A one bowl meal makes dinner time a treat. This tasty recipe for Asian Chicken Rice Bowls is quick and simple. Marinated with an amazing sauce filled with Asian flavors like soy, peanut butter, ginger and garlic, the chicken cooks up super fast to make a delicious savory rice bowl.
I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I just want dinner to be simple, quick and tasty. Is that too much to ask? Well, if those are your wishes, too, then Asian Chicken Rice Bowls will not disappoint. This recipe combines a lot of my favorite flavors from Asian cuisine, so I just call it an Asian bowl. I know there is a huge variety of food cultures from Asia and I am probably totally off base to just give it the blanket name “Asian,” but that is what I have done. So be it. Maybe someone will correct me.
I guess it would be like creating an American Chicken Rice Bowl. Wait, I have actually done that. I call them Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowls. I am pretty sure Buffalo sauce is an American staple. Much like soy sauce is an Asian staple. You get it, right?
These Asian Chicken Rice Bowls are a healthier alternative to take out and seriously take just about as long to make as it would to place your order and go pick up from your favorite Asian restaurant. If you plan ahead, you can have the chicken marinating all day, so it’s ready to go when you are ready to cook.
In this recipe, the sauce doubles as a marinade and contains so many good tastes: soy sauce, sesame, peanut, ginger, garlic and more. You will want to drizzle it on everything! PS: Leftover sauce makes a super yummy salad dressing.
Tips for marinating chicken for the perfect rice bowl
Here’s formula for a great chicken marinade:
- Include an acid such as citrus juice or vinegar. This recipe calls for rice wine vinegar, a common vinegar in Asian dishes.
- Also, add in some kind of fat. For instance, oil or a nut butter.
- Then add in seasoning and aromatics that round out the flavors of the dish, such as soy sauce, ginger and garlic.
- Salad dressings make great marinades because they follow a very similar formula. If you don’t want to make the marinade included in this rice bowl recipe, you can certainly substitute your favorite store bought Asian dressing such as Annie’s Organic Sesame Dressing or Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger Dressing.
If you don’t do the marinade hours ahead it’s no problem! It only needs 20-30 minutes in the marinade. And, if you are really hangry, you can skip the marinating process, cook the chicken with just a little salt and pepper and splash a bit of the marinade/sauce on it as it finishes cooking. Truthfully, you will get more flavor if you marinate it, but the sauce is so flavorful that I think it would be fine to just add it at the end.
I am currently in love with a salad mix that I get at Wal-Mart called Super Blend. It contains Brussels Sprouts, Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Carrots & Kale. It’s crunchy and tasty raw, but also makes a yummy stir-fry. I included that mix in the recipe. If you can’t find that exact mix, a broccoli slaw mix works well, too.
So here’s to Tuesday, sans the tacos and sans the take out!
Asian Chicken Rice Bowls
Ingredients
Sauce/Marinade
- 6 TBSP soy sauce
- 2 TBSP peanut butter
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 TBSP Honey
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp ground pepper
- 3 tsp sesame oil
- 1 TBSP fresh ginger minced
- 1 tsp hot sauce like sriracha
- 2 TBSP canola oil
For the rest of the bowl
- 4 chicken breasts
- 3 cups Jasmine rice cooked
- 1 yellow Bell pepper sliced
- 1 pkg "Super Blend" Slaw mix or Broccoli Slaw Mix
- 1 bunch green onions
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce and whisk until well combined.
- Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag. Add about 1/2 cup of marinade to the bag. Toss chicken to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken breasts 3 - 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and keep warm.
- In the same skillet, add sliced Bell pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes. Then add in the package of slaw mix. Cook 3-4 minutes. At the very end drizzle veggies with a bit of the sauce and toss to coat. Veggies will still be a bit crisp.
- To assemble bowls: Divide rice among 4 bowls. Slice chicken thinly and add some to each bowl. Add veggies and then garnish with sliced green onions and cilantro.
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