Asian Chicken Bowls
Moist chicken in a shimmering sweet and savory glaze, nestled over fluffy, cilantro-scented rice. The sauce is a delicious balancing act of salty, sweet, and fiery, and it’s made with 3 ingredients.
You will be amazed by the amount of flavor in this sauce! It’s sweet from hoisin sauce, salty from soy sauce, and fiery from sambal oelek, a thick paste of crushed red chili peppers, vinegar, and salt. Sambal oelek is like chili garlic sauce, but there’s no garlic. It’s chunkier than sriracha, less vinegary, and has no sugar. It’s the perfect marriage of tangy and spicy. Look for sambal oelek next to the sriracha sauce and chili garlic sauce in the Asian food aisle of the grocery store. If you don’t have sambal oelek, you can sub chili garlic sauce or sriracha.
Here’s how to make these easy Asian chicken bowls
- Cook rice according to the package directions, adding some dried cilantro for flavor.
- While the rice cooks, sauté the chicken in a pan.
- Add onion and cook until soft.
- Add hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sambal oelek and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Spoon the chicken and finger-lickin’ sauce over the aromatic rice and serve with a pile of fresh cilantro leaves.
I love adding a handful of fresh cilantro leaves in dishes like this. Sure, you can chop the leaves, but for bowls, there’s something about a pile of aromatic cilantro that makes the dish more special. If you’re not a cilantro fan, you can do the same with fresh basil, Thai basil, or parsley.
This gluten-free dish is ultra-healthy. There’s practically zero fat (we only need 1 tablespoon of oil for the whole meal), and the chicken is an excellent source of lean protein. I called for white rice for this dish, but you can use brown rice or your favorite rice blend.
Are these Asian chicken bowls spicy? Only if you want them to be. If you’re unsure about the sambal oelek, give it a little taste before adding it to the sauce. That way, you can adjust the amount you use.
Use whatever cut of chicken you have. I had boneless skinless chicken breasts in the freezer, so I thawed them for this dish. You can also use chicken breast tenders or chicken thighs.
Asian Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup long grain white rice, or rice of choice
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, tenders, or thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1/3 cup chopped onion, white or yellow
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek, or chili garlic sauce, or sriracha hot sauce, or more/less to taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh cilantro leaves for serving
Equipment
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the package directions, adding the cilantro at the beginning of the cooking process.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft.
- Add the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and sambal oelek and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Spoon the chicken mixture over the rice and arrange the cilantro leaves alongside.