Thai Chicken Buddha Bowls
Healthy, hearty and nutritious bowls filled with whole grains, plenty of veggies, and a simple peanut sauce that is absolutely to die for!
I’m trying to detox here post-Paris.
I started with the green detox smoothie and now, I’m staying strong with these buddha bowls.
Now you might ask, what exactly is a buddha bowl? There seems to be a million definitions but this is what I came across.
Buddha bowls, sometimes referred to as glory or hippie bowls, are hearty, filling dishes made of various greens, raw or roasted veggies, beans and a healthy grain like quinoa or brown rice. It’s essentially a hearty bowl filled with nutrients and vitamins that aid in weight loss and/or overall health.
So that’s exactly what we have here, guys.
- Whole grain: farro
- Protein: chicken
- Vegetables: kale, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots
- Bonus: best peanut sauce ever
There’s plenty of goodies for you here. Farro is a far superior whole grain with more protein and fiber (than say, brown rice) and we have a rainbow of veggies here, which basically means, the more colors we have, the more nutrients we’re getting.
But really, the point to remember is this.
The peanut sauce here is absolute LIFE. That is all.
Thai Chicken Buddha Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup farro
- ¼ cup chicken stock
- 1 ½ tablespoons sambal oelek, ground fresh chile paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups shredded kale
- 1 ½ cups shredded purple cabbage
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 2 carrots, peeled and grated
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts
For the spicy peanut sauce
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons sambal oelek, ground fresh chile paste
Instructions
- To make the spicy peanut sauce, whisk together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar, sambal oelek and 2-3 tablespoons water in a small bowl; set aside.
- Cook farro according to package instructions; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock, sambal oelek, brown sugar and lime juice; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, cornstarch and fish sauce, tossing to coat and letting the chicken absorb the cornstarch.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until golden, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, shallot and ginger, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock mixture until slightly thickened, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Divide farro into bowls. Top with chicken, kale, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, cilantro and peanuts.
- Serve with spicy peanut sauce.
Did you make this recipe?
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WOW!!! Amazingly delicious! Did as is but with shrimps. Thank you so much!!
WOW! This is absolutely amazing! Such great flavors and also a healthy kick with all the fresh veggies. It does have some spick to it but my husband and I love that. Will be adding to our normal rotation. Thank you for the great recipe once again!
Would you be able to provide the nutrition values for this?
Do you know how many calories per serving?
I’ve never cooked with fish sauce or sambal oelek before, but would love to try this recipe. What brands do you recommend using?
We loved this! Made a few adjustments for preferences / pantry / laziness. Used TJ’s 10 minute farro as the base. Subbed chili garlic sauce for sambal oelek because I had it, but will try to get sambal oelek for the next round. Used coleslaw mix to sub for red cabbage / carrots because I am lazy. Don’t like cilantro so added cucumbers and scallions to make up for it. Threw on an avocado because I had it! Thought it was the perfect amount of sauce and loved the fish sauce on the chicken.
Delicious
I love this recipe so much! I used to live in Thailand and now that I’m back in NJ…let’s just sum it up by saying I had to order the sambal oelek on Amazon. I’m keeping all the leftovers separate in the fridge to heat up for 3 more glorious lunches. I used sugar snap peas instead of bean sprouts because I couldn’t find bean sprouts. This recipe is so healthy and so delicious! So glad I tripled the peanut sauce
I’m switching my family over to vegan, and I found this recipe when I was browsing your site. I didn’t know what to expect, but my son and I loved these! I used potatoes instead of chicken and subbed soy sauce for the fish sauce, but the flavors blend so well. My son opts to eat his sans peanut sauce and still loves the salad.
Sounds wonderful! Would you happen to have the calorie, nutritional breakdown?
Looks delicious! I’m excited to try this. Can you please share the nutritional facts? Carb count specifically. I didn’t see them on the page. Thank you!
The peanut sauce did not have the right proportions, but other than that this is a solid recipe. I like it for an easy and fast meal.
Just out of curiosity, what changes would you make to the proportions of the peanut sauce to make it better?
I thought it was just right. Not too much or too little! Again thanks!
Absolutely delicious!! Even picky kids liked it. Only change I made was to sub oyster sauce for the fish sauce simply because I’m not a fan of fish sauce. Also subbed out the kale for Swiss chard for the same reason. Such a healthy alternative to our usual meals. Thanks for another delicious recipe!!
I make these very regularly! So so sooo good and even better leftover. I’ve also shared with many friends who also love it!
Absolutely delicious! You weren’t lieing about how good the peanut sauce is. I had to move it to the other side other table so I couldn’t French my bowl with all of it.
I had never had farro until this and will definitely try to find other places to use it from now on. I did change the veggies slightly as I couldn’t justify buying the beans knowing I wouldn’t use all of them so I added avocado and red onion for some extra flavor.
10/10 recommend
Absolutely delicious! Easily comes together, fabulous peanut sauce and the farro is a great choice of grain. A make again for sure!
Made this with no subs (except sadly left out bean sprouts because I forgot to pick them up at the store) and it was amazing – will definitely make again. I couldn’t quite get the chicken crispy but might have been my pan – nevertheless tasted great and still was a good texture!
I took the leftovers the next day and put them all together in a wrap for lunch (with a bit of mayo and hot sauce) – if you have leftovers I definitely recommend this because it’s so good as a wrap!!
I have made this recipe for my family 3 times now. It is spot-on deeeelicious! The flavor combo is perfect and I love the raw veggies combined with the hot rice and chicken. It’s easily adaptable to the vegetarian in my household as well as the peanut hater.
The recipe was great; it turned out well. I love farro; so good compared to quinoa or rice. I didn’t have bean sprouts or ginger; didn’t end up using any. I also used oyster sauce instead of fish sauce because that is what I had. I don’t think the recipe needed the 1/4 cup roasted peanuts: it was fine without it. I thought the chicken came out great! It felt like there was not enough farro for the amount of chicken. The recipe is light yet filling! Is there a way to reduce the amount of sodium? We used slightly less chili paste; it had enough kick and was just right. I will definitely make it again.
Made this last night and luckily we doubled everything- this is such a delicious recipe!
I made this last night and am currently eating the leftovers for breakfast! It’s just that good!!!! I subbed Brown Rice for the Faro and added green onions to the to topping. Was nice, fresh and crispy with all my favourite flavours. I love how many vegetables are in the dish, super healthy!!
We loved this recipe! We used vermencilli noodles instead of faro, but it was great! My husband and son (3) loved it too! Thank you!
This dish was so delicious! I used quinoa instead of farro since I already had that, and I used a packaged fresh “Asian Salad” with the veggies listed already shredded. It was a great time saver. Will make again and double the recipe next time.
I was a bit wary of making this because I’m new to cooking but it was super easy to follow and absolutely delicious! Only tweaks I made were, no fish sauce, and I swapped the chili paste in the peanut sauce for sriracha. Perfect kick without your mouth being on fire. Will make again!
YUMMY!!!!
I made this as-is except that I didn’t use bean sprouts (although I love them) to mitigate the risk of food-born illness. I thought it was both beautiful and delicious. The cabbage added the perfect crispy crunch and the peanut sauce was so good. I love the fish sauce to give it that added Thai flavor. In my opinion it was the perfect amount of spice. Definitely had a kick but not so spicy that it took away from the other flavors in the dish. Great textures too. Thanks for the recipe! Im looking forward to my leftovers 🙂
We enjoyed this recipe but would make some changes the next time around and definitely do some prep ahead of time. We found that a tablespoon of ginger was way too much for the chicken, maybe using half a tbsp for next time. We also find that sambal oelek is a bit salty, maybe the brand we buy. So we may try to sub for sriracha for a similar kick without the added salty taste. Overall, we loved the addition of farro and once all the flavours were mixed in it was a big hit!
This recipe is fantastic! We’ve made this numerous times now and it comes out great every time! Only adjustments are makes 1.5x the peanut sauce, because well it’s amazing and who doesn’t want more sauce!? Other adjustments are replacement of faro with brown rice and addition of watermelon radish. Keep up the great recipes!
Chungah, your recipe looks amazing, and I hope to make it sometime soon, but I have a couple questions first. Do you do anything to the kale. In the pictures, it looks cooked? Did you do anything to the kale other than shred it? Massage it? I love how your carrots look! What did you use to get them like that? This Buddha Bowl sounds right up my alley. Can’t wait to try it!
I made this and it was very good however the farro was a total fail for me. I used Bob’s Red Mill pearled farro and followed the directions for an Intstant Pot. It came out super mushy like over cooked oatmeal in water! In the trash it went and I used frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s instead. This was my first attempt at farro and probably my last. Other than that the recipe was very good!
I Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe. I love it so much that I had my husband prepare it in bulk in order to use it as a staple in my meal prep. We have made it numerous times as the original recipe, and currently for our lower carb diet we removed the ferro and replaced it with cauliflower rice. Regardless amazing recipe. The only reason it does not have five stars is I am diligent about counting my Macro nutrition, and would really like more nutritional info per one bowl and or the break down of each individual item that way if / when I make changes I can adjust my Macros. I am going to attempt to see if I can create the Macros myself, however I am not sure how accurate I will be. That aside, a AMAZING recipe and a true staple in our kitchen.
Very yummy! Prepared as written except I didn’t use bean sprouts because I couldn’t find any fresh. Delicious!!! Damn Delicious!
What in the world did I do wrong? The chicken coating just stuck to the pot. I used plenty of oil, and a hot pan. My chicken ended up shredded and not browned at all. The end result was still tasty, but I’m amazed no one else had this problem.
I had the same problem, next time I’ll use a non-stick skillet and hope it cooks proper. My chicken didn’t brown and after I added the sauces it did create a creamy sauce and cooked the chicken but it certainly didn’t crisp up.
This was delicious and very fresh! I made it with rice instead of the farro because it is all I had in the house. My 5 and 6 year old loved it. It was a bit spicy for my kids, so I’d probably decrease the sambal oelek a little next time. I also used crunchy PB (natural) and it worked well in the recipe. Will definitely be making this again. I might cut the chicken up a little smaller next time as well. Great flavor, family staple with a few revisions!
Awesome!
Everyone commented that the recipe is a keeper.
It looked like a lot of ingredients, but really wasn’t- when you consider it’s a couple different sauces, plus veggies.
Will probably double the peanut sauce next time.
Thanks for the great recipe.
Michelle, I have been making this dish regularly since I found it last June. It’s my absolute favorite and I could eat it every day! How do I do this in the instant pot? I’m new to instant pot and have been using your recipes which are delish! But I need to get this one in the instant pot because I’m always worried about over or undercooking the chicken.
Sorry was just seeing I addressed my note wrong! Chungah! My apologies.
Thank you for sharing this sensational recipe….it is indeed damn delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Excellent recipe and rave reviews from all that ate it. I used already chopped purple cabbage and kale from Trader Joe’s, and just chopped it up more. I loved the sauce that is used for the chicken and the yummy peanut sauce. I tripled the amount of chicken and sauce (not the peanut sauce) for five people and didn’t have much chicken left…yep, we really liked it. I also had some zucchini I need to use up, so I sauted that with onion (didn’t have shallots), great addition. I had a had time finding fresh bean sprouts and stumbled upon canned bean sprouts in the Asian section of my market. They worked out just as well. We will definitely be making this again.
This looks amazing! Just wondering: for those of you who meal prep this for the week, do you put the dressing on or keep it on the side? And do you reheat it or eat it cold?
Very tasty recipe! I did use quinoa instead of farro since I already have a big batch I wanted to use and spinach instead of kale. I also added shredded carrots, roasted cubes of sweet potato and chick peas. I will have plenty for a few meals. The peanut sauce is delicious
I have never posted a review before but this was so good I have decided to do one. I swapped Farro with brown rice and kale with baby spinach. Absolutely divine. My 11 and 13 year old are wanting to know when we can have it again. Delicious flavors and healthy! Couldn’t ask for more
This has become my FAVORITE lunch recipe! It’s so easy to make, super filling and satisfying, and lasts forever in my fridge (I prep 2x the recipe at a time to use up an entire cabbage and bunch of kale).
I’ve been using a brown rice and quinoa blend instead of farro because I already have a huge tub of rice lying around anyways, but once I finish out that tub I’ll be trying it with farro. To fit my macros, I use about 1/6 cup of rice per serving instead of 1/4 (so I batch cook 1 1/2 cups total).
I cooked to exactly directions except I totally missed saving the chicken broth and setting aside.. I just added lime to chicken and Cĕhile paste while cooking.. I am writing this and actually growing in front of you I can’t stop.. I think I put to much Chile paste on cause my mouth is on fire and can’t stop eating it lol It took me about 3 hours from start to finish from store to home and chopping veggies and cooking.. Definitely amazing thank you
KILLER SAUCE!
I was out of peanut butter, so I used almond butter instead. I also substituted sambal oelek with Sriracha.
It was still soooo good and I can’t wait to get the missing ingredients and make it as is in your recipe! It will be my go-to recipe for thai/vietnamese sauce!
I made 4 servings for me and my boyfriend plus two lunch boxes for tomorrow… but we both had two bowls each and finished everything… oops! lol
We made this almost every week as part of our messages prep rotation!
This looks delicious! I’ll be trying this out soon. I love all your recipes, very tasty. Thanks for all your hard work!
I would be very interested to see your take on vegan recipes. Hope you will consider dabbling in the future. I’ve tried vegan recipes from sites, but haven’t found a solid single source like your website of good eats. It’s been a hit or miss. Also ordered your meal prep book which is fabulous! Thanks again!
Loved the combination of flavours, texture and color. I am adding this recipe to my “favourites” section in my recipe binder!
this was great! Both my kids ate it, despite it having a small spicy kick! It took a bit to prep, but made it ahead of time and assembled at dinner. thank you!
Hi….. Mmmm ! Thanks for another awesome recipe ! It looks fantastic ! I have never tried farro but I do use couscous and quinoa quite often….Could I use either of those instead ? Looking forward to the next recipe already lol….
Thanks again…
Yes, absolutely!
WOW!! I love Buddha Bowls & make them quite often but the peanut sauce on this one made it extra-good. I wound up substituting beef for chicken because that’s all I had thawed, quinoa for farro & cashews for peanuts & had no bean sprouts, but they were ridiculously good anyway. I’m going to make them again this week actually following YOUR recipe, LOL! And as for the can’t-call-them-Buddha-bowls-because-they-contain-meat argument: I’m quite sure the Buddha would have no problem with it. Even our local vegetarian/vegan restaurants aren’t purists. One calls them Happy Bowls & has no meat options on the menu at all, the other calls them Buddha Bowls & while they stress their vegetarian & vegan menu, they will add chicken or beef on request. Even the hardcore vegans I talked to just laughed & said anyone arguing over the Buddha’s name doesn’t understand his teachings very well.
Thank you, Susanne! We appreciate your feedback and love that you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Hello,
Quick question…is the chicken supposed to be crispy? I ended up tripling the recipe and my chicken mixture resulted in a chicken gravy/curry. Just curious, with the use of the cornstarch and all.
Delicious anyway!
Thanks!
The chicken mixture should be quite saucy! 🙂
My boyfriend was very hesitant to try this, hes 6’1 burly man who was HUNGRY. He didn’t think he would like it or get full from this. Well he LOVED it and he was stuffed by the end. He wants this all the time now.
And I wanted to add that yes, there are quite a few ingredients, but if you just prep all measurements before you cook, it’s easier. And worth it. This was delicious. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe. This will be our lunch for work now!
That’s so awesome! Glad you both enjoyed it!
This looks so good!! Can this be eaten cold or do I need to warm it up?
What type of kale did you use?
I used lacinato kale.
Took a lot more prep time than anticipated but it was so worth it. It is definitely more of a weekend recipe (or weekday if you completed the prep work the night before) but I will cook this again very soon. The spicy peanut sauce is the star of this dish.
I could put the peanut sauce on anything and everything!
This came out really great! I substituted extra-firm tofu for the chicken and it worked really well. I might leave out the cornstarch next time because I’m not sure the tofu needed it. I also reduced the sambal oelek by half in the pan sauce (but kept the same amount in the peanut sauce) and it was the perfect amount of spice for our palate. Thanks for the great recipe!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing.
I was just going to ask if tofu could be substituted. Thank you!
Sorry – didn’t realize I’d asked this in a prior year and it had been answered! Wasn’t able to delete this comment.
This sounds so good! Would it work if I subbed extra-firm tofu for the chicken, and left the rest of the recipe the same?
Of course!
I’m so excited to try this recipe! Just wondering how long this will last in the fridge? Keen to make it on Sunday for my weekday lunches.
As I am not an expert on food safety, I cannot really say with certainty. Methods for optimal food storage and shelf life should be based on good judgment and what you are personally comfortable with. Hope that helps, Ellie!
Wow! This was really dishes. I’m only half joking when I say that I usually choose a recipe based on how much cheese is in it. No cheese and still satisfying and delicious. I loved the spicy peanut sauce. It was also my first time cooking farro and I really enjoyed the chewy-ness of it. Thanks for another great recipe.
Awesome Bridget! Thanks for sharing.
I’m baffled by the 2 different sauces. Is one the salad dressing and the other for flavoring the chicken!
The spicy peanut sauce is for serving.
This was amazing!!!
So happy to hear you liked it!
Just made these for dinner! Very easy and relish. Thanks for sharing. I used brown rice instead of farro as my family is not very adventurous.
Great substitution Martina! Thank you for sharing.
Can you use almond butter to mitigate a peanut allergy?
Yes, absolutely.
This looks great! I really like the visual appeal of a purple, green and orange combination of veggies so I make a few things that combine purple cabbage, shredded carrots and something green (could be spinach, other type of greens or cucumber depending on whether it is a hot dish or a salad). I never notice fish sauce smelling up the house when I cook, but my windows are open all year so that might make a difference. I agree with the reader who asked for more Buddha bowls. They are so great for packing as lunches to work. And I love trying alternatives to rice or wheat based noodles like farro, millet, etc. Thanks so much for this recipe.
Hi! Love your website and recipes. Quick question, what fish sauce do you prefer? The one I bought was not particularly good. Thank you!
I typically use Thai Kitchen since that’s the only brand my grocery store carries. Hope that helps, Robin!
Literally just finished eating this for the first time today. Soooo good! I followed the recipe exactly (except I forgot to put the cilantro on today). The peanut sauce is delicious. Definitely a keeper.
This was great! TY
Could the farro and peanut sauce be made ahead of time?
Yes. Just use your best judgement when it comes to food storage and shelf life.
To he a buddha bowl it should be animal-free… that is the most common definition of a buddha bowl, buddhism is vegan itself. I love buddha bowls and will make it with “fake chicken” because we are vegan, I am no offended that you used chicken, but it shouldnt be named “Buddha”.
Is the sauce pretty spicy? I want to make this but my kids won’t eat anything spicy. If it is spicy, is there any substitution that would make it less spicy? Thanks!
The sauce has a little bit of spice but you can reduce or omit the sambal oelek as needed. Hope that helps!
The first time I made this I did NOT have the sambal open so I substituted sriracha sauce making it much less spicy but still delicious. Today I made it according to directions and it is spicy. Perfect for me but maybe too spicy for kids. I expect it’s not too spicy with the substitution
Did you toss your kale with any sort of dressing? It looks shiny in the pictures, suggestive of some type of dressing. Thanks!
I did not actually – it’s just a spritz of water for photographic purposes. 🙂
Did you all serve the peanut sauce on top or on the side?
Either/or works!
Made this tonight and it tasted great! The fish sauce stunk up the whole house though. Any recommendations for getting the smell out ? But the recipe really got my busband and me to eat a lot of veggies. Keep the Buddha bowls coming!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! Other than airing out the house a few times, I don’t have any special tricks to get the smell out. Closing all doors while cooking to keep the smell out of certain areas would be my only other trick. But that depends on how your kitchen is set up of course. Hope that helps!
I loved this recipe! Any suggestions to thin out the peanut dressing? My dressing was really thick but tasted great.
A little bit of water should do the trick!
All I can say is WOAH! We had this last night for dinner and it was so tasty!
The peanut sauce is the perfect compliment to the chicken and there was so much flavor in the dish. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe!
I also had quinoa on hand and substituted that for the farro. These bowls were filling, delicious, and healthy. The chicken and peanut sauce have a great taste. It is exciting to know that such delicious and interesting flavors can be made with simple ingredients that you have at home and without the unhealthy additives. A wonderful, bright meal for the dreary days of January. Thanks for a great recipe.
I loved this! I added even more veggies! Corn, radishes, broccoli stems! The peanut sauce was SO tasty! Thank you for this recipe!
We picked up the ingredients yesterday and made these tonight. You are right, the peanut sauce is amazing!
The only thing we changed was that we used quinoa in plane of farro. Thank you for a fresh and delicious dinner recipe.
Buddha bowls are the best ideas ever. I like lots of variety and flavours and this way, we can have it all in one bowl. So pretty to look at too.
Absolutely wonderful! Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
looks great! do you think red chili paste and sambal oelek would be interchangeable? i use so little of it that i don’t want to have both on hand, and i already have red chili paste. i’m going to add this to next week’s meal prep for lunches. 🙂 thanks!
You can substitute Sriracha if you prefer!
I ended up subbing fish sauce with Worcestershire. It worked great! I will be adding this recipe in to my rotation. While it looks like a lot of ingredients , most of them I already had in my kitchen and there is down time while the Farro cooks so it comes together in no time! Thank you for sharing this dish!
What is the nutritional value for the peanut sauce please ! It all looks divine x
The nutritional info is now added. Thank you for your patience!
More Budda bowl recipes please! These are perfect for the work week.
Is there an alternative for fish sauce ? I am allergic to shellfish and the allergens are never clear in fish sauce. Worcestershire , anchovy paste, and even Trader Joe’s Umame paste come to mind
Here is a great resource for possible substitutes:
https://www.eatbydate.com/substitutions/fish-sauce-substitute/
Hope that helps!
So happy to see you used ancient, healthy, life supporting grains ! Thank you so much !
These bowls look amazing! I need them in my life!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Looks amazing Chungah! Healthy and delicious (:
Way too many ingredients! I like simple ingredients recipes.
Then don’t make it.
it’s really not even that many ingredients
Some people prefer the “3 ingredient meal” that includes meat, a spice mix, and a package of some kind of mix. They don’t realize that it is really 35 ingredients. Some people also don’t realize that they can tailor a recipe to suit their preferences. 😉
News Flash- your negative opinions are just that…negative opinions. Insert eye roll!
This looks delicious! Thanks for adding this recipe!
Upon first glance it looks like it, but no one said that lip smacking flavor is a 5 ingredient fix.. don’t be lazy, try it 🙂 I own most of these condiments and items already, not really hard to assemble what you already own to make a fun new meal.
Seriously, why even post this message?
Wow. Mary actually took the time and energy to complain about something that no one was forcing her to make or eat. If a recipe doesnt look good to you, then dont make it. But spare the rest of us your negativity and ill will. It’s rude, narcissistic and serves no purpose.