You asked for recipes and lunch ideas that are easy to take to work! This one is perfect. All your dry ingredients go in a jar and all you have to do is add hot water or broth. If I’m adding broth (because I love bone broth right now) I just bring a little 2cup carton of it like the ones that Kettle & Fire or Trader Joe’s sells and then just heat it in a cup in the microwave or add to the jar directly and heat the whole thing (depending on which jar I’m using; some have metal attached).
Honestly I think the most important thing when it comes to taking lunch into the office - is the container you’re taking it in. No matter what it is, if it’s not packed we’ll then it will either spill or be gross by the time you’re ready to eat. Personally I prefer glass to plastic and something with a really solid and tight lid is a MUST. Other than that, it’s also helpful to pack liquids (sauce, dressing, broth) separately to keep your lunch from getting soggy. It also means you can pack it several days in advance rather than the night before! This could sit in the fridge for 3 days (depends on how old the chicken is) before you actually eat it.
You’ll need:
about 5oz cooked chicken, thinly sliced or shredded
sauce (ingredients below)
1 block of rice noodles
1/3 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/3 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced white or sweet onion
Other: thinly sliced jalapeno, fresh cilantro, diced green onion
2 cups stock, bone broth, or water!
Sauce
1 teaspoon bullion (chicken, beef, or pho if you can find it!) * see note
1 teaspoon sriracha
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon fresh or frozen grated ginger
2 drops of honey
Instructions:
Mix together your sauce either in a small bowl or in the bottom of your jar.
Add the chicken on top of the sauce. Then add the veggies on top of the chicken. Then add your noodles and toppings (herbs). We don’t want the noodles next to the sauce because they might get soggy.
When you’re ready to eat, its time to heat up your liquid. There are several options! If you’re at home you can heat the broth/water on the stove, just bring it to a simmer in a pot. If you’re at the office you can either microwave it in a microwave safe cup OR if your jar doesn’t have metal (or you can remove the metal lid) then you can add broth/water to the jar directly and then microwave the whole thing. For microwaving, microwave 90 seconds then stir and check the heat and microwave another 90 seconds. We don’t want to add boiling water to a glass container!! It could crack.
Cover the container or close the lid to keep the heat in while the noodles cook (3-5 minutes)
You can either eat your noodles in the jar or transfer to a bowl, whatever you prefer!
Notes:
I like using a mason jar for this because they have a good seal and they just look cool. You could easily use a bowl shaped Tupperware or honestly whatever you have on hand it just needs a lid. Here are a couple examples:
The square jar I used (pictured)
For the noodles: these are rice noodles I found at Whole Foods that specifically said they cook in 3 minutes which is perfect for this recipe!
For the sauce - especially if you are using water instead of broth - you’ll need some sort of bullion. You can use a bullion cube, I prefer using “better than bullion” specifically the chicken flavor. I also happened to find a Pho flavored bullion at my local Asian grocery and it works really well!