So, I’ve never done this before, but I’m taking another food blogger’s recipe and, well, fixing it. Let me back up, though. Last year, a very well known food blogger posted a Thai peanut chicken recipe that sounded really good, so I was like, let’s do that for dinner! Well, I will say it was “okay,” but at the same time, it was kind of disgusting. Said blogger used half a cup of peanut butter in the sauce, add nothing to sweeten the dish to balance out the flavors, and it was super liquidy. I mean, super liquidy!
All in all, it was almost like peanut butter soup poured over steamed rice 🤢. After dinner, I looked at the recipe again and immediately started noting where this person majorly went wrong. And, I’ve been mulling over whether or not to post my “corrected” version because I don’t want to start a food blogger war. Well, that does actually sound intriguing… what would a food blogger war look like? Could it be done without truly turning nasty? Hmmm 🤔
Anywho, I am not naming the food blogger because I’m not looking to start a war. I just really wanted to share a recipe that had so much potential but fell, and fell hard. So, what did I change?
First, the original recipe called for 4 tablespoons of red curry paste. And while red curry paste is one of the milder curries, unless you really like HOT food, it’s way too much curry. I swapped it out for 1 tablespoon of red curry and 1 tablespoon of sriracha, and even that is spicy, so feel free to cut back on or omit the sriracha!
I added onions, garlic, and fresh ginger to the dish. Fresh is generally better than dried seasoning. I cut back on the peanut butter by at least half, recommending 3 to 4 tablespoons rather than half a cup! And, I added honey to the sauce, which helped blend the flavors from the peanut butter to the spiciness all together. Honey was an absolute must add!
Also, before adding the soy sauce, I whisked it together with some cornstarch to help thicken up the sauce. Rather than topping this over steamed rice, I opted to toss this together with rice noodles. If you prefer rice, you do you!
I kept the original recipe’s mango salsa. I’ll say that the spicy sweetness of a fruit salsa on many Asian dishes is absolutely delicious! I highly recommend trying it. It just gives the dish a nice dimension.
I do not plan to start “correcting” food blogger flubbed recipes… unless I start getting requests 😂. But I just knew this dish had so much potential, and I was so disappointed with how horribly the original recipe failed!
Let me know what you think! Did I fail?? Or did I succeed in bringing life to this recipe?
Enjoy!
Thai Peanut Chicken Rice Noodles with Spicy Mango Salsa
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- Category: Asian, Thai
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
Rice Noodles
1½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
½ sweet onion, finely diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1” ginger, minced
2 TBs olive oil
1 TB Thai red curry paste
1 TB sriracha
¼ cup honey
1 can low fat coconut milk
¼ cup soy sauce
2 TBs fish sauce
2 TBs cornstarch
3 – 4 TBs peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
1 lime, juiced
½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
¼ cup basil, roughly chopped
8 oz Pad Thai rice noodles, cooked according to the directions & rinsed with cold water
Spicy Mango Salsa
1 mango, diced
1 jalapeño, deseeded if desired, minced
zest & juice of 1 lime
Instructions
Make the mango salad by combining the mango, jalapeño, lime zest, and lime juice in a bowl.
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Carefully swirl the oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken and cook, stirring often, until the outside are just cooked. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring often, until just starting to soften ~ about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant ~ about 30 seconds. Whisk together the soy sauce and the cornstarch until thoroughly mixed. Then add the red curry paste, sriracha, honey, coconut milk, soy sauce slurry, and fish sauce to the saucepan. Stir until thoroughly combined.
Return the chicken to the pan and stir to coat. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Let simmer 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in the peanut butter, lime juice, cilantro, and basil. Add the rice noodles and toss with tongs until coated and thoroughly combined. Let the noodles reheat for a minute before serving.
Dish the noodles and top with the salsa. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Keywords: pad thai, rice noodles, thai peanut chicken, thai peanut chicken with spicy lime mango, spicy lime mango, mango salsa
