MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - THAI PEANUT CHICKEN RAMEN NOODLES

 This week's choice is from Greens and Chocolate hosted by Taylor. The original recipe can be found here. We gave this a 10 out of 10, it was delicious! It had been a while before we made Thai. It's one of our favorite foods and fast to prepare. Thank you Taylor!

Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen Noodles 

Servings: 6

Calories per serving: approximately 513 calories 

From prep to table: 30 minutes (always takes me longer but it is still a fast meal.

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup sweet chili sauce

Juice from 1 lime plus another lime cut into sections so that you can squeeze the juice over your finished plate at the table if you like that idea - I personally enjoy that little zap of lime

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 red bell pepper, seed and stem removed and diced

½ white onion diced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger finely chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 15 ounce can full-fat coconut milk

4 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded

2 cups diced/shredded cooked chicken approximately 2 medium chicken breasts (for an easier way to go, it is suggested using an already cooked rotisserie chicken, which is what we did)

Chopped cilantro, sliced green onion, and chopped peanuts, for garnish 

In a small food processor combine peanut butter, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, lime juice, garlic, and ginger. Pulse to combine until smooth (I don’t have a processor and just mixed with a whisk until thoroughly blended).

Bring a pot of water to boiling and cook ramen noodles according to package instructions. They will likely only take a few minutes to cook, so while the water is coming to a boil, continue on making the rest of the sauce.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.

Add red bell pepper and onion, and cook for 5 minutes, until softened.

Add the sauce from the food processor along with the coconut milk, stirring to combine.

Add the cooked ramen noodles and chicken, stirring well to combine.

Serve topped with cilantro, green onion, and chopped peanuts.

Taylors Notes:

Use rotisserie chicken or pre-cooked diced chicken to make this recipe even easier.

Store any leftover fresh ginger in the freezer.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

(I recommend looking at Taylor’s recipe not only for her suggestions, but she also has the full nutritional information, plus all the other great recipes.) 

Can be prepped ahead - If you want to save some time when it comes to cooking dinner, you can make the peanut sauce in advance.

In our host’s own words, “Let's just be clear - these are not traditional ramen noodles in any sense.  They're not classic ramen noodle bowls with clear broth and all the fixin's and they're not the college kind, either. While I actually did use the noodles that come in your typical college ramen noodle soup packet, I tossed the seasoning and made my own Thai peanut sauce.”

Shredded Chicken - this is a great use for leftover shredded chicken. I also love buying the shredded rotisserie chicken from Costco or Target to use in this (we get ours from Costco).

Variations:

Different protein - use ground beef, ground pork ground chicken, shrimp, or tofu instead of shredded chicken.

Add more vegetables - you can really beef up these noodles with more vegetables, if you'd like! Anything like broccoli, mushrooms, shredded carrots, edamame, snow peas, and spinach would work. Just add them with the onions and bell pepper to cook.

Substitute almond butter for peanut butter.

Use spaghetti noodles instead of ramen noodles.

Add some spice with 1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha. We add ours at the end after we've served the kids.

Denise’s Notes: What did we think? It will be put into our favorite folder. We loved it and if you enjoy Thai Food with peanut butter sauces, I hope you will too. 

As mentioned, instead of the food processor which I don't have, I used a whisk. I have a blender but it seemed too big for what we needed. I thought an immersion blender would be ok but the whisk was fine. Just as long as everything is well blended.

There was no green onion in our supplies as I had thought, but it was great with the cilantro and chopped peanuts. We used the no-salt added peanuts.

A few dashes of Sriracha was a nice addition, amount to your own taste, or leave off entirely if you don’t like the extra heat. 

The following is what we used (link to company here) instead of fresh garlic and ginger. These little cubes are very handy. We freeze and thaw out a couple when needed. One garlic cube is equivalent to one medium clove. One ginger cube is equivalent to 1 teaspoon of fresh. If you don’t have these, there is probably an equivalent in your area. It is nice to be able to take a couple of shortcuts at times.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you need any more info, or if you think I left anything out, you can leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer.

The full address follows for you to copy and paste if you prefer, rather than use the link at the beginning of today's post.

https://greensnchocolate.com/thai-peanut-chicken-ramen-noodles/

Thanks for looking, have a great day and

Bon Appetit!