Looking for a healthy bowl recipe? Try Sesame Chicken Noodles today

Martha M. Henze, MPH, MS, RDN - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Global Public Health Epidemiologist

Do you like eating healthy bowls in restaurants but have never tried to make one at home? Try this healthy bowl recipe for Sesame Chicken Noodles. You can easily make nutritious bowls at home for less than half the price. Try this delicious recipe to boost your confidence.

Whenever I eat at a restaurant that serves healthy bowls that pull all the healthy ingredients together, I think to myself, I could do this at home. Why don't I?

Sesame Chicken Noodles - A Delicious Healthy Bowl Recipe

Making this Sesame Chicken Noodles recipe, with pre-cooked chicken, showed me how quick and easy making bowls at home can be. Enjoying it motivated me even more to experiment with other ingredients I already had at home.

Use this recipe as a springboard to other healthy bowl recipes and experiment with different grains as the base, such as quinoa or brown rice, different protein sources, such as beef, tofu, beans or pork, and different sauces depending on what you have on hand in the kitchen.

Are soba noodles healthy?

The noodles in this Sesame Chicken Noodle recipe are soba noodles.

First of all, what are soba noodles?

In the Japanese language, the name soba means buckwheat. As the name implies, authentic soba noodles are made from 100% buckwheat flour. However, the grain buckwheat can be challenging to work with so often soba noodles are made with a mixture of wheat flour and buckwheat flour. Therefore, if you need to eat gluten free it is important to read the ingredients on the label of your soba noodles to see if they are truly "juwari soba noodles" which means they are made from 100% buckwheat.

Where do you find soba noodles?

Soba noodles are generally found in the Asian section of your local grocery store, though you can order them online or find them in health food stores as well.

In terms of the nutritional content of soba noodles, they are very similar to 100% whole wheat noodles, particularly in terms of calories, protein, fiber and iron. However, because buckwheat contains high amounts of the amino acid lysine (a building block of protein) which is low in wheat flour, buckwheat is a particularly good grain for people who eat only plant-based foods.

Sesame Chicken Noodles

Time saving tip:
Use leftover cooked chicken or rotisserie chicken that has been diced, to speed up the prepping and cooking process.

Nutrition facts per serving (1 serving = 225 grams)
Calories: 300, 9.5 g fat, 34 g carbohydrate, 22 g protein, 0.8 g dietary fiber, 514 mg sodium

Ingredients:
• 8 oz. Japanese soba noodles, dry uncooked
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, reduced sodium
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped, raw
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoon chili paste or sambal oelek
• 2 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped or diced
• 1 cup cucumber with peel, thinly sliced into 1/16 inch slices
• 6 Tablespoons green spring onions or scallions, raw
• 1/4 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts, without salt

Procedure:
1. Cook soba noodles according to package directions. Be careful not to overcook. Usually instructions call to boil for only three minutes and then rinse with cold water to prevent overcooking
2. In a large bowl, mix soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, and chili paste.
3. Add cooked noodles, chicken and cucumber to the same large bowl and gently mix.
4. Add 1 cup of noodles mixture to each serving bowl, then top with 2 teaspoons of chopped peanuts and 1 Tablespoon of chopped green onion. Serve and enjoy!

This is one of hundreds of dietitian-approved recipes that are available with the Premium membership. If you want to add this recipe to your food diary, just type in "Noodles with Sesame Oil, Chicken & Cucumbers" as it is already entered for you.

Please share your favorite healthy bowl recipes.