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Peanut Butter Chicken Noodles

Jessica Fisher · May 15, 2016 · 16 Comments

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Peanut Butter Chicken is one of my favorite take-out fake-outs. It’s got all the flavor of a pad thai without the expense or hard to find ingredients. You can also make it with sunflower seed butter to accommodate for nut allergies.

bowl of peanut butter chicken and noodles

This was historically one of my family’s very favorite meals. I originally shared it over here on May 16, 2008, almost eight years ago — when I didn’t know how to take a food picture that wasn’t blurry. We were deep in debt. Deep.

My husband and I were determined to get out of debt as quickly as possible. We were willing to do some pretty drastic things: give up most luxuries, sell as many things as we could, get extra jobs wherever we could. For the most part, the kids didn’t really notice.

Except at the dinner table.

Oh, don’t worry, they had plenty to eat. No one went hungry. Trust me. But, we did cut down on the amount of meat that we ate. In fact, we might have had meat about once or twice a week. Most meals back then were heavy on the carbs and veggies. 

My body builder son still can’t believe I ever put him through that, but it was a balanced diet, just not very carnivorous.

One of the meals I made — when we did have meat — was this one. The sauce, a melange of peanut, soy, ginger, and red pepper flakes, is packed with flavor. Noodles easily make up for the scant amount of chicken. The original recipe called for twice the meat that I ever put in it as well as bottled dressing which is gross and expensive. I adapted it all to be healthier and cheaper.

What ingredients do you need to make peanut butter chicken?

  • rice vinegar
  • vegetable oil
  • peanut butter
  • soy sauce
  • honey
  • sesame oil
  • ginger
  • red pepper
  • linguini or thin spaghetti
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • green onions
  • fresh cilantro

chopsticks resting on a bowl of noodles

We didn’t eat Peanut Butter Chicken for awhile, thanks to my daughter’s peanut allergy. Even though she could have sunflower seed butter, I have tried not to rely on it too much. Recently, I made our old favorite and it brought the same smile to my face as it always did.

And, yes, it’s just as good with sunflower seed butter as it is with peanut butter. And it’s still a great way of stretching meats in budget meals.

I’ve made this as a freezer meal kit many times. Simply store the sauce and the cooked chicken mixture in separate containers. Thaw completely and then reheat the chicken while you boil fresh pasta. Mix it all together and you’re good to go, faster than you can call your favorite Thai takeout place.

Promise me you’ll make this! It’s so very yummy.

chopsticks resting on a bowl of noodles
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5 from 1 vote

Peanut Butter Chicken

Peanut Butter Chicken is one of my favorite take-out fake-outs. It's got all the flavor of a pad thai without the expense or hard to find ingredients. You can also make it with sunflower seed butter to accommodate for nut allergies.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Total Time35 mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: chicken, peanut butter
Servings: 8
Calories: 407kcal
Author: Jessica Fisher

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 7 tbsp neutral oil
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter almond butter, or sunflower seed butter can also be used
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger (grated)
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 16 oz linguine pasta or thin spaghetti pasta
  • 1 carrots shredded
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast chopped
  • 1 bunch green onion (chopped) you can get by with less
  • 2 tbsp fresh cilantro (chopped)

Instructions

  • Whisk together the vinegar, the 5 tbsp. oil, the peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, ginger, and red pepper. Set aside.
  • In a large pot of boiling, salted water, prepare the pasta according to package instructions. While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil until very hot. Cook the carrot for 1 min. Add the chicken and green onions to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until chicken is cooked.
  • Drain the pasta and toss with sauce and cilantro. You may toss chicken in as well, but we like to serve it atop the noodles. Otherwise, the chicken drops to the bottom and is not evenly distributed.
  • Serve this dish hot or at room temperature.
  • To freeze: store the sauce and the cooked chicken mixture in separate containers. Thaw completely in the refrigerator. Reheat before tossing with fresh cooked pasta.

Nutrition

Calories: 407kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 357mg | Potassium: 438mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1459IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1mg

red chopsticks crossing bowl of noodles

Filed Under: Chicken, Pasta, Recipe Tagged With: packable

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joyce Perdue says

    May 16, 2016 at

    Have tired and tired to not gag on cilantro but finally the other day….tried again and….not good. What can I substitute for it? I despair….

    Reply
    • Janet says

      May 17, 2016 at

      I do NOT like cilantro either. Substitute parsley or simply omit it. In most recipes, no one will notice the difference.

      Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      June 16, 2016 at

      Yes, what Janet said. You can leave it out. If it’s not something you care for, it certainly is better to omit.

      Reply
  2. Tiffany R says

    May 17, 2016 at

    Thanks for the dinner idea! I had this tonight with leftover grilled chicken and threw in some sautéed carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Topped with sesame seeds and cilantro from my garden. Yum! And it makes a tons so I have enough leftover for lunch all week. Yeah!

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      June 16, 2016 at

      So glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  3. Erica says

    May 18, 2016 at

    Thank you for posting this recipe when you did! We had a bunch of leftover chicken tenderloins that I was planning on using tonight in something but had no idea what (made bacon chicken subs two nights ago; do you see a theme? :)). Left some out for the 15 yr old who doesn’t like peanut butter and went to town. I used zucchini and carrots, white onion and red wine vinegar because that’s what I had. My husband and I liked it a lot. The 13 yr old (who ironically, loves peanut butter) was not a fan, but as he’s 13, he has something to say about everything I do/make/say these days. Lol!

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      June 16, 2016 at

      I love to hear how others are adapting it. Sounds great.

      Reply
  4. Mimi says

    May 29, 2016 at

    We made the Peanut butter chicken last night, and we loved it so much, we are making it again tonight! Amazing flavors. Just the right amount of heat, and sweet. So delicious. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      May 30, 2016 at

      Yay! So glad you liked it!

      Reply
  5. Carolyn says

    June 13, 2016 at

    Can I ask, why store the sauce and chicken separately in the freezer? My thought was to cook the chicken, cool, combine the sauce and chicken, freeze, then, when warming, add the veggies (maybe some snap peas, the shredded carrots and green onion).

    Is there any harm in combining the sauce and chicken for freezing?

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      June 13, 2016 at

      I don’t think it will do any harm. I’ve always done it that way to ensure that the sauce really coats the noodles, but there shouldn’t be any issue doing it a different way.

      Reply
  6. pat says

    June 13, 2016 at

    Thanks for this recipe. I don’t have ginger to grate. I do have ground ginger. Could I use some of that or just leave it out?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      June 16, 2016 at

      Probably would just leave it out. You can get fresh ginger in a paste in the produce section. It’s a nice way to have it last a little longer than fresh knobs.

      Reply
      • pat says

        June 16, 2016 at

        Thanks! I will check out the paste next time I go shopping!

        Reply
  7. Sarah Zeola says

    January 22, 2017 at

    This looks awesome and is perfect for my freezer meal plan! I just found some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the freezer and we have a giant package of soba that I have been trying to figure out when to use. I am going to sub the soba for the other noodles and we have everything on hand to make this. Thanks for sharing, Jessica!

    Reply
    • Jessica Fisher says

      January 31, 2017 at

      Hope you love it like we do.

      Reply

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