Sweet Chili Chicken Rice Bowls
These sweet chili chicken rice bowls use every shortcut in the book, chicken tenders for quick cooking, frozen peppers for no prep and sweet chili sauce for instant flavor. A fast, saucy, family-friendly meal on the table in around 20 minutes.
Servings 4
Calories 644kcal
Ingredients
Rice
- 1.5 cups rice
- 3 cups water
Chicken
- 1.5 pounds chicken
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- ½ teaspoon salt
Veggies
- 14 oz frozen peppers 1 bag
- ½ teaspoon salt
Sweet Chili Sauce
- ¾ cup sweet chili sauce
- 6 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1.5 teaspoons arrowroot powder optional
- 2 teaspoons water optional
Instructions
- Rinse rice well. Add rice and water to instant pot and cook 3 minutes high pressure.1.5 cups rice, 3 cups water
- Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Cut chicken into cubes. Spray pan with avocado oil and add chicken, cook chicken, .2 tablespoons coconut aminos and ½ teaspoon salt, cook 7-8 minutes stirring occasionally.1.5 pounds chicken, 2 tablespoons coconut aminos, ½ teaspoon salt
- Remove chicken from skillet and add frozen peppers and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook 5-6 minutes until defrosted.14 oz frozen peppers, ½ teaspoon salt
- Combine ¾ cup sweet chili sauce and 6 tablespoons coconut aminos.¾ cup sweet chili sauce, 6 tablespoons coconut aminos
- Add chicken back to pan and pour sweet chili sauce over chicken and peppers.
- Optional: Make an arrowroot slurry - combine 1.5 teaspoons arrowroot and 1 tablespoon water. Stir with fork until fully dissolved. Pour into the pan and stir well.1.5 teaspoons arrowroot powder, 2 teaspoons water
- Cook 1-2 minutes then turn off heat.
- Serve over rice with optional green onion.
Notes
- Remove the tendon from chicken tenders. It takes an extra minute, but makes the chicken so much more enjoyable. I use the fork method: grip the white tendon with a paper towel, press a fork against the tender and pull. The tendon slides right out.
- Add arrowroot only if needed. Some sweet chili sauces are already thick. Pour the sauce over the chicken first, then decide if it needs thickening. Always dissolve arrowroot in cold water before adding it to the hot pan to avoid clumping.
- Swap bell peppers if needed. If you don’t have frozen bell peppers or don’t love them, use chopped frozen broccoli or frozen green beans. Both cook quickly and keep this recipe burnout-friendly.
- Use frozen or microwaveable rice for speed. If you don’t have an Instant Pot (or the energy to cook rice), microwave frozen jasmine rice to keep this meal under 15 minutes.
- If this recipe makes too much rice, freeze the leftovers to use in future recipes (I use Soupercubes for this).
Nutrition
Calories: 644kcal | Carbohydrates: 100g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 6g | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 23g
