Jamaican Jerk Chicken Meal Prep Bowls

Gluten free, dairy free, nut free; Free of: soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts

Course Main Dishes

Cuisine Caribbean

Keyword jamaican jerk chicken, meal prep, meal prep bowls

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 309kcal

Author Sarah Jane Parker

Ingredients

Quinoa:

¾ cup tricolored quinoa, pre-rinsed (or any color quinoa you like)
1 ½ cups water
1 Tablespoon Earth Balance Soy Free margarine (or olive oil, or coconut oil)
⅛ - ¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper

Jamaican Jerk Chicken:

1 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
1 Tablespoon Jamaican jerk spice blend (I use the Weber brand)
½ teaspoon garlic powder

Zucchini:

Spray oil
3 small zucchini, chopped (about 3 cups chopped)
½ teaspoon Creole seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic powder
4 meal prep bowls (I used Pyrex glass storage containers)

Instructions

Quinoa:

Place the quinoa and water in a small saucepan, and heat over medium heat till it begins to boil.
Lower the heat, cover with a lid, and cook for 20 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare and cook the other ingredients.
Once the quinoa is done cooking, turn off the heat and allow it to sit in the pan for 5 minutes, still covered. Stir in the Earth Balance, salt, and pepper.

Chicken:

Spray some oil in a nonstick pan, and heat the pan over medium heat while you cut up the chicken.
Once the chicken is cut into cubes, add them to the hot pan along with the Jamaican jerk and garlic powder and stir to mix the spices with the chicken.
Continue to cook the chicken, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through. This usually takes about 8-10 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. You'll immediately add your zucchini to cook in the hot pan, adding a little more spray oil to the bottom of the pan first.

Zucchini:

While the chicken is cooking, wash and cut up your zucchini into small pieces. I usually cut it in quarters lengthwise, then dice it.
When the chicken is finished cooking, spray the pan and immediately add the zucchini, creole spice, and garlic powder to the pan to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently.
Cook the zucchini until it is tender crisp, about 8-10 minutes.

Assembling the meal prep bowls:

Divide the quinoa, chicken, and zucchini between 4 meal prep containers (or divide between 3 if you want bigger meals).
Cover and store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!

Option 2 (cooking the zucchini and chicken together):

If you want to save time, you can cook the chicken and zucchini together in the pan.
First heat up your pan with some spray oil and cut up your zucchini as the pan is heating up. Add your zucchini to the pan for a few minutes before adding the chicken.
Cut up the chicken into cubes and add to the pan with the zucchini, along with the Jamaican jerk seasoning and garlic powder. You can add an additional teaspoon or two of Jamaican jerk seasoning to this to season the zucchini as well (skip the creole seasoning here).
Continue to cook over medium here, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.

Video

Notes

This recipe can easily be doubled for bigger meals or more meal prep bowls.

Nutrition info is estimated for each meal prep bowl.

To grill the chicken, heat up and clean your grill. While your grill is heating up, trim the chicken thighs and sprinkle generously with the Jamaican jerk seasoning. Spray on each side with some spray olive oil and grill for 4-5 minutes on each side over medium-low heat until cooked through. Slice and add to your meal prep bowls.

Nutrition