Recipe
Sunday chicken and rice
This is the meal prep I actually do, not the sixteen identical containers of sad chicken breast the internet tells you to make. One tray in the oven, one pot on the hob, and Monday to Thursday sorts itself out.
Use thighs, not breast. Thighs survive being reheated on day four. Breast does not, and dry chicken is why people give up on meal prep.
What you need
Ingredients
- 8 boneless chicken thighs, skin on or off
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder (or 4 cloves, crushed)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups rice, uncooked
- 2 peppers and 1 red onion, cut into big chunks
- 1 lemon
How
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
Toss the thighs with half the oil, the paprika, garlic, a good pinch of salt and plenty of pepper. Spread them on a tray in a single layer. Crowded chicken steams instead of roasting.
Toss the peppers and onion with the rest of the oil and salt, and put them on a second tray.
Both trays in for 35 to 40 minutes. The vegetables can come out earlier if they're catching.
Meanwhile cook the rice however you normally do. Salt the water.
Squeeze the lemon over the chicken the moment it comes out of the oven.
Divide between four containers: rice, chicken, vegetables. Cool completely before the lids go on, or you'll steam them into mush.
Worth knowing
Notes and swaps
- Keeps four days in the fridge. Freeze two portions on Sunday if you know Thursday will be chaos.
- A different sauce on each container stops day three feeling like a punishment. Hot sauce, yoghurt and lemon, or peanut sauce.
- Swap rice for potatoes or pasta. The method doesn't change.
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The 4-week meal plan
Four weeks of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks, built on fibre and protein, nothing from a health food shop, nothing you need a scale for. Plus a new recipe whenever I have one worth sending.