Pre-cooked cooked chicken makes this sesame chicken couscous bowl a breeze to make.
I hate to wash dishes.
I have a dishwasher so you would think this wouldn't be an issue. Wrong. Because I'm home with my kids during the day, we go through a lot of snack bowls, plates, cups etc. When I'm only at 2 PM and realize that my dishwasher is getting full, I start thinking about dinners I can make that won't require dinner plates. Yes, I know, this is ridiculous. It's not that I am lazy. I have no issue doing 5 loads of laundry a day but I HATE to wash those darn dishes by hand. It's bad enough I have to wash all the pans. I can usually maneuver bowls into a packed dishwasher better than large bulky plates so I glanced around and remembered seeing a recipe in Taste of Home Simple & Delicious magazine recently for a sesame chicken couscous dish. I dug out the article and sure enough, I can switch that up to be a "rice bowl".
I only changed a few things from the original recipe, if you'd like to see that it's in the Feb/March 2014 edition of Simple & Delicious (page 28).
Using pre-cooked chicken, really is a huge time saver. You have a few options here: Refrigerated pre-cooked grilled chicken, frozen grilled chicken, or even buy a rotisserie cooked chicken, they're usually cheaper than buying a raw chicken anyway. I had just bought a bag of Tyson's frozen grilled chicken because I had a coupon, so I figured this was a good place to try it out. It wasn't my favorite chicken but it did the trick. I prefer to grill up a bunch of chicken when I buy it and then use it as I need it for each individual recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 box couscous (plain or whole wheat)
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 bag rainbow salad, coleslaw mix, or broccoli slaw (I used rainbow)
- 4 green onions, sliced
- ½ C sesame dressing (recipe below or use store bought)
- 2 large boneless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced into strips
- 2 T cilantro, freshly chopped
- Optional Topping: chopped peanuts
DIRECTIONS:
- Cook couscous according to package directions.
- In a large saute pan, heat 1 T oil over medium/high heat. Add rainbow salad. Cook 3-5 minutes until vegetables start to get tender. Add green onions, couscous and chicken. Drizzle in dressing. Stir everything until combined well. Remove from heat.
- Serve in bowls and garnish top with cilantro and crushed peanuts.
SESAME DRESSING: 
- 3 T sesame oil
- ¼ C white wine vinegar
- ¼ C vegetable/canola oil
- 2 T sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Whisk together all ingredients.
Cindy says
Oh this looks so good! We make a lot of rice bowls and stir fries and I have been looking for a way to mix things up a bit. This will definitely be going into my rotation.
Corrie Blackmon says
This dish looks soooo good. I can't wait to try it out. Love the site!
Andi Gleeson says
This looks delicious! I love recipes with Asian flavors like this one. What a great dinner idea!