Crisped Buckwheat Bowl with Chicken Thighs, Kale, and Lemon
Cooked buckwheat pressed into a hot skillet until the grains crisp, tossed with torn kale and red pepper, and topped with seared chicken thighs, lemon, and toasted sunflower seeds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Most savory grain bowls are soft the whole way through, and by the third morning that goes dull on you. This one is built the other way around. Cold cooked buckwheat goes into a hot skillet with garlic-infused olive oil, gets pressed flat with a spatula, and is then left completely alone for four minutes, which is what gives you a bowl where some of the grains have gone crunchy and the rest stayed tender. It is the same trick that makes a good pan of fried rice worth eating. I keep a container of cooked buckwheat in the refrigerator through the week mostly so I can do this with it.
Chicken thighs are the right cut here because they forgive you. Seared hard in the pan the buckwheat is about to use, they take on a real brown crust and stay juicy even when you leave them a minute longer than you meant to. They rest while the grain crisps, and the browned bits they leave behind get scraped up into the buckwheat, which is where a good deal of the flavor comes from. Thyme goes in with the grain so it toasts rather than steams, the red pepper softens at the edges without losing its sweetness, and the kale goes in last with a splash of water so it wilts rather than scorches.
A whole lemon goes into this at the end, the juice and the zest both, and it is what makes the bowl taste like more than a pan of browned things. Sunflower seeds go over the top for a second kind of crunch against the crisped grain, and a great deal of parsley keeps it from reading heavy at eight in the morning. What makes it hold you is a pound and a half of chicken across four bowls, sliced thick and laid over rather than stirred in, so you can see exactly what you are eating. It travels well in a container too.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked buckwheat groats, cold
- 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 3 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil, divided
- 1 bunch kale (about 5 oz), stems removed and leaves torn
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus the zest of 1 lemon
- 1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp fine sea salt, divided
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Toast the sunflower seeds: Put the sunflower seeds in a large dry skillet over medium heat and shake the pan every 30 seconds for 3 to 4 minutes, until they are gold and smell toasted. Tip them onto a plate so they cool and stay crisp, and keep the skillet for everything that follows.
- Sear the chicken: Pat the thighs dry and season them with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and half the black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the garlic-infused olive oil in the skillet over medium-high and lay the thighs in without crowding. Cook 5 to 6 minutes per side, until deeply browned and reading 175°F (80°C) at the thickest part. Move them to a board and let them rest.
- Crisp the buckwheat: Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pan over medium-high. Add the cold buckwheat and the thyme, break up any clumps, then press the grain flat with a spatula and leave it undisturbed for 4 minutes. Toss once, scraping up the browned bits from the chicken, press again, and cook 3 minutes more.
- Add the pepper and kale: Stir in the diced red pepper and cook 2 minutes, until it softens at the edges. Add the torn kale, the remaining salt, and 2 tablespoons of water, then cook 2 to 3 minutes more, tossing, until the leaves are wilted and glossy and the water has cooked away.
- Dress the pan: Off the heat, add the lemon juice and the lemon zest and toss everything together. Taste it now, since the grain takes more salt and pepper than you expect once it has crisped. Fold through half the parsley.
- Slice and build: Cut the rested chicken crosswise into thick slices, catching any juices on the board and pouring them back over the pan. Divide the buckwheat among four bowls, lay the chicken over the top, and finish with the toasted sunflower seeds and the rest of the parsley.
Variations
- Different greens: Swap the kale for swiss chard, collard greens, or a few big handfuls of spinach added at the very end.
- Seafood version: Leave out the chicken and fold in cooked shrimp or flaked smoked trout after the pan comes off the heat.
- Warm spice: Add a teaspoon of smoked paprika or a pinch of chipotle powder with the thyme for a smokier pan.
- Cheese finish: Grate parmesan over each bowl while the grain is still hot enough to melt it into the crisped edges.
- Herb swap: Trade the parsley for cilantro and the lemon for lime when you want the bowl brighter and a little sharper.
Storage & Leftovers
Sealed containers keep in the refrigerator for 4 days. The crisped grain softens overnight, which is simply what happens, and the bowl is still good cold or gently warmed. If the crunch is the part you care about, store the sunflower seeds separately and add them fresh each morning.
To bring the crisp back, tip a portion into a dry skillet over medium-high heat and press it flat for 2 to 3 minutes without stirring. The chicken is better warmed separately and briefly, since long reheating tightens it. A splash of water in the pan and a lid for 30 seconds is enough to heat it through.
Cooked buckwheat freezes plain for up to 3 months in flat portions, which is the head start worth having. I would not freeze the finished bowl, because the kale goes slippery and the crisped grain never recovers. Seared chicken thighs freeze well whole for 2 months and slice easily once thawed.
Notes & Tips
- Cold grain only: Buckwheat straight from the refrigerator has dried out enough to brown. Freshly cooked grain carries too much water and will steam in the pan no matter how hot it is.
- Why garlic-infused olive oil works: Garlic flavor dissolves into fat, while the part of garlic that troubles a sensitive gut stays behind in water, so an infused oil gives you the taste and leaves the rest in the bottle. It is what carries the savory background in this pan.
- Press and wait: Four minutes with the spatula holding the grain against the pan, no stirring. Every time you toss it early you trade crunch for a pale, soft bowl.
- Rest the chicken: Five minutes on the board before slicing, and pour the juices that collect back into the pan. Cut it straight off the heat and most of that juice ends up on your cutting board.
- Season after the crisping: Crisped grain swallows salt. Taste at the end, once the lemon is in, and expect to add more than you would have guessed.
- Kale last, with water: A splash of water and two minutes gives you wilted, glossy leaves. Dry kale in a hot pan goes brittle and bitter at the edges.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Buckwheat, chicken thighs, and kale each pull their weight here. The grain gives the bowl its body and its crunch, the chicken gives it the protein and the browned flavor, and the kale and lemon keep a pan of browned things from tasting one note.
- Buckwheat is a seed rather than a grass, which is why it tastes toasted and faintly earthy on its own. It carries fiber and magnesium, and crisped in a hot pan it holds its shape rather than collapsing into the vegetables around it.
- Chicken thigh is dark meat, and the fat running through it is exactly what keeps it juicy through a hard sear and a day in the refrigerator. It brings protein along with zinc and the B vitamins that dark meat carries, and it slices into thick pieces that hold their shape in the bowl.
- Kale wilted for two minutes keeps its color and its slight chew, and it brings vitamin K, vitamin C, and a mineral edge that stands up to the lemon. Red pepper goes in just before it, where it softens at the corners and turns sweeter.
- Lemon juice and zest go in off the heat so the aroma survives, and the toasted sunflower seeds land last. Between the chicken and the buckwheat, a bowl this size carries you through a long morning without asking for anything else.
- As you eat, notice which spoonfuls give you a crunchy grain and which give you a soft one, and let that unevenness slow you down enough to catch the point where you have had enough.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use chicken breast?
You can, and it wants gentler treatment. Sear it for about 4 minutes per side and pull it at 160°F (71°C), then rest it, since breast meat goes dry within a minute of being overcooked. Thighs stay juicier through reheating, which is why they are what I reach for on a weekday.
What other grain crisps like this?
Cold cooked white or brown rice is the obvious one, and quinoa and millet both work if you press them harder and give them an extra minute. The grain has to be cold and fairly dry, so grain cooked that same morning will steam in the pan rather than brown.
My buckwheat turned to mush in the pan. Why?
It was either too wet or stirred too soon. Buckwheat cooked past tender holds water, and water in a hot pan means steam. Spread it on a plate for ten minutes first if it looks damp, use a pan wide enough to hold it in a thin layer, and leave it alone the full four minutes.
Does this fit a low-FODMAP breakfast?
It does. Buckwheat is a seed rather than a wheat grain and sits well at this portion, and the savory flavor comes from browned chicken, thyme, lemon, and garlic-infused olive oil rather than from garlic or onion, so nothing is stripped out of the recipe. Keep the kale and pepper close to the amounts given.