We’re in the thick of the holiday season and the urge to eat baked goods for every meal of the day is very real at the moment. I’ve seen several ginger molasses and snickerdoodle cookie recipes on social media that I’d arm wrestle Santa for. Can you relate? That said, I’ve been even more intentional than usual about cooking healthy meals at home so I don’t have to think twice about indulging a little extra over the next month or so.
In addition to my Christmas cookie cravings, I’ve also been dreaming about a big bowl of gluten free Pad Thai from my favorite Thai restaurant here in town. In the spirit of making healthy choices though, I decided to make a healthy, Pad Thai(ish) dish at home. Thai Peanut Chicken Sweet Potato Noodles swaps rice noodles for vitamin-rich sweet potato noodles, and will curb your craving for take out in just 15 minutes!
Watch How to Make It!
Spiralized Sweet Potato Noodles
If you’ve been on the fence about ordering a spiralizer, or asking for one for the holidays, this dish is going to send you over the edge. It. Is. Incredible! Skinny spiralized sweet potatoes are sauteed with broccoli and chopped chicken then tossed with an easy peanut sauce made with fridge and pantry staples.
Like I said, this dish goes from skillet to bowl in 15 minutes, which is a fraction of the time it takes to pick up take out or wait for the delivery driver to arrive – plus it’s a TON healthier.
If you’re like me and wanting to indulge without the guilt this holiday season, whip up this light and tasty dish tonight – and fight your dining partner for the leftovers to take for lunch the next day. Trust me when I say, if you don’t, you’ll regret it!
How to Make This Recipe
Start by whisking together the Thai peanut sauce ingredients. You’ll need:
- Peanut butter
- Chicken broth
- Low sodium gluten free Tamari
- Rice vinegar
- Chili garlic sauce
- Sesame oil
- Ground ginger
- Minced garlic
Set the sauce aside then peel and trim 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, and then send them through z spiralizer fitted with the skinnest noodle blade.
Time to cook! Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat then add chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper then saute until cooked through, and then scoop the chicken onto a plate and set aside.
Turn the heat down a touch then add more extra virgin olive oil to the skillet. Add the sweet potato noodles plus broccoli florets, season with salt and pepper, then saute for 5 minutes.
Next drizzle in a little water to help soften the noodles and continue sauting, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato noodles are al dente, another 3-5 minutes. If you want your sweet potato noodles on the softer side, continue cooking, but just know they might break up into smaller pieces.
Last step is to add the chicken back into the skillet along with the Thai peanut sauce then toss until everything is well coated and heated through.
Scoop the noodles into bowls then top with tons of chopped peanuts and green onions. Totally easy, right? And trust me, totally DELISH! Hope you love this lighter take out fake out recipe!
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Thai Peanut Chicken Sweet Potato Noodles
Description
Thai Peanut Chicken Sweet Potato Noodles are a healthy, gluten free twist on your favorite Thai takeout order. Easy, colorful, and delicious!
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 chicken breasts (14oz,) cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt and pepper
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled then spiralized using thinnest blade, noodles slightly trimmed
- 2 cups (4oz) broccoli florets
- 1/4 cup water
- Toppings: chopped peanuts, green onions, chopped cilantro
- For the Thai peanut sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons gluten-free chicken broth
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons low-sodium gluten-free Tamari or soy sauce
- 1/2 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free chili garlic sauce (or more)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Directions
- Whisk together Thai peanut sauce ingredients then set aside.
- Add 1/2 Tablespoon oil to a large, 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken then season with salt and pepper and saute until cooked through. Remove chicken to a plate then set aside.
- Turn heat down to a little above medium then add remaining 2 Tablespoons oil. Add sweet potato noodles and broccoli, season with salt and pepper, then saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water then saute until noodles are al dente, another 3-5 minutes (if you like a softer sweet potato continue cooking but know that the noodles will break up a bit.) Add chicken back into the skillet along with the Thai peanut sauce then toss until the noodles are well coated and everything is heated through. Scoop into bowls then serve with toppings.
Notes
- I use a Paderno Spiralizer >
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Candy 12.04.2016
Just made this tonight and it was soo good!! Hubby and I loved it. :)
Kristin 12.05.2016
So glad to hear it, Candy! :) Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback!
Marie 12.04.2016
I bought a spiralizer months ago but really haven’t used it. This sounds awesome. My kids won’t like it (and one can’t do soy or coconut aminos), but I’ll make it for myself! I need lunches during the week anyway.
I can’t do chili sauce (no nightshades) so I’m thinking just a bunch of garlic? That sound suitable?
Kristin 12.05.2016
For sure! It mostly adds heat, so you’d probably be fine with just the one clove in the sauce recipe!
cori 12.02.2016
I cut this in half (ish, maybe more like 2/3 than a half portion came out) for myself tonight. It’s amazing!!! I followed it to a T but used a little but less oil and just added chicken stock as it dried out. MY sweet potato noodles also broke down quite a bit because I forgot and got caught up playing with my dogs. Whoops. Still freaking amazing. Thanks !!!!! I love making my Friday night – just me and no husband – dinner from your site. Very approachable cooking even for a seasoned cook like me. LOVE YOU
Kristin 12.03.2016
THANK YOU, Cori!! So glad you loved it and found the dish easy to make! :)
Emily 12.01.2016
I made your Fall Brussel Sprouts salad for thanksgiving, and it was a huge hit! The fried shallots were awesome! Yum, yum! I had two recipe requests!
Kristin 12.03.2016
Love it!! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Emily!
Megan 12.01.2016
Made this last night. SO GOOD! A welcomed break from the heavy foods of Thanksgiving. This will be added into our meal rotation! Thank you so much!
Kristin 12.01.2016
Wohoo!!! Glad to hear it, Megan! Thanks for leaving feedback! :)
Shauna 12.01.2016
This recipe was just what I needed this week! I am currently on the Whole 30 and needed something new to add to my meal plan! All I had to change was using almond butter vs peanut butter and found a compliant chili garlic sauce & unfortunately had to leave off the chopped peanuts – but cashews to the rescue. :) Still was totally delicious!
Kristin 12.01.2016
Oooo, I bet cashews were delicious in here. So glad you were able to make it work!
Melissa 11.30.2016
I just had this for dinner and it was delicious. I didn’t have any ginger and overcooked my sweet potato, but the flavor is excellent.
*next time, I’ll just chop my potato small. My spirulizer really struggles with sweet potatoes.
*I used freshly ground black pepper and you could really taste it through the richness and heat of the sauce.
Great dish. Such a keeper. Thank you.
Kristin 12.01.2016
So glad you enjoyed it, Melissa!! Thanks for the great feedback! :)
Jes 11.30.2016
This. is. PERFECT! I have literally everything to make this and am really trying to be more mindful about my meal planning and overall eating this holiday season. This looks delish and I was just thinking I need to dust off my spiralizer! Thanks for sharing. Glad your new family of 4 had a good turkey day!
Barbara 11.30.2016
Cab, I love…now just to try it with a Snickers bar!
Sara @ Last Night's Feast 11.30.2016
This looks so yummy! What a cool idea
Nancy 11.30.2016
Did you know Cool Basil opened another place in West Glen? Banana Leaf… I ate there last week :)
Kristin 11.30.2016
I saw but didn’t think it’d opened yet! Thanks for the tip!
Stephanie H 11.30.2016
What do you have for a spiralizer?
Kristin 11.30.2016
Here’s the one I have:
Catherine 11.30.2016
Need to invest in a good spiralizer. Debating between the Paderno mentioned in this post and the spiralizer attachment for a KitchenAid mixer. Any thoughts?
Kristin 11.30.2016
I haven’t tried out the KitchenAid one but I do really love my Paderno. I’ve had it for a couple years now and it’s zipped through everything.
Trish G. 11.30.2016
I’m with Karla. I caved and ordered a spiralizer. Thanks for including the easy to access link! I went to an Asian grocery store today, but couldn’t find chili garlic sauce. I’m wondering if I can use chili sauce and some jarred garlic. I can’t wait to try this!
Kristin 11.30.2016
Wohoo!! I usually find chili garlic sauce in the Asian foods aisle of the regular grocery store. If you can’t find it, siracha or another chili sauce will work fine!
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona 11.30.2016
This looks seriously good! I never would have thought to go with sweet potato noodles, such a great idea!
Karla 11.30.2016
This recipe did it! I’m finally going to cave and get a spiralizer! This recipe looks delish, and super easy to customize.
Kristin 11.30.2016
YAY!! You won’t regret it! Have fun! :)
Emily 12.02.2016
I was thinking the same thing! I always see recipes with zucchini. The sweet potatoes are more motivating for me.
Heather 11.30.2016
Hi Kristin! Your dish looks awesome and I’m totally a Thai food lover! I just love spice. My husband not so much, but I don’t care, I’ll have to make this one night because right now I’m all turkeyed out. There’s only so much turkey left overs you can stand before it gets old. I hope no spiders creep out of your tree. That’s my kryptonite too! Ours was decorated the first week of November. (Yes we’re crazy, its okay to say it!)
Kristin 11.30.2016
If I had my way I’d decorate that early too – one month is never long enough to have Christmas decorations up!
Beth 11.30.2016
Do you think this would reheat okay? This would be great for lunches for the work week.
Kristin 11.30.2016
Absolutely! I’m actually eating some cold from the fridge as I type – delicious. ?
Mary Jo 11.30.2016
Hi Kristin! I love spiralized zucchini, never thought of using sweet potato. Just curious, what olive oil do you recommend? Thanks, MJ
Kristin 11.30.2016
I’m actually not brand loyal to extra virgin olive oil – right now I’m using up a jug of Kirkland (Costco) oil!
Sue 11.30.2016
This sounds delicious! What kind of peanut butter do you recommend? Natural?
Kristin 11.30.2016
You could use whatever you have in the house – stir or no stir!