Saucy Peanut Ginger Chicken Meatball Bowls
Whenever I’m in the mood to order takeout, it’s because I want a delicious bowl with grains, veggies, protein, and a really good sauce. So, when I started making these saucy peanut ginger chicken meatball bowls, I realized they check all of those boxes plus I don’t have to waste time and money. This recipe is highly customizable and perfect for a nourishing but comforting meal. This one is from my February 2024 grocery series where I turned a $60 grocery haul into five meals, and I already know it’s going to be a repeat recipe in my house!
Saucy Peanut Ginger Chicken Meatball Bowls
4
servings30
minutes45
minutesWhenever I’m in the mood to order takeout, it’s because I want a delicious bowl with grains, veggies, protein, and a really good sauce. So, when I started making these saucy peanut ginger chicken meatball bowls, I realized they check all of those boxes plus I don’t have to waste time and money. This recipe is highly customizable and perfect for a nourishing but comforting meal. This one is from my February 2024 grocery series where I turned a grocery haul into five meals, and I already know it’s going to be a repeat recipe in my house!
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Ingredients
- QUICK PICKLED VEGGIES
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple cider or white vinegar + up to 1 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
- SWEET POTATOES
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1/2” cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
- CHICKEN MEATBALLS
1 pound ground chicken
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger (reduce to 1 teaspoon or omit based on preference)
- PEANUT SAUCE
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup coconut aminos (or reduced sodium soy sauce)
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup warm water
- FOR SERVING
1 cup dry brown rice
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro (about 1/3 of a bunch)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Prepare the pickled veggies: Add the carrots, cucumbers, salt, vinegar, and water to a large jar or a bowl, cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving.
- Bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil and cook the brown rice until all liquid is absorbed, check package instructions for timing.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl toss the cubed sweet potatoes in the olive oil, salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and oregano until evenly coated. Transfer to the sheet pan in one even layer and bake until tender to a fork, 20-30 minutes.
- While the potatoes bake, make the meatballs: combine the ground chicken, salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and ground ginger in a large bowl. Shape into 15-20 evenly sized meatballs, and set aside on a clean plate.
- When the sweet potatoes are tender, remove from the oven and push them to one side of the sheet pan with a spatula. Add the meatballs to the other side and bake until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165F, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the peanut sauce: whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.
- To assemble the bowls, evenly divide the cooked rice, quick pickled veggies, sweet potatoes, and meatballs. Top with a generous drizzle of peanut sauce and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro.
Notes
- Storage: Refrigerate the vegetables, rice, sweet potatoes, meatballs, and sauce in separate sealed containers for up to 4 days – the sauce up to 7 days.
- Reheating: Microwave the meatballs, sweet potato, and rice until warm, about 2 minutes. Or air fry the meatballs and sweet potato at 350F until warm, about 5-7. minutes.
- If meal prepping: allow all components to cool down, then assemble the bowls in meal prep containers. Reheat, then drizzle with sauce before enjoying.
- Peanut Butter: Peanut butter consistency varies depending on what brand you use. Some may have more of a natural oil separation than others, or if you’re using a fresh jar, be aware of extra oil that will contribute to a thinner sauce. the natural oils or some oil separation (like from a fresh jar) that can contribute to a thinner sauce. If your peanut butter is on the runnier side, I would recommend adding the water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to thin it out, you don’t want a runny sauce, but should easily fall off a spoon. If your peanut butter contains salt, that can contribute to a saltier sauce, and you may want to reduce the amount of coconut aminos or soy sauce used.
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Wow, this is an amazing dish. So flavorful and a great blend of textures. The pickled veggies add such a refreshing kick. Def going to be making this on repeat. So satisfying – thanks Jenn for another winner!
Sooooo good! That sauce is divine. I used ginger paste from a tube as I didn’t have the ground type—in the same quantity—and it really worked for everything. I also used ground turkey because that’s what I had, and reduced the siracha to 1-1/2 tsp so we could enjoy it. And boy, just fabulous. Thank you!
Delicious! My husband and I both loved it. It’s super flavorful and has great textures. Plus, since there are only two of us, we have leftovers for lunch too!
I made this tonight and my husband and I loved it! And there is plenty more for us to have leftovers. The sauce and the pickled vegetables really pulled it together. I used the ground turkey and I used two different kinds of sweet potatoes and cut them very small. I will probably cut the pickled vegetables smaller next time but I definitely will make this again. Thanks!
It might have just been my family, but we found that having the ground ginger in both the meatballs and the sauce was overwhelming. Day 2 we ate the leftovers with a remade sauce, omitting the ginger from that part of the dish. So much better! I’ll probably try this again with just a little bit of fresh ginger in the meatballs.
I veganized this using a combo of Impossible meat and lentils for the meatballs and loved it! I do agree that the ginger could be toned down a bit but it was delicious regardless and perfect for meal prep
What can you sub peanut butter for if you have a peanut allergy? Would Tahini be okay?
The chicken meatballs are great and we’ll definitely make again but WOW is the peanut sauce an absolute BANGER of a recipe. It’s too good! I want to put it on everything!
LOVED this recipe – a knockout combination of flavors and textures. I appreciate any time a recipe developer encourages using less dishes, so cooking the sweet potatoes and meatballs using the same sheet pan was another bonus for me!
This was amazing!!! Had it this week and loved it. Since we’d made the Crispy Quinoa Edamame Salad earlier in the week and it had a similar dressing (which we had leftovers of), we just used that leftover dressing and added the sriracha, a little maple syrup and some water to thin it out. Will definitely be making this again!
Such a great easy dinner recipe! I made it even faster (read: lazy) by using the precooked TJs chicken meatballs and frozen brown rice. This is a keeper!
Such a delicious mix of flavors and textures! My whole family loved this recipe. I added some bell pepper to the pickled veggies and then fresh squeezed lime to top the dish. SO good!
My husband and I loved this recipe! Just made it for the first time tonight and we’ll definitely be making it again. I used cooked chicken breast and cut them into bite size pieces instead of ground chicken for meatballs – just used the same spices, and wow, it was fantastic.
Loved this recipe! I’m a big fan of this whole series but this has been a standout for sure. I’m a huge ginger fan so I loved the amount included in the recipe. Next time I might try it out with ground pork instead of chicken just because my meatballs came out a tad dry but still a hit!
I just made this for this week’s lunch and it’s so yummy! Everything works so well together and I made a fresh crisp cole slaw for an extra boost of veggies. I’m so glad I found this blog! Thanks for a great recipe and series! 🙂
Instead of nut butters, I use sunflower butter or tahini. Sometimes tahini is too bitter for me. Some brands are more bitter than others.
omg this was so good! We just diced chicken breast instead of making chicken-meatballs and it was phenomenal. Made no changes and will make again!
Delish! Recipe says 15min for the chicken meatballs, but they definitely needed more like 25. Chopping and peeling veggies took a while too. In the future, would peel/chop potatoes ahead of time and maybe use frozen precooked turkey meatballs to make things faster. However dish was GREAT
Omg!!! You have introduced me to the world of tofu and I’m never going back! This was my first time cooking it and this recipe was so easy to follow and my picky family ALL LOVED IT! This is a new staple in our home!
Love this recipe! I’ve made it a few times now and it’s so yummy! Do you have the nutritional information by chance?! I’m trying my best to add it into myfitnesspal and having a hard time making sure I have the correct servings, etc. Nutritional gestimations on your recipes would be so helpful!
This was so good! I unfortunately cooked my chicken for a little too long, so my meatballs were on the dryer side but next time I think I’ll do them for like 10 minutes instead of 15. it wasn’t a recipe issue just an oven issue, but this was a really good and I love the peanut sauce!
Loved this recipe! This was a perfect weeknight meal for our family and great for baby led weaning with my 9 month old! Super yummy sauce!
I used natural creamy butter for the sauce and the consistency was too thin with the 1/4 cup of water, so I ended up adding more PB. Is it because I used natural? I also thought it was a bit too salty with the 1/4 cup of coconut aminos, so I think I’ll reduce that in the future. Mostly wanted thoughts on the peanut sauce taste/consistency.
Hi Rachel! Great question, peanut butters can vary so much depending on what brand you use, and if they have the natural oils or some oil separation (like from a fresh jar) that can contribute to a thinner sauce. If your peanut butter has salt in it that can contribute to a saltier flavor as well. If your peanut butter is on the runnier side, I would recommend adding the water 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to thin it out, you don’t want a runny sauce, but should easily fall off a spoon! I’ve updated the recipe notes to include these notes in case others have similar experiences!
I found this in the prep series. I have already made this and the quinoa salad that was shared the same week three times. They were instant favorites in my house. The two sauces were very similar, so we alternated between the sauce in the recipe, and a salsa verde as a dressing for the quinoa edamame salad.
This sauce is SO yummy! I made this with ground turkey and skipped the pickled veggies because I was feeling lazy lol but it turned out really good! Will def make again (:
OMG this is SO good. holy S. Will be making this again ASAP