There is nothing that I love more than a quick and easy stir-fry for dinner. When I don’t get home from the gym until almost 8:00, the last thing I want to do is cook. That’s why having a meal that you can throw together quickly is a great option. This stir-fry works great as a make ahead meal and packs a ton of flavor. And I will start by apologizing for the crappy photo. I promise to make them better in the future. If you are going to make this ahead of time, I would recommend cooking everything but the zucchini noodles and just making those fresh every batch. I know some of those percentages in the nutritional information may concern some of you, but note that this is for a standard 2,000 calorie diet and you should view the amounts through the perspective of your specific dietary requirements.
Ingredients:
- For the cilantro-peanut sauce
- 1/3 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy is fine)
- 2 1/2 tbs soy sauce or aminos
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar (this is optional)
- 2 tbs brown sugar
- The juice of 1/2 a lime
- 1/2 tsp garlic chili paste
- 1 tsp cilantro – I use the “Just Add” brand that comes in a tube, way easier than cutting up fresh cilantro and keeps longer.
- Water
- For the stir-fry
- 1/2 lb chicken (breast or thigh meat is fine)
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 4 cups shredded cabbage
- 2 tbs vegetable oil – or any other neutral oil, avoid olive oil
- 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
- Toppings – optional but encouraged!
- Lime wedge (use the other half from the sauce)
- Roasted Peanuts
- Sriracha Sauce
- Fresh Cilantro
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
- Once your oven is up to temperature begin cooking your chicken breast. I use an instant pot to do this as it only takes 12 minutes to cook. My second option would be to bake the chicken breast for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, or until done. To check, poke with a knife and if the juice is clear, you are good to go.
- While the chicken is cooking, gather your shredded carrots and cabbage. You will need to have all of your ingredients ready to go as the stir-fry cooks quickly.
- Add all of the ingredients except the water for your cilantro-peanut sauce into a medium bowl and mix together with a fork. You will need to add water to get the mixture to emulsify and you will want to continue to add until it reaches a smooth, almost runny thickness.
- When there is about 5 minutes left on the chicken you will star the stir-frying In a large pan, add the vegetable oil and toasted sesame oil. Do not worry about the “negatives” of using oil, if you look at the ingredients in the recipe you will notice that overall it is pretty low cal/fat so you need this additive.
- When you can add a droplet of water to the pan and it sizzles up, add the carrots and cabbage. Cook this until it reaches your preferred level of tenderness
- While the carrots and cabbage are cooking, spiralize your zucchini. You don’t need to go out and buy and expensive noodle maker if you don’t want. OXO makes a hand-held spiralizer that does the trick.
- Take your chicken out of the oven and rest for about 5 minutes to let the juices soak back into the meat.
- Cut your chicken into pieces (this is totally your preference), or you can shred it if you are feeling that sort of vibe.
- Add the chicken and the spiralized zucchini into the pan and let the zucchini begin to warm up. I like my noodles to have a little bite so I don’t cook them down too far.
- When you feel like the noodles are almost to your desired tenderness, add the peanut sauce to the pan along with the 2 tbs of soy sauce/aminos and stir.
- Allow for the soy sauce to cook down and evaporate before reforming the pan from the heat.
- Plate your stir-fry with whatever fixings you are feeling. Personally, I like roasted peanuts, a lime wedge and a little extra sriracha for an added kick
Big. Tall. Healthy. 