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With rice noodles, lots of tender-crisp veggies, and spicy peanut sauce, this recipe for peanut noodles with chicken manages to be both light and satisfying—not to mention super flavorful!
Asian Peanut Noodles—A Reader Favorite!
This easy chicken recipe has been so popular on my blog that I included it in my first book, The Skinnytaste Cookbook (photo credit above Penny De Los Santos). And I understand why it’s such a hit! This recipe for peanut noodles with chicken has a winning combination of spicy, crunchy, sweet, and salty. And you get all that flavor without all the calories you usually get with a recipe involving peanut sauce. (If you love peanut sauce, you will also love this Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce and these Shrimp Summer Rolls with Hoisin Peanut Sauce!)
How I Made Peanut Noodles Healthier
I used a few of my favorite tricks for lightening up recipes to make these peanut noodles with chicken:
- Adding lean protein. Many peanut noodle recipes are just noodles and sauce, so you end up eating a LOT to feel full. Protein helps make this dish more satisfying.
- Bulking it up with veggies. I reduced the amount of noodles in this recipe by adding lots and lots of veggies: scallions, carrots, broccoli slaw, and bean sprouts. And like the protein, all that extra fiber also helps keep you fuller longer!
- Trimming the fat. To make this peanut sauce light, I love using Better n Peanut Butter. It has 85% less fat than peanut butter and tastes really good when used in recipes like this.
What You’ll Need
These peanut noodles are loaded with fresh and flavorful ingredients! Scroll down to the recipe card below for exact measurements.
For the Peanut Sauce:
- Reduced sodium chicken broth – I like to use my Homemade Chicken Broth.
- Better n Peanut Butter – If you can’t find this, regular peanut butter will do; you will have to adjust the macros accordingly.
- Sriracha chili sauce – You can use more or less, depending on your tastes.
- Honey – For natural sweetness.
- Soy sauce – Or use Tamari for gluten-free peanut noodles with chicken.
- Freshly grated ginger and garlic – Using fresh ginger and garlic instead of dried gives the sauce a more vibrant flavor.
For the Chicken and Noodles:
- Chicken breast – Cut this into thin strips.
- Seasonings – The chicken is seasoned with sriracha chili sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.
- Sesame oil – For cooking the chicken.
- Rice noodles – Rice sticks or rice noodles can be found in the Asian section of your supermarket and make this a gluten-free dish. If you can’t find rice noodles, udon noodles or even linguini would work.
- Vegetables – Green onion, shredded carrots, broccoli slaw, and bean sprouts.
- Chopped peanuts – Cashews would also work. They give the noodles a nice crunch!
- Lime and cilantro – For garnish.
How to Make Peanut Noodles With Chicken
This recipe is perfect for a weeknight dinner! See the recipe card below for printable instructions.
- Make the peanut sauce. Stir together the ingredients in a saucepan set over medium-low heat and simmer until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Cook the pasta. Follow the instructions on the package.
- Sauté the chicken. Season the chicken and cook it in a hot wok with the sesame oil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it’s cooked through.
- Stir fry the veggies. Add the garlic, scallions, carrots, broccoli slaw and bean sprouts to the wok with salt and sauté until tender crisp.
- Sauce the noodles. Drain the noodles and toss them with the sauce, adding more broth as needed. Toss in the chicken once it’s cooked.
- Put it all together. Divide the noodles and chicken into bowls. Add the veggies, peanuts, and cilantro; serve with lime wedges.
Tips and Variations
Here are some ways to make these peanut noodles your own.
- Switch up the protein. Try this with shrimp instead of chicken, or toss in my Air Fryer Peanut Curry Tofu.
- Use leftovers. Instead of cooking the chicken and veggies, you could use leftover Baked Chicken Breast and/or Bok Choy Stir Fry instead. I love reinventing last night’s dinner to make something new!
- Skip the noodles. Use spiralized veggies instead—sweet potatoes would be great here.
- Streamline your prep. To save time, buy pre-shredded carrots and broccoli slaw; this will help speed things up.
Proper Storage
- Refrigerator: Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. I don’t recommend freezing this recipe; the tender-crisp veggies will get mushy after thawing.
- Reheating: You can eat this recipe chilled, which makes it a great meal prep lunch. Otherwise, heat up the leftovers in the microwave or in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add some chicken broth to loosen the sauce if you need to.
More Asian Noodle Recipes You Will Love
Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken
Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken is delicious, made with stir fried chicken strips, rice noodles, scallions, carrots, broccoli slaw, bean sprouts in a spicy peanut sauce.
Yield: Servings
Serving Size: 1 1/3 cups
Ingredients
For the Peanut Sauce:
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 5 tbsp Better n Peanut Butter
- 1 tbsp srracha chili sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, use Tamari for gluten free
- 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
For the chicken:
- 16 oz chicken breast, cut into thin strips
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp sriracha chili sauce, more or less to taste
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tbsp soy sauce, use Tamari for gluten free
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 8 oz rice noodles
- 3/4 cup green onion, chopped
- 1 -1/4 cups shredded carrots
- 1- 1/4 cups cup shredded broccoli slaw
- 1 cup bean bean sprouts
- 2 tbsp chopped peanuts
- 1 lime, sliced
- cilantro for garnish, optional
Instructions
- For the peanut sauce: Combine 1 cup chicken broth, peanut butter, sriracha, honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce, ginger, and 3 cloves crushed garlic in a small saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat stirring occasionally until sauce becomes smooth and well blended, about 5-10 minutes. Set aside.
- Boil water for the noodles cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Season chicken with salt and pepper, sriracha, lime, garlic, ginger and soy sauce.
- Heat a large skillet or wok until hot. Add oil and sauté chicken on high heat until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes; remove from heat and set aside.
- Add 2 cloves crushed garlic, scallions, carrots, broccoli slaw and/or bean sprouts and salt, sauté until tender crisp, about 1-2 minutes.
- Drain noodles and toss with peanut sauce and additional chicken broth if needed to loosen the sauce. When chicken is cooked, toss with noodles.
- Divide noodles and chicken between 6 bowls, top with sauteed vegetables, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts (or you can toss everything together to hide the vegetables so your family members don’t push them aside!) and garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Serving: 1 1/3 cups, Calories: 359 kcal, Carbohydrates: 53 g, Protein: 22 g, Fat: 6 g, Saturated Fat: 0.5 g, Cholesterol: 48 mg, Sodium: 670 mg, Fiber: 4 g, Sugar: 9 g
