Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

You can slather anything with tahini and it will taste great – that’s my new...

Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

You can slather anything with tahini and it will taste great – that’s my new motto.

I mean, tahini is part of the world’s greatest spread (hummus), so no wonder it’s the best.

Who knew carrots and a little tahini dressing could be so satisfyingly delicious!

Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

Making tahini dressing is crazy simple – you pulse tahini, water, garlic, lemon juice, honey, and olive oil together in a food processor until creamy. That’s it. If I were you, I’d triple the dressing recipe and keep on hand for dinners later in the week – it goes with seafood, meat, poultry and of course, veggies.

Carrots can be tricky to spiralize, as it’s usually hard to find ones large enough to spiralize – except if you have the Inspiralizer. With the Inspiralizer’s small central coring blade, spiralizing thinner veggies is a cinch!

As you know, boiling carrots is my favorite way to prepare spiralized carrots – they fluff up and taste like whole wheat pasta, with a slight sweetness that works phenomenally with the tahini dressing (picking up hints of honey.)

Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

Another essential to this recipe is the onion. These spiralized onions caramelize beautifully with a simple salt and pepper seasoning and give the chicken an added savory flavor. Caramelized onions also give a nice velvety texture, bringing this pasta dish together.

I’ve never cooked chicken this way on my blog before – boiling it in water and then shredding it. Actually, I’ve never cooked it this way in “real life,” but now, it’s becoming my favorite way to do so – it’s quick, it’s simple and it results in succulent chicken. Chicken can easily dry out, but this method avoids that.

Tahini Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl

PLUS, who doesn’t love a little shredded chicken atop a bed of greens, pasta, in a sandwich, or even in an omelette?

Spoiler alert: tomorrow’s recipe is going to use extra shredded chicken from today’s recipe (because, hey, I don’t want to waste!)

Nutritional Information & Recipe

Weight Watchers SmartPoints*: 9 points

Inspiralized

Mediterranean Chicken and Carrot Noodle Bowl with Tahini

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • 1 large carrot peeled, Blade D, noodles trimmed
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 pound boneless chicken breast
  • 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 small onion Blade A, noodles trimmed (or sliced thinly)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons crushed cashews
  • For the tahini dressing:
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 tablespoons water to thin
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Place a medium pot filled halfway with water and a pinch of salt to a boil, over high heat. Once boiling, add in the carrot noodles and cook for 1-2 minutes or until cooked to your preference. Drain into a colander, pat dry and set aside in a medium mixing bowl.
  • Meanwhile, place the chicken breast into a medium saucepan and pour in enough water to cover. Place over medium heat, bring to a boil, and simmer until the thickest part of the breast meat is no longer pink, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and then shred the chicken, using two forks.
  • Place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil. Once oil heats, add in the onions. Season with salt and pepper and cover, cooking the onions until caramelized, 5 to 7 minutes.
  • While onions cook, prepare the tahini dressing: place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until creamy. Taste and adjust if necessary.
  • Once onions are done, add in 1 tablespoon of the tahini dressing, the chicken and toss for 30 seconds to combine.
  • Drizzle the rest of the dressing into the bowl with the carrot noodles and toss together to combine. Plate the noodles into bowls and top with onions and chicken. Sprinkle with cashews.

 

with love, Ali

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comments

  • This looks yummy, Ali, but I need your help. I've never been able to find a tahini that I really loved and ended up just adding toasted sesame oil to recipes as a substitute. Do you have a favorite that you could recommend?
    • Not Ali here, but just want to say that tahini is very easy to make yourself with a food processor. Just as peanut butter is made with peanuts, tahini is made with sesame seeds. http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-tahini-73859
  • Ali, from the photo, it appears that the onion you used is a red onion. Am I correct in assuming that that's your intention for this recipe? Certainly, the red would complement the hint of sweet you mention in the carrots and tahini-dressing mixture. I'll be trying this dish for sure!
  • Ali I have been cooking chicken this way for years--when Martha Stewart still had her Everyday Food magazine I saw it in there. I cook it in a pan that has half water and half Imagine brand low sodium free range chicken broth. I love the taste of the broth....very chicken-y ! I freeze the broth for later after removing the cooked chicken. I use the broth in Chicken Marsala, homemade chicken noodle soup, a Stir Fry or whatever I need it for. Yum and thanks for this recipe!
  • While the result was delicious, I used blade D on your spirializer but only got thin chips no noodles. Cooking the chicken with this method is a poor man's sous vide. Heat the water to 170, put the chicken in the pan and in roughly 15 minutes the chicken reaches 160, perfect for juicy and tender chicken. I just got your spirializer, getting rid of my old one, and am very happy. It holds to the counter unlike my previous one and the idea of no loose blades only rotating a knob is great. Looking forward to many more.
  • hi - This recipe tuned out real good, even tho' I made a few changes. First, I cooked some pea pods and sliced mushrooms with the onions - no carrots. Then I added 1/2 of a med zucchini, inspiralized on blade C. (I used these vegetables because that's what I had on hand). I added the zoodles at the very end, hardly cooked them at all, which leads me to my next change. I'm more comfortable fixing one-pot meals and leaving it in the oven on 'low' because my DH is starving when he gets home from work. A bowl meal is nice on the weekends, but on work nights it's better if I have the meal ready-to-go. (He can't really tell what the traffic's going to be like, and it's better just to have this ready to put on the table). BTW - I remember my grandma telling me NEVER boil chicken, even in homemade chicken soup - keep it at a nice low simmer so it won't get tough! Thanks for another winner!
    • You're very welcome!! Thanks for reading.
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