Spaghetti Bami with Chicken & Broccoli
Soy sauce, teriyaki, Sriracha, and a spoonful of tomato paste meet in the same pan. They coat chicken stir-fried with garlic and ginger, then cooked whole wheat spaghetti joins for a final toss until the noodles pick up color. The broccoli stays boiled on the side. Twenty minutes from cutting board to plate, with 39 grams of protein and 13 grams of fiber.
Soy sauce, teriyaki, Sriracha, and a spoonful of tomato paste meet in the same pan. They coat chicken stir-fried with garlic and ginger, then cooked whole wheat spaghetti joins for a final toss until the noodles pick up color. The broccoli stays boiled on the side. Twenty minutes from cutting board to plate, with 39 grams of protein and 13 grams of fiber.
Ingredients
- spaghetti, whole wheat 3 ounces
- broccoli florets (frozen) 3 cups
- garlic 1 clove
- ginger 1 slice
- onion 0.5
- chicken breast 3 ounces
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- tomato paste 1 tablespoon
- soy sauce 1 tablespoon
- teriyaki sauce 1 tablespoon
- Sriracha sauce 1 teaspoon
Method
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Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package.
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Boil the broccoli florets for 5 minutes.
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Finely chop the garlic clove and ginger. Dice the onion. Cut the chicken breast into cubes.
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Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken. After 2 minutes, add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes. Pour in the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and Sriracha. Stir well and cook for about 3 more minutes.
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Drain the spaghetti and add it to the pan with the chicken. Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the mixture becomes a bit drier.
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Serve the spaghetti bami with the broccoli florets.
Cook the tomato paste in the hot pan for the full two minutes before adding the liquid sauces. The heat caramelizes the sugars in the paste and deepens the umami base — once the soy and teriyaki go in, the pan cools and that window closes.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Is 39 grams of protein too much for one meal?
A systematic review of per-meal protein utilization found no practical upper limit for muscle protein synthesis in healthy adults. The old thirty-gram ceiling was based on amino acid oxidation rates — a measure of how quickly protein breaks down, not how much the body actually puts to use. At 39 grams, this meal sits well within the range where all of it counts.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I use regular spaghetti instead of whole wheat?
Yes — the cooking and stir-frying steps stay identical. But you lose most of the fiber. Whole wheat spaghetti holds roughly three times the fiber of regular spaghetti. This plate gets its 13 grams from the whole wheat pasta and broccoli combined. With regular spaghetti, that drops to around 5-6 grams.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I use fresh broccoli instead of frozen?
Yes. Cut into small florets and boil for 3-4 minutes instead of 5. You can also stir-fry them directly in the pan with the chicken for about 4 minutes before adding the sauces — that gives them a bit of char and changes the texture completely.
