Simple Peanut Chicken Spring Roll Bowls with extra peanut dressing. This loaded spring vegetable-filled salad bowl is a mix of greens, carrots, cucumbers, rice noodles, and chicken. Add some heat with our favorite spicy peanut dressing. Essentially, it’s a spring roll made easier for busy weeknights!
It’s not a secret that the thing I’m most thankful for in life is my family. Of course, for all the obvious reasons, but also for the inspiration they provide me every day. The fact that my family is so large means that even on my least creative days, someone is always there to inspire a new recipe. Always. It could be a brother, mom, dad, cousin, aunt, or uncle, but the family is always there for me and the ideas are endless.
A couple of weeks ago my cousin Matt and his wife, Caroline, sent me videos of the spring rolls they were making for dinner. The rolls looked “bangin” as my cousin Abby would say. But the rolling process wasn’t going so well for them. And let’s be honest, we all know that the rolling process can take some time.
Regardless, I wanted to make spring rolls the second I saw their videos.
I wanted to make spring rolls…but I didn’t want to put in all the effort. I’ve been very into my bowl-style recipes lately, so I decided to make a spring roll salad. Every element of spring packed into a bowl and served with extra dressing.
details
If you have everything precooked this is one of my easier, quicker recipes. It calls for already cooked shredded chicken and rice noodles.
If you don’t have shredded chicken on hand, not a big deal. I’ll often roast up chicken breasts with tamari, honey, and sesame oil until they’re cooked, then shred the chicken. This gives you a little more flavor on the chicken itself.
For the noodles, vermicelli rice noodles work best. They take just minutes to cook in boiling water and work wonderfully with the mix of freshly chopped ingredients in this salad bowl.
All the chopped veggies get tossed up in a bowl with fresh diced mango (don’t skip!) and the peanut dressing.
For the dressing, it’s peanut butter (I use natural, no added sugars or oils), tamari, sesame oil (use toasted sesame oil for the very best flavor), vinegar, chili sauce, honey, and lime. You could mix this all in a bowl, but I think it’s easier and quicker to just throw everything into the food processor and blend until smooth.
assemble
There’s nothing fancy to this. The salad goes into bowls, then I add the noodles and chicken and finish with avocado. I then add lots of extra dressing over top.
Here’s my little tip, I like to cut the noodles up into the bowls using scissors. You might think that’s odd, but trust me, it works so well. And if you have kids, they’ll think it’s pretty cool.
The noodles, the salad, and then most importantly, the dressing. Together they create that “something special” combination that makes this fresh spring recipe so good.
The dressing is spicy, tangy, and very peanutty – so all of my favorite things. Honestly, it’s addicting and can be used in many other recipes. The added bonus is that everything in this salad bowl keeps really well. It’s great for meal prep and leftover lunch the following day.
Looking for other fresh recipes? Here are my favorites:
Lastly, if you make these Peanut Chicken Spring Roll Bowls, 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!