30-Minute, One-Pot Thai Chicken Bowl with Sweet Potatoes & Rice

Anyone who has worked with me knows that I consider meal planning and prep one of the most important habits for living a healthy lifestyle, and accomplishing health goals. I typically do my meal planning on Tuesday or Wednesday as I pick up a few groceries Thursday for the weekend, and Sunday for the week.

This past weekend, I didn't have a meal planned for Sunday so I did a little searching, and found a recipe with Thai flavours and coconut milk (one of my favourite flavour combinations!). It's also one-pot and takes less than 30 minutes - this recipe checks all my boxes!

I adapted this recipe from Half-Baked Harvest (if you haven't started following Tieghan Gerard on Instagram yet, do so immediately. Her photos are super inspiring, and looking at them is like eating with your eyes. The photo above is courtesy of @halfbakedharvest). Happy meal planning and cooking!

30-Minute, One-Pot Thai Coconut Chicken Bowl with Sweet Potatoes & Rice

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds or 6 chicken thighs (replace with red lentils or chickpeas for vegetarian)

• 1 tbsp. Yellow curry powder

• 2 tsp. Ground ginger

• Salt and Pepper

• 2 tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil, divided

• 1 onion, finely diced

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp. Grated ginger

• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped plus more for serving

• 1-2 sweet potatoes, diced into large chunks

• 1 tbsp. Sesame oil (optional, can also just use more olive oil)

• 1-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk

• 2 tbsp. Fish sauce

• 1 cup frozen peas

• 1 bell pepper, cut into strips

• 1 tbsp. Honey or coconut sugar

• Juice of two limes

• 2 cups baby spinach

• ½ cup chopped peanuts or cashews

• 1 cup purple or brown rice, uncooked

• Hot sauce for serving (optional)

Method

1. Toss chicken thighs in 1 tbsp. Olive oil, season with curry powder and ground ginger. Toss to combine and marinate for at least 5 minutes, or longer in the fridge.

2. Heat remaining olive oil and sesame oil in a large Dutch oven or pot on medium heat. Sear chicken thighs until lightly browned on each side (about 1 minute per side).

3. Toss in onion, garlic, ginger and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper and saute for 3 minutes, then toss in the sweet potato.

4. Add 1 cup chicken stock, coconut milk and fish sauce. Bring mixture up to a high simmer, turn down to a low simmer, cover and cook for 20-30 minutes or until chicken and potatoes are cooked through.

5. While curry is simmering, cook the rice.

6. Toss in the peas and peppers in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Add more stock if sauce is too thick.

7. Remove from heat, and stir in the honey, lime juice and spinach. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Serve warm over rice. Garnish with cilantro, cashews and hot sauce.