Chinese Ground Chicken Bowl (2024)

Ground chicken bowl is a dish that I want to cook when I feel lazy. The prep only requires 5 minutes, then you could leaveit to braise and the chicken sauce will be ready in 30 minutes. The sauce is flavorful and goes great with rice, noodles or blanched vegetables.

Chinese ground chicken bowl is a healthier version of Taiwanese minced pork rice. It uses ginger, garlic, soy sauce and Chinese five spice to create a savory sauce, that goes great with rice and noodles.

The recipe was inspired by the Japanese version of ground chicken bowl, which I discovered when I was working in a ramen restaurant while I was living in Japan. They have a side dish called steamed rice with ground chicken. It uses a sweet savory ground chicken sauce atop rice and is super delicious.

The cooking method is extremely easy. The prep can be done in 5 minutes, and after a simple stir-fry, you can leave the skillet to simmer without bothering it at all.

You can assemble the bowl however you like. The idea is similar todan dan noodles. The chicken sauce itself is a bit saltier if eating alone, so you can use the sauce as a condiment to accompany anything that is lighter in flavor. For example, top the rice bowl or noodle salad with boiled broccoli, blanched bok choy, steamed cauliflower, or any other healthy ingredient you could think of.

The use of the sauce is extremely versatile. It can be used in stir-fried rice or vegetables, served with an omelet for breakfast, or packed into your lunch box. By only adding a spoonful of the sauce, a bowl of rice and plain vegetables will become so yummy and appetizing that you can devour it within minutes!

Another great (and lazy) way is to add the chicken sauce to noodle soup. You could boil the noodles and some green vegetables in the same pot. After the noodles and veggies are cooked through, transfer them with some soup into a big bowl, topped with several spoons of the ground chicken sauce. You will be amazed how flavorful the soup will become.

Compared to the pork version, the chicken sauce is low in calories, contains more protein and less saturated fat. The rice bowlis low in sugar, very high in iron and vitamin B.

Every time I cook this ground chicken sauce, I always make a lot. The recipe is very easy to double or triple with a bigger size dutch oven or pot. I separate the finished sauce into small batches and store them in the freezer. Every time I’m feeling lazy or my fridge is empty, I can use the noodle soup method. It only take a few minutes, and I will get a warm, satisfying and healthy bowl of goodies.

Hope you’ll like this dish and happy cooking!