I first found this recipe last year when I was preparing for deer season. I like to have some meals that I can just pop into the oven to re-heat and typically noodle based casseroles do that pretty well. But I wanted something new. Well, stir-fries are pretty popular when I make them for the hunting crew so we found this Spicy Asian Chicken and Noodle Casserole recipe online from Betty Crocker and doctored it up a bit – seriously you should see all the scribbles on the printout. I’m pretty sure if I didn’t tell you where the inspiration came from you’d never make the connection.
This turned out awesome – and when I tell you that, let me also tell you that the first time I ate it, it was reheated in the oven from frozen. That’s right it became a keeper without ever trying it fresh. A bottled thai peanut sauce was doctored up a little bit, tossed with some chicken, freshly sauted veggies, baked and topped with chopped peanuts and optionally chow mein noodles. It was a little spicy –but not too much, after all my dad aka Mr. Junior Mouthburner liked it.
Every time we’ve made this since that first time, we always eat a serving of it fresh and then freeze portions for later. It makes a great meal to heat up on a busy weeknight or after a long day in the stand at hunting camp.
Here’s what you need:
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook on a medium-high grill pan or grill for about 4 minutes per side until chicken reaches 165 degrees.
Cool the chicken and chop into bite sized chunks.
Prep the veggies – cut the tips of some sugar snap or snow peas, slice red peppers and onions, slice carrots on the diagonal and drain a can of water chestnuts.
Whisk together a bottle of Thai peanut sauce, I like Tsang’s Bangkok sauce, chicken broth, and some peanut butter. Taste and adjust. This brand of thai peanut sauce has a little kick, more peanut butter will tone it down. The ratio I use in this recipe is junior mouth burner approved as my dad loved this!
Chop up about a half cup of roasted peanuts.
Now it’s time to stir fry the veggies. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, heat about a tablespoon or so of oil in the pan. Add in the prepped veggies.
Stir fry until veggies are tender crisp and develop a little browning.
Turn heat down to medium. Add in the noodles – discarding any seasoning package that came with them.
Mix together noodles and veggies – check out that awesome char on that sugar snap pea in the bottom left, now that’s what I’m talking about.
Pour in the peanut sauce mixture.
And add the chicken.
Now stir this all together, allow to cook for a couple minutes until the sauce and chicken are heated through.
Serve with some roughly chopped peanuts.
Now here’s the best part – leftovers! Make an entire batch of this recipe even if you only are feeding one or two. Save any leftovers you want to eat over the next week in the fridge, but then divide the rest among disposable aluminum pans. A bread pan is the perfect size for two. Cover with aluminum foil. Place chopped peanuts in a plastic zip top bag and place on top of aluminum foil, top with another layer of foil.
To reheat. Thaw in the fridge overnight. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of you pan.
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can sliced waterchestnuts
- snowpeas, ends trimmed, about 1 cup
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips (any color works)
- 1 red onion, sliced into strips
- baby carrots, sliced into rounds, about 1 cup
- 2 packages (about 7 oz) refrigerated, cooked stir fry noodles
- 1 - 11.5 oz bottle Tsang Bangkok Peanut Sauce (or other Thai peanut sauce)
- 1 to 1⅓ c low sodium chicken broth (to taste)
- 7 T peanut butter
- ¼ c chopped peanuts
- Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook on a medium-high grill pan or grill for 4 minutes per side until the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- Allow the chicken to cool. Chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Whisk together Thai peanut sauce, Bangkok sauce, chicken broth, and peanut butter. Taste and adjust - more peanut butter will cut any heat in the Bangkok sauce.
- Heat a large saute pan over high heat and add about a Tablespoon vegetable until it's shimmering. Add the veggies - waterchestnuts, snow peas, bell pepper, onion and carrots - to the pan. Stir fry veggies until they are tender crisp and develop a little browning.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add in the noodles, discarding any seasoning package if it came with the noodles. Mix together noodles & veggies.
- Pour over the peanut sauce mixture.
- Add the chicken.
- Stir together and allow to cook a couple minutes to heat through.
- Serve with chopped peanuts on top.
- To Freeze: Stop before adding peanuts. Transfer to a freezer to oven container (I love disposable aluminum pans), cover with tinfoil. I like to add the peanuts in a small plastic bag and cover with another layer of tinfoil to keep it all together.
- Thaw in the fridge overnight. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your pan.
Why did you salute the veggies? ☺
Well either I was really happy that I was putting so many veggies in this so we get fresh food at deer camp, or I need a new proofreader :).