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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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