice, cooked according to package directions
- Optional: finely chopped fresh cilantro and chopped roasted peanuts for topping
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the marinade until smooth and well incorporated. Set half of the sauce aside (you'll use this for drizzling over the bowls later).
- Add the sliced chicken to the remaining half of the marinade and toss well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or up to overnight.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice according to package instructions. (Make sure to thoroughly rinse the rice before cooking).
- Add the cabbage and carrots to one bowl and the cucumbers to a separate bowl. To the cabbage/carrots, add 2 tablespoon rice vinegar, a pinch of salt and sugar and (optional) 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil and toss well to coat. To the cucumbers, add remaining 1 tablespoon rice vinegar and a pinch of salt and sugar and toss well to coat.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once heated, add the chicken and sear on each side until lightly browned all over, about 7-9 minutes total, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from heat.
- Assemble each bowl with rice, chicken, carrot/cabbage slaw, cucumbers, a drizzle of peanut sauce, and finish with (optional) chopped peanuts and cilantro. Enjoy!
Notes
Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. We like to store the rice separately so it's easier to reheat. The chicken and vegetables can be eaten cold.
The best way to reheat rice is to add about 1 tablespoon of water per 1 cup of rice to a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for about 1 minute, until heated through.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Marinate Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Thai-American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 chicken bowl
- Calories: 506
- Sugar: 10.2 g
- Sodium: 702.3 mg
- Fat: 24.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.5 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 37.5 g
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