Cold Peanut Noodles with Grilled Chicken

These cold peanut noodles topped with grilled chicken are more than a little bit addictive! They are great to make ahead of time so you can grab them for an easy weekday lunch or a quick weeknight meal!

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Weekdays tend to get very busy, and often in the evenings, there is not a lot of time to make dinner. This means a collection of quick and fairly easy everyday recipes is a must. This Peanut Noodle Bowl is a great option for weeknight meals or a packable lunch!  

This is a great recipe to add to your everyday meals recipe collection. Read on to learn more about how to make this Peanut Noodle Bowl with Grilled Chicken, or jump straight to the recipe to start cooking!

Recipe Highlights

• This recipe comes together pretty quickly, in right around 30 minutes.
• You can meal prep all of the components ahead of time.
• The ingredients provide a great flavor combo!

Recipe Ingredients

The full list of ingredients and quantities can be found in the recipe card below.

• Chicken breast: You'll need about 8 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Udon Noodles: I use round udon noodles for this recipe.  They are available in most grocery stores.  If you can't find them or if you prefer to use regular pasta something like this bucatini is a good substitute.  Udon noodles often come in little bundles within the package so I use one bundle per serving.
• Natural creamy peanut butter: The oil from natural peanut butter helps the peanut sauce come together more easily but you can use any type of creamy peanut butter
• Coconut milk: You don't need much but I also don't recommend substituting anything else for this ingredient. The rest of the can will keep for 4-6 days in the refrigerator.
• Lime: You'll need the juice from about half of a lime.
• Garlic olive oil: I like the extra punch from flavored olive oil in this recipe but you can substitute standard, extra-virgin olive oil.
• Sambal: This is chili paste that can be found in most large grocery stores. You can substitute crushed red pepper or sriracha.
• Veggies: You'll need a red pepper, some English cucumber and fresh cilantro.
• Peanuts: I prefer roasted peanuts. You can leave them off if you like.
• Spices: ground ginger, ground cloves, ground cinnamon, garlic powder, sea salt, ground pepper
• Pantry staples: Tamari (soy sauce), brown sugar, dark sesame oil

How to make this recipe

I love this dish because most of the components can be made ahead of time, which means it's a great one to add to your weekly meal prep list.

Marinate the chicken. Mix the marinade ingredients in a small bowl then add to the chicken and marinate for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Heat the grill. After the chicken has been marinating for about 15 minutes, start the grill.

Make the peanut sauce. Combine the peanut sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well until the sauce is smooth. Set aside until the noodles are cooked.  

Grill the chicken. Remove the chicken from the marinade and place it on the grill. Grill for about 7 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Remove the chicken from the grill and let it cool.

Cook the noodles. While the chicken is grilling, cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain the noodles and place them back in the warm pot. Add the peanut sauce and mix well. It's important to do this step while the noodles are hot as it makes is much easier to get all of the noodles coated with peanut sauce.

Assemble the dish. Once the chicken has cooled slightly, slice it and add it to the peanut noodles. Toss in the chopped veggies. Top as desired and serve.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

This dish is designed to be served cold dish so there is no need to heat it up unless you want to. If you prefer it warm, I recommend 45 seconds or so in the microwave just to warm the sauce up a bit.

The leftovers from this make a great lunch.  I packed them in this cool Monbento box, which I love for lunch on the go!

Serving Suggestions

The beauty of this recipe is it's really a meal in itself. If you wanted to add more veggies, I'd pair it with a simple green salad or this chopped kale salad.

More everyday recipes

If you are looking for more everyday lunch and dinner ideas check out these reader favorites:

• Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl. If you love Mexican food this burrito bowl is a recipe you'll want to try. It provides an amazing combination of flavors and gets an extra kick from the cilantro lime sauce.
• Grilled Chicken and Elote Tacos. Tacos are an ideal solution for easy weekday meals since at least components can be made ahead of time. If you want to change up your next Taco Tuesday a bit check out these grilled chicken tacos with Elote-style corn.

Cold Peanut Noodles with Grilled Chicken

Author: Kathryn | Urban Foodie Kitchen

These Thai peanut noodles topped with grilled chicken are more than a little bit addictive! They are great to make ahead of time so you can grab them an easy weekday lunch or a quick weeknight meal!

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 12 mins

Total Time 42 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Thai

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

  

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For the chicken:

• 8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon garlic olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons tamari
• dash ground cloves
• dash ground cinnamon

For the peanut sauce:

• ¼ cup natural peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon Sambal
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

For assembly:

• 5 ounces uncooked round udon noodles
• ¼ cup chopped red pepper
• ¼ cup chopped English, seedless cucumber
• ⅓ cup peanuts, chopped or crushed
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped

Instructions

 

• Make the marinade. Mix the garlic olive oil though cinnamon in a small bowl. Place chicken in a plastic bag and add marinade. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Heat the grill. Preheat the grill to about 400°F.
• Make the peanut sauce. Whisk peanut butter, tamari, coconut milk and lime juice together in a small bowl.  Add the ginger through sesame oil and mix well. Set aside.
• Grill the chicken. Remove chicken from marinade and place on the grill. Grill for 6 minutes per side, or until done. Remove from grill and let cool.
• Cook the noodles. While the chicken is on the grill, prepare the noodles according to the package directions. Drain noodles, and place in a large bowl.
• Toss the noodles. Add the peanut sauce to the noodles and mix well to coat all of the noodles.
• Assemble the dish. Slice or chop the chicken and add to the noodles. Add the red pepper, cucumber, peanuts and sesame oil. Toss so all ingredients are incorporated. Top with chopped cilantro. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve

Keywords : Packable lunch

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This post was originally published in August 2018. It was updated in April 2022 with some new information. No changes were made to the original recipe.