Welcome to the AK DINNER PARTY, a fun month-long series where we inspire you to cook a recipe with us! Whenever we ask the AK Community what they want to see more of, dinner recipes are typically the most popular answer. What better way to get back in the kitchen and cook a nourishing, delicious dinner than to do it alongside the AK team and hundreds of other foodies?!
IMPORTANT: please scroll down and read below for all of the deets on this month’s recipe, key dates for the month, how to enter the giveaway, and our charity of the month!
If you haven’t yet, enter your name & email below to get Dinner Party updates throughout the month, and to be the first in line to see next month’s recipe.
March’s Dinner Party recipe
We’re SO excited to share the next recipe of our AK Dinner Party series: Sesame Chicken Meatball Bowls! The AK community voted for this recipe on Instagram last week and it’s one of my favorite easy dinners.
We have tons of different ways that you can customize this recipe to truly make it your own. Check them out below and, of course, read through the recipe blog post itself for all of the tips you’ll need.
- To make vegan/vegetarian: use extra firm tofu in place of the chicken. simply remove all excess water and liquid from the tofu by pressing it out, then cube the tofu and use it instead of chicken in step 3. You’ll want to try and get it nice and crispy and golden — as much as you can.
- To make gluten free: use gluten free breadcrumbs or sub 2-3 tablespoons of coconut flour in the meatball mixture. Be sure to use gluten free soy sauce or tamari as well.
- To make grain free: use coconut flour in the meatball mixture, then serve with cauliflower rice, sweet potato noodles or zucchini noodles.
- To make paleo: follow the above instructions for making the recipe grain free, then use coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar, and coconut aminos in place of soy sauce.
- For the veggies: feel free to use green beans or brussels sprouts in place of the broccoli, or add even more veggies like red bell pepper, carrots, snow peas, and mushrooms.
- For serving: you can also try serving with black rice, sweet potato or zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, quinoa, or rice noodles.
Like it extra saucy?
Feel free to double the sauce mixture in the recipe. We’ve had comments that readers felt like there wasn’t enough sauce, but this is likely due to the fact that the heat was too high and evaporated/cooked down most of the sauce quickly.
Reminder: here’s how the Dinner Party works:
- The recipe: On the first Wednesday of each month we’ll share a reader favorite Ambitious Kitchen dinner recipe to make that month, and some months we’ll poll the AK Community on social media to choose! You can join us and make the dinner recipe any time (and however many times) you’d like during that month, and we’ll share plenty of ways to customize it to your taste preferences + dietary needs.
- The sharing: When you make it, you have two ways to share your creation:
- On the blog: leave a comment and rate the recipe on the blog post with the hashtag #AKDinnerParty, plus your name and email (so we know you made it!) AND/OR
- On social media: share a photo of your creation on social via Instagram (stories or in-feed) or in our Facebook Group with the hashtag #AKDinnerParty
- The giveaway: We’ll select one lucky AK reader who shared their recipe creation on the blog and/or on social media at the end of the month. That person will win a $100 gift card to Amazon. Each option (on the blog or social) for sharing counts as an entry, so feel free to enter both ways!
Key dates
- Wednesday, March 2nd: March’s recipe is here! On this date, you can start cooking & sharing your recipe photos on social and on the blog.
- Thursday, March 31st: the last day to submit your recipe photos on social and on the blog.
- Monday, April 4th: giveaway winners selected, notified via email, and shared on social.
- Wednesday, April 6th: April’s Dinner Party recipe announced!
Let’s give back
Each month we’ll pick a new charity where we’ll donate funds as a way to spread the love and do some good. This month’s charity is the International Rescue Committee which is providing food, medical care, and emergency supplies to displaced families in Ukraine during this extremely difficult and terrifying time.
If you’d like to join us in supporting families in Ukraine this month, learn more about donating here!
Join the party
Ready to join the party and get cooking? If you haven’t yet, enter your email below and we’ll send you the recipe as soon as it drops at the beginning of each month, reminders about the giveaway, announce the winners, and more. Let’s do this!
Past Dinner Parties