Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen
Instant ramen turns into a deliciously easy weeknight meal. Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen is packed with vegetables, peanut butter, and delicious Asian flavors.
For some reason peanuts get love three times in the year. The first is Peanut Butter Day which was back in January. I shared some easy peanut butter pancakes for that event. Then there’s Peanut Butter Lovers Day. This day, created in 1990, was to celebrate the anniversary of when the first peanut butter commercial aired. Finally, there’s National Peanut Day which is September 13 this year. I don’t know if any other food or category has three national food holidays on the calendar.
I know I shared a lot of information on peanut butter in the easy peanut butter pancakes recipe. So, I won’t bore you again with the same information. But I will chime in about the man that made the peanut butter that we know and love today. Because it’s interesting.
Joseph Rosefield invented the process to keep the peanut solids from separating from the peanut oils. Thus, creating the peanut butter we’ve all grown to love. Through homogenization, the peanut are forced through small openings thus making all the particles the same size which allows the meat and the oils to stay together. We do the same thing to milk to prevent the cream from separating.
He patented this method and then sold it to the company that produced Peter Pan peanut butter. Later Rosenfield decided to go into business for himself and started selling Skippy peanut butter. He was also responsible for peanut butter being in military rations during World War II.
I told you the story of Peanut Butter was interesting!
I had two nicknames growing up. My family either called me Garfield of Monkey. Not because I climbed all over everything. Oh no. It’s because I loved bananas. And not just bananas, but banana with peanut butter. Between two slices of bread. Yes, it’s my fave sandwich of ALL TIME!!
During WWII, peanut butter was also called monkey butter.
Yeah, I’m not seeing it either. But the story goes that a monkey visited the lab a Kellogg’s and dipped his banana in a jar of peanut butter and ate it. That’s how the epic combination came into being. And gained popularity! It was part of the favorite sandwich of Elvis Presley. His was more of a grilled PB&B sandwich which I have never tried. At most I’ve toasted the bread slightly, but never made it into a grilled sandwich. Maybe I’ll have to try that someday.
Now, I know I’ve talked about how my parents made sure tasted everything at least once. Since our family was practically addicted to Asian food, it was a no brainer that we tried Thai food; in particular, satay. Do you remember the first time you had satay with peanut dipping sauce? I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but I do remember sitting there, grabbing the skewer, and apprehensively dipping my chicken into the satay sauce. And then thinking I’ve died and gone to heaven! Well, that is a little dramatic but for like a 12-year-old I sort of felt like that.
Yes, I know this isn’t a satay recipe. And, to be honest, I have no idea how peanut sauce is associated with Thai because from what I’m reading it’s more Malay and Indonesia. It’s probably an Americanized version of a peanut sauce. Either way, it’s a delicious sauce to use with satay and this peanut butter broccoli with noodles. I blanched broccoli in recipes like that one.
Dan dan noodles are also inspiration for this dish. How so you ask? Well, they have tahini in them. It sort of tastes like peanut butter if you don’t know exactly what it is. And that 12 year old me didn’t know that sesame seeds had a paste called tahini.
Funny story. When I make stir-fry, sometimes I combine cornstarch and soy sauce together as part of the marinade. I just remember Martin Yan doing that and figured it served a purpose. One day I was making a stir-fry with a peanut sauce and the hubs says to me, “Why are you adding peanut butter to the sauce. Isn’t it marinating with the beef?” Um, no, hun sorry. That’s not peanut butter. It’s cornstarch and soy sauce. It just looks like peanut butter.
This dish is super simple to make. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you should have everything I your pantry right now. And the vegetables aren’t something out of the norm. You should have those hanging out in your fridge. And you can easily swap out chicken with pork or beef or even shrimp in this recipe. It’s really just a template for you to customize this recipe for your family.
The vegetables don’t take long to chop up, but you can easily prepare those head of time and store in a container. You can also chop up the meat and have it sitting in the soy sauce overnight. And the sauce can be whipped up and store in the fridge, too.
Soak the ramen in hot water for quick cooking.
My mind was blown when I read that in a recipe for a ramen stir-fry. Just like soaking rice noodles before you cook them, it helps the ramen to cook quickly. And I mean quickly! These noodles, after soaking, take about 5 to 10 minutes to cook. You should stir and check them often so they’re not overcooked.
And the sauce not only gets absorbed into the noodles but thickens making the peanut sauce that much more delicious. You can see it coating the noodles and chicken on top of the ramen in the photo right there. I’m totally drooling. This is such a good recipe.
What’s even better is you can serve this Thai peanut chicken ramen hot or cold.
I’m serious. I took this out of the fridge the next day and had a little nibble to tide me over to dinner. It tastes slightly different but it’s super delicious! I imagine making this for a delicious potluck lunch or dinner as a cold noodle salad. Yum! Or even pack it for a picnic. Oh yeah! That would be delicious. You could even skip the chicken and bring along some satay chicken, pork, or beef, or even some Asian chicken wings. Is it lunch time?
After reading the recipe and the rest of the recipes from the group today, I have a list of stir-fry recipes and a list of peanut butter recipes for you to check out.
Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen
Instant ramen turns into a deliciously easy weeknight meal. Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen is packed with vegetables, peanut butter, and delicious Asian flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast
- 9 ounces instant ramen
- 3/4 cup no sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons low sodium tamari soy sauce, divided
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger, divided
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic, divided
- Pinch crushed red pepper
- 4 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
- 2 cups thinly sliced celery
- 2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced bell peppers
- 1 cup thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breast into bite sized pieces, about 1-inch pieces. Toss the chicken with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and sesame seed oil and one teaspoon each minced ginger and minced garlic. Set aside.
- Combine the chicken stock with the peanut butter, rice vinegar, remaining soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic and the crushed red pepper. Stir with a whisk until the peanut butter is dissolved into the broth.
- Remove the ramen from the package (I break them into large pieces to make them easier to eat). Place the ramen in a mixing bowl full of hot tap water. Set aside to soak 10 minutes.
- Heat a large skillet over high heat. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and swirl to coat.
- Add the celery, red cabbage, and bell peppers and sauté 3 to 4 minutes or until crisp tender. Remove the vegetables from the pan and keep warm.
- Swirl the remaining vegetable oil into the pan and brown the chicken on all sides.
- Return the vegetables to the pan.
- Drain the noodles and stir into the pan along with the broth mixture.
- Bring to a boil and them simmer until the noodles are cooked through; about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Garnish with the green onions and serve.
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 334Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 74mgSodium 658mgCarbohydrates 15gFiber 4gSugar 4gProtein 33g
Peanut Butter Lovers Day
- Best Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake by Red Cottage Chronicles
- Dan Dan Noodles with Beef by Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Easy Thai Peanut Soup by Art of Natural Living
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Peanut Butter Babka by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Peanut Butter Blondies by Books n’ Cooks
- Rich and Creamy Microwave Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Fudge by That Recipe
- Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
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This looks like an amazing weeknight meal! I love the combination of the peanut with the noodles and the chicken! Yum!
Thanks! I’m a total peanut butter hoor and try to use it in dishes all the time.
Elvis’ cook used a stick of butter to make his grilled pb and banana tried. I have made it once, deliciously decadent.
As for the ramen recipe, YUM! My husband has been on a ramen kick lately, just the noodles without the seasoning pack (or two packs of noodles and one seasoning. I bet he would love it if I made this instead.
That’s sort of how I make them, but then I drain the noodles and toss them with soy and sesame oil for a quick lunch.
What a delicious way to dress up instant ramen noodles! P.S. I felt the same way the first time I tried satay!
Thank you!
Peanut Butter and Banana toast is still my favorite breakfast. This ramen may become a new family favorite too.
I hope you like it!