Ginger Peanut Chicken Pasta

So if I could separate this into 2 reviews, I’d give 4 stars to the sauce and 1 1/2 to the pasta and chicken. I made this mostly per the recipe the first time (minus the red pepper flakes because DH doesn’t do spice so I have to add that to my dish afterwards). The sauce is sooo good. Based on some of the other reviews, I tweaked it the second time and made it with coconut milk, which turns it into 5 stars. This makes such a great Thai-style sauce and it has become part of our regular meal rotation. I just don’t get putting it on pasta though. I cook the chicken separately per the recipe, then stir fry a bunch of veggies (usually red pepper, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots and snow peas but really whatever you like would work). I pour the coconut milk and peanut sauce in the pan over the veggies and cook until smooth, then add the chicken back in after it’s done and garnish with cilantro. Voila, you have a Thai-style stir-fry that you can serve as is or over rice. Oh, I have experimented making it with PB2 powder instead of peanut butter and that makes a reasonably decent sauce too.

I have made this twice now and been very impressed with the mix of flavours. The second time I substitued coconut milk for the milk to see if I could make a kosher version. This worked amazingly well and I would highly recommend it. You might even be able to reduce the amount of cornstarch because coconut milk is naturally thicker than low fat milk. Both times I left off the cilantro and used about 2 t of chili pepper flakes, which was plenty of heat -- and we like spicy foods. It's also very quick. The second time I made it I used Japanese soba noodles rather than Italian pasta. This worked very well too. This looks set to become part of my regular rotation of quick weekday dinner recipes. Update: I have now made this often and generally use the following tweaks: maple syrup rather than honey (easier to measure and clean up), coconut milk rather than milk and cornstarch, no cilantro (I am in the cilantro tastes like soap camp), Asian noodles (rice, soba, udon etc.) rather than Italian pasta, additions of fruit and/or vegetables like spring/green onions, frozen corn and/or tinned pineapple to add some vegetable content. This is a firm favourite in our house.

Delicious! But the recipe was VERY badly written. Food.com, don't you READ these recipes before re-publishing them? For starters, step 1 is to COOK the pasta and drain it. Next, "chopped" in the USA means "ground." I assumed it means "cut into bite-sized pieces. Then brown them. In what? butter? oil? which oil? How much? And "2-3 minutes per side." WHAT side? After cooking the chicken and pasta, make up the flavoring paste. When that is fully blended (preferably with a whisk,) THEN prepare the milk sauce. When it is ready, blend in the seasoning paste. THEN combine the chicken, chives and herb (I replaced cilanto with parsley - genetic reasons.) and sauce with the pasta. GEE!!!! I can cook, but a novice would be TOTALLY misled by these instructions.

This is OK if you love the taste of peanut butter instead of the taste of peanuts. The PB lends an overwhelming flavor. I added 1 1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes and it was very hot (and we like spicy foods)..I have never seen another recipe calling for 4 tsps. of red pepper flakes. Could this be a printing error?

Excellent flavor and great way to use left over chicken! This would be awesome tossed with sauteed vegetables as well!