High-Protein Lemon Chicken Meal Prep: Your 30-Minute Guide to Healthy Eating
Are you looking for a delicious, healthy, and time-saving meal prep solution? This high-protein lemon chicken recipe is designed to give you five days' worth of nutritious meals in under 30 minutes! Perfect for busy individuals who want to stay on track with their health goals without sacrificing flavor.
The Essential Prep: Sauce, Veggies, and Chicken
The success of this meal prep hinges on efficient preparation of three key components: the lemon sauce, vegetables, and chicken. By tackling these systematically, you'll be well on your way to a week of healthy eating.
Crafting the Zesty Lemon Sauce
The star of this dish is undoubtedly the vibrant lemon sauce. To prepare it, combine half a cup of vegetable or chicken stock with one-third of a cup of honey, ensuring all the sweetness makes it into the bowl. Add one teaspoon of onion powder, one and a half tablespoons of soy sauce (or a low-sodium alternative), two teaspoons of sesame oil, and one tablespoon of corn flour, which will act as a thickening agent. For an aromatic kick, grate five cloves of garlic into a paste using a microplane, scraping every bit to avoid waste. Juice two lemons, taking care to remove any sneaky seeds, and add the fresh juice to the sauce. Finish with a touch of ground white pepper and whisk thoroughly until all ingredients, especially the corn flour and garlic, are evenly incorporated. Set this aside until you're ready to cook the chicken.
Preparing Your Power-Packed Vegetables
Before moving to the vegetables, place a large pot of water on the stove over high heat to bring it to a boil. For your greens, you'll need two heads of broccoli and two bunches of bok choy, though any green vegetable of your choice will work well. For the broccoli, slice around the core to separate the florets, and don't discard the stem! Trim any florets to ensure they are uniform in size for even cooking. For the stem, remove the woody end and discard, then trim off the outer layers if you find them bitter. The inner part of the stem is packed with nutrition and sweetness. For the bok choy, cut off the root and slice the leaves into even pieces. Remember to thoroughly wash the bok choy to remove any trapped dirt between its layers.
Dicing the Protein: Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thigh
You'll need one kilo (2.2 pounds) of boneless and skinless chicken thigh. While breast can be used, thigh meat is often preferred for meal preps as it reheats and stores better. Slice each chicken thigh in half lengthwise, then rotate and dice into bite-sized pieces. Trim off any gritty bits and strive for consistency in size to ensure even cooking.
Cooking and Assembling Your Meal Prep
With all your ingredients prepped, it's time to bring everything together.
Blanching the Vegetables and Cooking the Rice
Once the water boils, lightly season it with salt. Add the broccoli florets and stems, blanching them for about two minutes to soften them and maintain their vibrant color. After two minutes, add the bok choy, pushing it down to ensure it's covered, and cook for another minute. Carefully strain the vegetables and immediately plunge them into ice-cold water to shock them and halt the cooking process. This step helps preserve their color and prevents overcooking. Next, prepare your rice. In a saucepan, combine 300g of washed basmati rice with 600ml of cold water and an optional pinch of salt. Place it on high heat, mix quickly to prevent clumps, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover with a lid, reduce heat to low, and cook for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another four minutes with the lid on.
Sautéing the Vegetables and Chicken
Place a pan over medium-high heat, add a touch of avocado oil, and then add your drained vegetables. Season with a pinch of salt and a touch of cracked black pepper, then sauté for two to two and a half minutes until they achieve a slight color and flavor. You can also stir-fry them with a bit of sesame oil or garlic if you prefer, but keeping them plain allows them to blend beautifully with the lemon sauce. Once done, remove the vegetables from the pan. Using the same pan, heat it over high heat until it's hot and lightly smoking. Add more spray avocado oil (non-aerosol) and then spread out your chicken, ensuring it's not overcrowded. Cook for a total of 10 minutes, letting it sit for about two minutes before mixing to achieve an even crust. After about eight minutes, you'll notice a golden crust forming and a nice flavor foundation building on the bottom of the pan. Season lightly with salt (remembering the sauce has sodium) and a touch of cracked black pepper, then cook for the final two minutes until the chicken is just cooked through.
Finishing with the Lemon Glaze
Add the prepared lemon sauce to the pan with the chicken. Mix it around to deglaze the pan and incorporate all those flavorful bits. The corn flour in the sauce will begin to thicken, creating a beautiful glaze over the chicken. Cook for about one and a half to two minutes, adjusting the heat slightly if the pan gets too hot. Once done, check for seasoning and remove from the stove top.
Assembling Your Five-Day Meal Prep
With the rice cooked, carefully remove the lid and fluff it with a fork or spatula to achieve super soft, fluffy rice with nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan. Now, it's time to assemble your five portions. Place the rice on one side of a container, the vibrant vegetables in the middle (which should have retained their color beautifully), and the lemon chicken with its gorgeous glaze on the remaining side. For an extra touch, sprinkle black or regular sesame seeds over the rice and chicken. Allow the meals to cool completely before placing lids on the containers. These meals will last for four days in the fridge and up to four months in the freezer (thaw overnight if frozen). If you're using vacuum-sealable containers, you can extend their fridge life to five days. The easiest way to reheat these is in a microwave in one-minute bursts for approximately three minutes. This simple, delicious, and efficient meal prep will set you up for a week (or weeks) of healthy eating!
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