Lunch

Smashed Cucumber Salad with Sesame Chicken

Name: Smashed Cucumber Salad with Sesame Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients: 150 g Chicken breast; 250 g Cucumber; 10 g Tahini; 12 g (a scant tbsp) Soy sauce; 1 tsp, about 4 g Toasted sesame oil; 1 clove, about 3 g Garlic; 20 g Spring onion; 3 g Sesame seeds; A tablespoon Rice vinegar; Half a teaspoon Chilli flakes

Poached, shredded chicken over smashed salted cucumber in a tahini, soy, chilli and sesame dressing. 40 g of protein for 347 kcal.

Calories: 347kcal
Protein: 40g
Fat: 15g
Carbs: 9g

Per serving, makes 1. 15 minutes of work, then twelve minutes poaching. Published 8 September 2026.

Allergens

Gluten
Soya
Sesame

Ordinary soy sauce is brewed with wheat. Tamari is brewed without wheat and is a separate ingredient here.

Flags follow UK labelling rules and come from the ingredients as listed, not from any particular brand. Check the packet before cooking for somebody with an allergy.

Ingredients

Chicken breast150 g
Weighed raw. The same piece weighed after cooking has lost water, so the protein per gram is higher and the total would come out about a quarter over.
Cucumber250 g
A whole one. Smashed with the flat of a knife so it splits into rough pieces that hold dressing in the cracks.
Tahini10 g
Soy sauce12 g (a scant tbsp)
Toasted sesame oil1 tsp, about 4 g
Garlic1 clove, about 3 g
Spring onion20 g
Sesame seeds3 g
Rice vinegarA tablespoon
Chilli flakesHalf a teaspoon

Method

Put the chicken in a small pan, cover it with cold water, salt it and bring to a bare simmer. Cook for twelve minutes, turn the heat off and leave it in the water for five more, then shred it with two forks.
Smash the cucumber with the flat of a knife, cut it into chunks, salt it and leave it ten minutes in a colander. Drain and pat dry.
Whisk the tahini, soy, vinegar, sesame oil, crushed garlic and chilli flakes with a splash of the poaching water until it pours.
Toss the cucumber and chicken in the dressing and finish with the spring onion and sesame seeds.

Worth knowing

Poaching gives shreddable chicken with no oil in the pan and it stays moist. The water it cooked in is stock for something else.
Salt and drain the cucumber or the dressing slides off into a puddle.

Other lunch recipes that share ingredients with this one, or every lunch between 300 and 450 calories a serving.

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Macros are calculated from the weights listed above using standard food composition values, and will shift with your own brands and measuring. Weigh what you can. This is a recipe, not dietary advice. The full health disclaimer is below.