Next Post
Skillet Strawberry Bourbon Cobbler with Layered Cream Cheese Biscuits.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Weeknight style Thai Black Pepper Chicken and Garlic Noodles. The super fast Thai chicken noodle bowl that looks like takeout, but tastes so much better…and it’s healthier too! Quick-cooking chicken tossed in a sweet, tangy, and spicy Thai style black pepper sauce with plenty of broccoli, cashews, and basil. Serve this chicken over saucy garlic butter rice noodles and top with extra lime juice. Every bite is saucy, sweet, spicy, and hinted with basil. It’s delicious and healthy. Major bonus? This comes together in no time at all (under 30 minutes). Perfect for busy weeknights when you’re looking for something a little more special, but still quick, healthy-ish, and DELICIOUS.
Making Monday night Thai inspired food a thing and so happy about it. I’ve been saying this for weeks, but all I’m craving right now is colorful food, anything fun, and anything different. Any kind of recipe that I haven’t made before. With life in quarantine being much the same every day, I’m thankful to have food as an outlet for spontaneity. Just something different to break up the days, you know?
So yeah, long story short, I’m switching up recipes these days. I’ve made things like a whipped coffee white Russian, Mexican taquitos, and Italian style ravioli. I even ventured towards Cuban with my skillet cheesy Cuban chicken and rice bake and creamy coconut lime mojitos.
Cooking has been the only thing keeping me sane. What’s helping you guys?
Anyway, today we’re stepping into some quick-cooking Thai cuisine, and it’s truly my favorite kind of food.
The inspiration.
I’ve had this dish in mind for a while now. My oldest brother Creighton is here and this week he pushed me to finally create the recipe. He’s been asking for some new quick-cooking Thai inspired chicken dishes, so I obviously had to deliver up something good.
Enter this under 30-minute Thai black pepper chicken. It’s not super traditional, but it was inspired by black pepper chicken. Which customarily, is a mix of chili peppers, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and plenty of black pepper. My take has all these flavors too…but also some additional ones as well.
It’s saucy, spicy, sweet, a touch salty, and just about as delicious as a quick-cooking Thai chicken dinner can get. I really can’t say enough good things about this recipe. It’s one of those dishes that will become a monthly staple.
Why? Well, it’s simple, it’s quick, it’s pretty healthy, and it’s a dinner that most everyone can really enjoy.
The process.
First up, toss the chicken with a little cornstarch, turmeric, and ginger. Tossing the chicken with cornstarch allows it to get extra crispy and caramelize while cooking.
Now make the sauce. It’s simply, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and plenty of chili flakes, plus black pepper.
Pan-fry the chicken in a little oil until it is crisp. Add plenty of broccoli, a handful of cashews. Then pour over the sauce and let it simmer down and thicken over the chicken and broccoli.
As the chicken is cooking, boil some rice noodles and toss them in a hot pan full of butter and garlic. Yes, noodles, butter, and garlic…but then add a touch of coconut milk for a little more sauce and additional creaminess. SO GOOD.
By the time the noodles have cooked, the chicken should be done as well. Now, put it all together…
Spoon the noodles plus the sauce into bowls, then add the chicken and broccoli. Finish each bowl off with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and fresh basil or cilantro.
Enjoy. Immediately.
Yes, this is that simple and that quick-cooking. Honestly, this will take you no more than thirty minutes to make and uses a good amount of pantry staples too!
Notes and substitutions…
For the broccoli, while I love it with this dish, you can really use whatever vegetable you have on hand. Bell peppers would be my top pick, then asparagus, but you could also use mushrooms, bok choy, carrots. Really, use whatever you’ve got.
Now, let’s talk about the noodles. I like to use vermicelli rice noodles, but you could use any variety of rice noodles or even angel hair pasta. The noodles are meant to be saucy, so once you toss them with the garlic butter sauce, make sure to serve right away.
And you guys…that’s it. Takes less than 30 minutes to make and it’s not only delicious but fun too. We might not be able to travel around the world right now, but at least we can create fun ethnic-inspired recipes at home any night of the week.
I’m all about that. So, Monday night Thai food?
Watch the How To Video:
Lastly, if you make this Thai black pepper chicken and garlic noodles, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Thai Black Pepper Chicken and Garlic Noodles
Servings: 4
Calories Per Serving: 823 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons corn starch or flour
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1-2 teaspoons black pepper, using more or less to your taste
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces rice noodles
- 2 medium shallots, sliced or chopped
- 2 small heads broccoli, chopped
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 cup fresh basil or cilantro, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped or grated
- 1/3 cup canned coconut milk
Instructions
- 1. In a medium bowl, toss together the chicken, cornstarch, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and 1 tablespoon oil.2. In a glass jar, combine the honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, and 1/4 cup water. 3. Cook rice noodles according to packaged directions. 4. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the chicken and brown all over, until it becomes crispy, about 5 minutes. Add the shallots, broccoli, and cashews, cook another 2-3 minutes, until the broccoli is charring. Pour in the honey/soy sauce mix. Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until the sauce coats the chicken, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime zest, lime juice, and the basil.5. Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the butter, garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes, if desired. Cook until the garlic begins to caramelize and turn light golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, cooking 3-5 minutes, until warmed through. Remove from the heat and toss the noodles with the sauce. 6. To serve, divide the noodles among bowls and top with chicken. Serve with additional basil and limes. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on April 20, 2020
Absolutely delicious! It did take closer to 40min with chopping all the vegetables (I like to set up an organized mise en place) but it was totally worth it. Definitely going on the regular rotation!
Thank you so much Veronica!! I am so glad you loved this! xTieghan
Do you think this would work well with ground chicken?
Hey Stephanie,
Yes you could use ground chicken for this recipe! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
So I made these tonight and we loved them! The only issue I ran into was my noodles. Not sure if I cooked the rice noodles wrong or what but it was basically just a meshed up block of noodles at the end. Still delish though!
Thank you so much Maeghen!! I am so glad this turned out so well for you! Please let me know if I can help with the noodles! xTieghan
I make your recipes at least 3x a week and this one is my new favorite (although they’re all great). So good!
Thank you so much Val! xTieghan
I adore this recipe. But the calorie count is wayyy off. Three Tbsp oil and three Tbsp butter on top of noodles, chicken and everything else…
Hi Lindsay! Really sorry about that. I will recheck it! xTieghan
This just became a new family favorite! The flavors in this are so amazing and delicious! It is a quick and easy weeknight meal!
Thank you so much Kristen! xTieghan
First bite blew me away! Yum!
Thank you Julie! xTieghan
I made this for dinner tonight but inhaled it too quickly for a picture!! Used pine nuts as they were on hand and topped with cucumber for freshness 🙂 seriously so tasty and the chicken came out wooonderful!! Thanks for this easy recipe ????
Thank you for trying this Sophie!! I am really glad you enjoyed! xTieghan
WoW ! I just try this reciepe and it’s so good, perfectly spicy and soooo tasty!! We really love your reciepes, it’s always a succes at home !! Thank you
Thank you so much Carolyn! xTieghan
Tieghan this is so good girl! I made it tonight but subbed rice and Spicy Honey for an extra kick! I’m adding this one to my make again collection! Thanks girl for another meal that’s out of the park!
Thank you Tiara!! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
This recipe was FANTASTIC. Maybe a dumb question, but how do you make the chicken crispy? Mine wasn’t very crispy at all and when I added the sauce that all went out the window. No biggie because it was so delicious!
Hi Tanya,
Thanks so much for trying the recipe, I am so glad you enjoyed! I find that using a cast iron skillet is key when making the chicken crispy. I hope this helps! xTieghan
I made this for dinner last night, and I loved it! It‘s SO flavorful and super easy to make. Adding butter, garlic and coconut milk to the rice noodles was a wonderful touch. I’m already looking forward to making this recipe again!
Thank you so much Melaina! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
So delicious! Everyone loves this one!
Thank you so much Nicole! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan
Made this for dinner tonight. It got rave reviews all around. So flavorful. Definitely will make again and again!
Thank you so much Liz!! I am really happy to hear how well this turned out for you! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan!
Do you think tofu would work as a sub for the chicken? If it’s drained for a bit first? Mostly vegetarians in my fam so Instead of just passing over the recipes with chicken in the title, i try to use Some other plant based protein. Thank you for inspiring me!
Hi Wendy,
Yes tofu would be a great option! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan