Peanut Noodles with Chicken

This recipe works great as meal prep — a zesty lime peanut dressing livens up your choice of noodle. Baked chicken comes through with the protein. Add veggies and voila! Lunch for the week.

By Sarah Golibart Gorman

Ingredients

• 1 box pasta (I used rotini, but you could use rice noodles, etc.)

• Chicken

  • 1 ½ - ish lbs chicken (any cut will do, I used breasts for this recipe)

• Peanut Sauce

  • 4 tablespoons fish sauce

  • 2 cloves garlic

  • 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

  • 4 tablespoons rice vinegar

  • ¾ cup lime juice (5-6 limes)

  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce

  • ½ cup peanut butter

  • 1 ½ teaspoons sesame oil

  • Pinch cayenne (optional)

• Veggies (these are all optional ideas - choose any in season veggie that sounds good)

  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped

  • 1 bag of spinach or kale, chopped and steamed

  • 2 small squash or zucchini

• Garnishes

  • Cilantro

  • Peanuts

*These ingredients can be found at the Harrisonburg Farmers Market, check What’s Fresh to see what’s in season

Method

1. Salt chicken and set aside. Refrigerate if you’re not immediately making this meal.

2. Prepare sauce by adding all ingredients to a blender and blending until combined.

3. Take a small amount of sauce and lightly coat the chicken with it. Cook chicken according to the type of cut you selected.

4. Cook pasta according to box instructions. Drain and set aside to cool. When cool, toss in sauce, adding the sauce a little as a time as you go until you achieve your desired sauciness. For meal prep, I err on the side of more sauce than less because the noodles will absorb it in the fridge.

5. Prepare any vegetables you’d like to add.

6. When chicken in cooked, let rest for 10 minutes and then slice.

7. Once everything is cooled, toss together and portion out into meal prep containers or serve as one dish. Enjoy!