Thai Chicken and Cabbage Bowls feature fresh vegetables like bell pepper, carrots, ginger and garlic, tender chicken breasts, and a delicious sauce to bring everything together. This delicious dinner recipe is the ideal clean eating meal, full of protein, carbs and fiber.
These Thai-Inspired Chicken and Cabbage Bowls are a riff on my Thai Turkey and Cabbage Bowls, which has been a much adored dinner recipe among my audience ever since I shared it.
Because the ground turkey version was a hit and is one of my personal favorites as well, I thought it wise to make a chicken version for those who prefer chicken over ground turkey.
After thoroughly testing both recipes, I couldn’t tell you which one I prefer! They are both very similar and also so delicious.
In addition to boasting amazing Thai curry flavors, these bowls are one of those macro friendly meals you’ll love putting on repeat.
They are easy to make and a lovely celebration of fresh produce. Clean eating at its finest!
All things considered, these bowls pack a nutritious punch! This high-protein dinner recipe is a great source of fiber, getting you a good portion of the dietary fiber you need for the day in one meal.
When broken into three servings, each bowl contains 513 calories, 17 grams of fat, 39 grams of total carbohydrates, 15 grams of fiber (and therefore 24 grams of net carbs), and 57 grams of protein.
Depending on your nutritional needs, you can play with the quantities of each ingredient to hit your target macronutrients.
Because there’s so much protein and fiber in each serving, this recipe is highly satiating, which is ideal for folks like me who really enjoy feeling full after dinner.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients in these highly satiating chicken and cabbage bowls.
Ingredients for Thai Chicken and Cabbage Bowls:
Avocado Oil: Pick a neutral oil for cooking, such as avocado oil or coconut oil. Olive oil works too but I prefer using avocado oil because it has a higher smoke point.
Vegetables: Yellow onion, green cabbage (red cabbage or napa cabbage works too), carrots, red bell peppers, fresh garlic cloves, fresh ginger, green onion.
You can swap out any of these vegetables for your favorite vegetables. Broccoli, cauliflower, bean sprouts, green beans, snap peas, bok choy, and zucchini are all great options.
Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs are chopped up and cooked into the mass of vegetables to add quality lean protein to the meal. You can also use ground chicken.
Thai Sauce Ingredients: Sunflower seed butter (or nut or seed butter of choice), liquid aminos (or soy sauce or coconut aminos), rice vinegar, and curry powder.
This combination of ingredients adds slightly sweet, creamy, umami, savory flavors to the meal. Add in 1 to 3 teaspoons of sriracha for some spice and increase the amount of any of the ingredients to bump up the flavor.
When combined, all of these ingredients come together in a blissful bowl of soft veggies and energizing protein with the tastiest Thai-inspired flavors.
There are plenty of ways you can change up this delicious healthy stir fry. Here are some options!
Recipe Adaptations:
- Use any type of nut butter or seed butter in place of sunflower seed butter in the sauce. Peanut butter will give you that classic Thai peanut sauce vibe, which is delicious! Almond butter, cashew butter, and tahini work too.
- Add ½ to 1 cup coconut milk (full-fat canned coconut milk recommended) to the sauce for a coconut curry vibe.
- Double the sauce if you like a lot of flavor and/or richness in your meals.
- Save some time by using leftover cooked chicken, shredded chicken, or rotisserie chicken instead of cooking raw boneless chicken breasts.
- If you have fish sauce on hand and you enjoy adding it to your Thai recipes, feel free to add 1 teaspoon of fish sauce.
- Serve the bowls with chopped fresh cilantro on top if you’re a cilantro lover.
- Replace the pure maple syrup in the sauce with brown sugar or sugar-free sweetener, or omit the sweetener altogether.
- Love sesame oil? Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil to the sauce if you’d like.
- Serve Thai chicken and cabbage over rice noodles or white rice for a great option for carb lovers.
- For spicy Thai food, add red pepper, red chili flakes, cayenne pepper or red chili paste to your personal spice level.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients, let’s make this healthy dinner recipe!
How to Make Thai Chicken and Cabbage:
Stir the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl until well-combined. Set aside until ready to use.
Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet (I recommend a 12-inch skillet with a deep lip) or thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven. Allow the oil to heat up for a minute or two, then add the chopped onion.
Sauté the onion for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it begins to soften.
Add the chopped cabbage and cover the pot or skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has wilted, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Stir in the grated carrot, bell pepper, ginger, and garlic.
Scoot the vegetables off to one side of the pot (or skillet) and add the chopped chicken. Allow the chicken to brown for 5 to 8 minutes, giving it a stir or two while keeping it separate from the vegetables.
After the chicken has browned, stir it into the vegetables.
Cover the pot and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the chicken has cooked through, about 8 to 15 minutes.
Add in the sauce and stir well until everything is coated with sauce. Stir in the green onions.
Taste the meal for flavor and add more liquid aminos (or soy sauce), vinegar, sea salt (or kosher salt), black pepper, etc. to your personal taste.
Serve Thai Chicken and cabbage in large bowls, and enjoy! I like serving the recipe with fresh lime wedges so I can drizzle a little fresh lime juice over everything. I also add a little extra liquid aminos to my bowl because I prefer my food on the saltier side.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
The way I prepare this recipe, the vegetables turn out very soft, which is my personal preference.
If you prefer your vegetables to be crunchy, prepare the recipe in the reverse order in the sense that you will cook the chicken first, then add in the vegetables and cook until they reach your desired level of doneness.
Meal Prep Tips:
- Chop all of the vegetables before you do anything else and keep them in separate bowls or one large bowl until you need them.
- The sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in a small bowl or jar until you need it.
- You can use a box grater or the shredder attachment of a food processor to quickly grate heads of cabbage.
- To save time, buy a bag of coleslaw mix (remember, you’ll need 6-8 cups of shredded cabbage, so depending on the size of the bag, you may need two) to eliminate the step of chopping the cabbage.
And that’s it! An easy weeknight meal that’s perfect for meal prep or whipping up at a moment’s notice.
Thai food lovers or anyone who enjoys Thai flavors is bound to love this great recipe.
If you enjoy healthy dinner recipes like this, also try out these delicious recipes that are designed to be served in big bowls.
More Bowl Recipes:
- Grilled Cuban Mojo Chicken Bowls
- Unstuffed Cabbage Bowls
- Salmon Power Bowls with Blueberry Salsa
- Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Turmeric Ginger Ground Turkey Bowls
- Ground Turkey Bowls with Cabbage Rice
- Korean Bulgogi and Rice Bowls
- Salmon Poke Bowls with Crab Salad
- Chicken Pad Thai
Enjoy a big bowl of meat and veggie bliss!
Thai Chicken and Cabbage Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion chopped
- 1 medium-sized head green cabbage thinly sliced*
- 1 large carrot grated
- 1 red bell pepper cut into matchsticks
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped into bite sizes
- 4 large cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger peeled and grated
- 5 stalks green onion chopped
- sea salt to taste
For the Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp sunflower seed butter or peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp liquid aminos**
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup optional
- 1 tsp curry powder
Instructions
- Heat the avocado oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet (I recommend a 12-inch skillet with a deep lip) or thick-bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven. Allow the oil to heat up for a minute or two, then add the chopped onion. Sauté the onion for 3 to 5 minutes, or until it begins to soften.
- Add the chopped cabbage and cover the pot or skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage has wilted, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in the grated carrot, bell pepper, ginger, and garlic.
- Scoot the vegetables off to one side of the pot (or skillet) and add the chopped chicken. Allow the chicken to brown for 5 to 8 minutes, giving it a stir or two while keeping it separate from the vegetables. After the chicken has browned, stir it into the vegetables.
- Cover the pot and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the chicken has cooked through, about 8 to 15 minutes.
- Add in the sauce and stir well until everything is coated with sauce. Stir in the green onions.
- Taste the meal for flavor and add more liquid aminos (or soy sauce), vinegar, sea salt (or kosher salt), black pepper, etc. to your personal taste.
- Serve Thai Chicken and cabbage in large bowls, and enjoy! I like serving the recipe with fresh lime wedges so I can drizzle a little fresh lime juice over everything. I also add a little extra liquid aminos to my bowl.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
Chicken and cabbage was about all I had in my fridge. BOR-ing! I’m so glad I found this recipe — it was pretty quick, I had all ingredients on hand except maple syrup. I used 1/2 t of mango syrup (like for coffee) instead. It was so yummy that we all had seconds.
Right?! It can be difficult to make chicken and cabbage interesting, but a little sauce magic really transforms the experience. Happy you enjoyed it, Alice! Thanks so much for sharing!
This is a major hit major keeper!!!
Aww I’m so happy to hear you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for the feedback, Heidi!
I made this tonight! I was looking for recipes so that I could use the half cabbage I had in the fridge and thought I’d try something different. This recipe is a keeper. There’s a variety of lovely textures of the vegetables (some soft, some crunchy) and the sauce is full of flavour without it being too strong. I substituted the fresh ginger for powdered and it worked out fine. Absolutely delicious and I look forward to making it again. The quantity it makes allows for leftovers too (I imagine the next day it will taste even better)! Thank you for such a great recipe.
My pleasure, Vanessa! Thanks so much for sharing your experience! I’m thrilled your enjoyed it 🙂
I had 1/2 cabbage left from another meal and was looking for something different to make. I came across your recipe and had everything I needed to make it. My husband and I ate it for supper tonight. I was delicious! One recipe makes 2 meals for us. I plan to freeze the remainder for a night I don’t feel like cooking. Thanks for the recipe. We will definitely make it again.
Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing that, Barbara! Gotta love it when you happen to have what you need to whip up a quick meal. I’m thrilled you and your husband enjoyed it! xo
This recipe looked so tasty but we couldn’t wait to have all the ingredients as listed. Still turned out great! We ended up having 1/2 the cabbage so we replaced with some of the other veg and extra chicken and used the Thai curry paste in a tin we had left from another meal. All the other ingredients were available. The family is excited to try the recipe as written next week, so we’ll pick up everything with our next shopping. Can’t wait!
Aww I love hearing that, Kelli! I’m glad you were able to make it work with what you had on hand. Thanks so much for the sweet note! xo
The entire family loved it….from 2yrs old to 74! Definitely making again. Thank you!
Aww I love hearing that, Martina!! Thanks so much for the sweet note! xo
Amazing!!! 39 carbs with no rice! This I will have to try. The flavors look like something we would love. Having difficulty to adjust to husbands diabetes and carb watching. I am guessing perhaps it comes from the maple syrup. so perhaps i will half the ms. Love your recipes
Hi Jeannie! Some of the carbs come from the pure maple syrup but believe it or not there are a decent amount of carbs in cabbage. Because there is also a fair amount of fiber, the net carbs pencils out favorably 🙂 Hope you and your husband enjoy the recipe! xo
Hello! This recipe sounds delicious and I’d love to try it, but I cannot tolerate either soy or coconut liquid aminos. What can I substitute? Thanks!
Super delicious! We made it with shrimp. I feel like any protein would be tasty. I used chives and red onion substitutes because that is what we had. I used ground ginger and it was also great!
Will go in our rotation — thank you!
I’m so thrilled to hear it, Mandy! I love that you used shrimp – sounds so tasty! xo
This is an awesome recipe to use leftover roasted chicken. The sauce is amazing and the squeeze of lime juice over the dish takes it to a whole new level! Thank you Julia!
I love the idea of using leftover chicken – that saves a lot of time! I also love it with some fresh lime juice 🙂 So thrilled you enjoy it!
Easy recipe, the sauce was delicious!
I’m so thrilled you enjoy it, Penny! I just love the sauce too! It really transforms meat and veggies into a lovely experience 🙂 xo
What type of rice vinegar is best? Seasoned or unseasoned? I’m not very familiar with this ingredient.
Hi Laura! Any type of rice vinegar will work 🙂 I use Nakano Organic Rice Vinegar (https://amzn.to/3Qm2lWH) but anything you find at the grocery store will work great! Hope you enjoy! xo
What brand/style of curry powder do you use? Every time I look to buy some there’s a ton of variety at my store.
Hi Jacki! I use Simply Organic curry powder: https://amzn.to/43UC30W Hope you enjoy!
Julia! I saw this recipe this am and had all the ingredients, so I gave it a whirl tonight. I LOVED the flavor and will definitely make it again. I took two shortcuts by using a bag of coleslaw mix and a roaster chicken that I diced up. Even so, prep time took me much longer than 15 minutes. I suppose I could have used jarred garlic and prepared ginger, but I used fresh for both and I could have used pre shredded carrots, saving the grating time. Anyway, next time I’ll make it when my husband can pitch in. Looking forward to those leftovers tomorrow!
What a success story! I’m happy to hear it all worked out for you and that you were able to save some time with the prep. Thanks so much for swinging back around to share your experience! xo