Happy Thursday! I hope you’ve had a good week. It has been a full one around here with the usual juggle of work and recipe testing, family life, my kids’ seemingly ever-growing schedules, and trying to figure out what's for dinner every night. (Same boat? Welcome! 👋🏼)
We’re getting used to a new rhythm, with later ballet and swim practices for my older kids, and it is making me realize just how rare it is to sit down together at the table on a weekday. And even more so, the challenge of making a nourishing dinner and enjoying it at a reasonable time. 😜
This is what inspires so many of the recipes I share: a need for family-approved meals that are simple, satisfying, and made with real, blood sugar-friendly foods.
Today’s recipe is for these super delicious hot honey chicken bowls with a fresh peach salsa. Sticky, hot honey chicken thighs are simpler to make than one might initially think, and the options for customizing this meal are endless.
I’m embracing all things hot honey lately, and if you’re not a fan, apologies in advance. (You can still make this recipe and enjoy a sticky honey chicken without the heat!).
If you made last week’s hot honey trail mix, you’ll notice the simple 3-ingredient homemade sauce is very similar. No, you don’t need to purchase hot honey separately—three ingredients and 30 seconds in the microwave, and you’re good to go!
Since it’s the first Thursday of the month, today’s recipe and week-long meal plan are free to all. The plan consists of five meals and one “extra,” with free recipes pulled from the newsletter’s Recipe Index and my blog, Stem and Spoon.
Interested in subscribing? Paid subscribers receive a new recipe every Thursday, plus two meal plans a month and holiday extras. Want a taste of what you’ll get? Shop my ebooks to find many of my favorite dinner recipes and meal plans.
July was a big month for us! We celebrated milestones like my toddler learning to swim, and my son’s first regionals championship swim meet. Then came our family trip to Washington state, which included lots of firsts: my kids’ first experience on a ferry boat, fishing boat, and kayak; first time clamming and hunting for crabs on a Puget Sound beach; and my husband officially entering his forties.
That last one is a big deal, and if I’m being quite honest, something I often wondered if we would ever get to celebrate. Ian was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer at 30, so the fact that we are a decade into this journey is nothing short of a God-given miracle.
I plan to share more about this in the coming months as we approach the 10-year mark since his diagnosis. But for now, we’re thrilled to celebrate 40.
What a gift it is to age.
💛
If you’re a blog reader, you may have noticed I took a short pause from creating blog recipes during July. I’ll be back at it this week, sharing a new recipe for easy sardine patties!
Check out a few July newsletter posts you might have missed:
Here’s a week-long meal plan with five delicious dinners that will leave you with leftovers for lunch! It’s packed with blood sugar-friendly, nourishing recipes, a full shopping list, and my own meal prep and time-saving tips and recommendations.
Below is a preview and a downloadable PDF. Every recipe is free- enjoy!
These hot honey chicken bowls are a balanced, blood sugar-friendly meal with protein-packed chicken, fiber-rich cauliflower rice, healthy fats from avocado, and a fresh peach salsa that adds just the right amount of sweetness.
And here’s a tip for getting perfect peaches! Buy them when they’re slightly firm, then let them ripen on your counter for another 1-3 days. If they appear ripe and you don’t want them to go bad, store them in the refrigerator to slow down the ripening process. (This is also the best way to buy, ripen, and store avocados.)
Yield: 5-6 servings
Prep time: ~30 minutes
For the chicken bowls
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1-½ pounds boneless and skinless chicken thighs
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2-½ tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon salted butter
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
1 tablespoon sriracha (or ½ tbsp for a less spicy sauce)
Bowl ingredients (pick any you like!)
1 cup shredded cabbage
16 ounces prepared cauliflower rice
1 avocado, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
Black beans
Peach salsa
1-½ peaches, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 Persian cucumber, diced
1 large handful fresh basil or cilantro, chopped
½ jalapeño, finely diced (optional)
1 lime, juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil.
Pat dry the chicken with paper towels and trim off any excess fat with sharp kitchen shears. Mix the seasonings together in a small dish, then generously season each side of the chicken pieces, using all of the seasoning mix.
Place the chicken in the skillet and cook for 6-8 minutes per side. (If needed, you can cook frozen riced cauliflower in a separate pan during this time.)
Meanwhile, add the honey, butter, cayenne, and sriracha (if using) to a microwaveable dish. Warm in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or until the syrup is bubbly and the butter has melted. Stir, then set aside.
Once the chicken is done cooking, remove the pan from the heat and pour all of the hot honey over the chicken thighs, turning them 1-2 times to coat.
Toss the peach salsa ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper as needed.
If desired, slice the chicken thighs before placing them over your bowl ingredients of choice (cauliflower rice, black beans, cabbage, etc.). Drizzle on some of the hot honey glaze from the pan, then top with the peach salsa.
The seasonings and hot honey sauce make a dish with a medium heat level. For a more mildly spicy sauce, use ½ tablespoon sriracha or omit it completely. For no spice at all, omit the ground cayenne and sriracha from the sauce.
Customize the bowl however you like! The chicken is great over cauliflower rice or lupin rice, which you can cook separately while the chicken thighs cook. For even quicker prep, build your bowl with a mix of canned black or cannelini beans and thinly-shredded cabbage.
For a lower-carb or more keto-friendly option, you can swap peach salsa for a mix of avocado and peach. You can also reduce the amount of honey by using 1 tablespoon of honey and another 1-½ tablespoons of granulated monkfruit sweetener with allulose.
Chicken thighs: You can substitute these for chicken tenderloins or thin-sliced chicken breasts. They will need less time to cook– about 3-4 minutes per side. Chicken can also be swapped for 1 pound of shrimp (cook 45 seconds per side).
Honey: For a version with a little less sugar, substitute 1 tablespoon of honey for 1 tablespoon of liquid allulose or a granulated monkfruit/allulose blend.
Cayenne pepper: Omit or swap with chili powder (less spicy).
Butter: Omit or substitute for a non-dairy butter alternative.
Avocado oil: Use ghee or coconut oil.
Peaches: Substitute for nectarines, or a mix of fresh mango and avocado (like this avocado mango salsa recipe).
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