Quick skillet chicken, rice, and steam broccoli all made in under 20 minutes for a healthy meal-prep lunch box that you can enjoy all week long!
If you’re new to meal prepping, please check out our meal-prep archives to see a whole bunch of our other delicious meal-prep recipes. Today we’re cooking up one of the easiest and simplest chicken meal prep recipes you can make. Chicken, rice, and broccoli all cooked in under 20 minutes. These tasty meal-prep boxes are quick, healthy, and make a great lunch for the entire week. If you’re like us, we actually love having them in the fridge and eating them for lunch or dinner not only at work but at home too!
To start you will need to get the rice cooking. It takes the longest so it’s better to get it out of the way first. While the rice is cooking, season your chicken and cook it in a hot skillet or heavy duty pan.
Now, here’s where it gets tricky and you’ll need to pull out your multitasking skills. While the chicken and rice are cooking, go ahead and steam the broccoli. You can do this on the stove-top in a pot of boiling water or in the microwave. Now all that’s left is to cut the chicken, spoon out the rice, and assemble the meal prep bowls.
20 Minute Meal-Prep Chicken, Rice, and Broccoli
Ingredients
For the Rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
For the chicken
- 4 (about 4-6 oz each) chicken breasts or thighs, boneless, skinless
- 1 teaspoon brown or granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2-3 cups broccoli florets
- water for steaming
Instructions
- To Cook the Rice:Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. this Stir in the rice; cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes until all of the water is absorbed.
- To Cook the chicken: Rub chicken with brown sugar, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy-duty pan or skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the chicken to pan and cook for 5-6 minutes on the first side without moving, until the undersides develop dark grill marks. Flip the chicken breasts using a pair of tongs or a fork and cook the other side for 5-6 minutes. Turn off heat and allow chicken breasts to rest in pan for at least 5 minutes before cutting.
- To steam broccoli: There are two ways to cook the broccoli. To blanch the broccoli on the stove-top. Boil water in a large pot. Add broccoli florets to pot and blanch for just 1 minute. Remove from the pot. To steam in the microwave: Place broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and add water 3 tablespoons water to the bowl. Cover with a ceramic plate or plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 3 minutes.
- To assemble: Cut the chicken into slices or small bite-size pieces. Use a 2/3 cup measuring cup to evenly spoon 2/3 cup of rice into each (4 total) Top the rice with slices chicken and broccoli florets. Cover and refrigerate for you to 4 days. To reheat microwave on high for 2 minutes or until steaming.
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The only problem is that white rice doesn’t hold well at all in the fridge. You’re far better off using brown rice or doing microwave white rice when you’re ready to eat
Rice holds up great in the fridge if you add an ice cube to the container when you reheat the rice in the microwave. It steams the rice nicely, makes it seem like it’s freshly cooked!
What? I never thought of this. I’m going to try, sounds genius! Thank you Susan <3
Are you people really this stupid?
Yeah, stupid just like you, once you are here reading too!
I was looking for an easy recipe that I can meal prep for my husband. He’s trying to bulk up and needed to eat more chicken and vegetables. Thank you for sharing this, now I can add it to my Sunday cooking routine =)
tell him to cook is own goddamn meals
this does look good but it looks very dry. Anyone got any good ideas for a simple dressing/sauce that won’t totally ruin the calorie count
Buffalo sauce has minimal calories (15-30/serving for most). If you’re conscious of sodium intake, certain organic brands offer lower/no sodium alternatives.
You can use Worcestershire it is 0 calories
Nandos peri peri mayo
How many is the calorie count for this meal
There are about 350 calories per container!
So is it only one meal a day? That’s my only question, I haven’t seen anyone’s answer
You can have as many meals as you’d like but most people prep for just lunch 🙂
So is it only one meal a day? That’s my only question
I think i made it wrong it smells amazing but the chicken ended up tasting super bland:( any suggestions?
Mine too. Didn’t look anything like the pic, and I followed the recipe to the T
I’m not sure what went wrong!
What is the calorie intake for this meal?
can i just put the brocolli and chicken in the oven with seasoning
hey ,can you put the nutritional facts
I’m new at this prep meals and i been looking at meal and i saw this one and can you use frozen broccoli instead and can you cook your rice in a instant pot.
Do you use 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder/cumin/paprika for each chicken thigh?
No, that is the total for the entire recipe 🙂
What are the nutritional values in this recipe for each serving?
Any recommendations for making it sugar free? Can it be OMITTED or maybe use stevia instead? If YOU’VE tried anything i would love to know!
The sugar can be easily omitted or replaced with honey.
Hi Layla, how many calories is in this meal? Thanks xx
How many calories is the chicken?
Does anybody know the calories?
What r the nutrients for this im On weight watchers
4oz chicken breast is 25g protein, 1 cup of rice is 45g carbs, and 1 cup of broccoli is only 31 calories
Just add it to WW by creating a recipe. It should give you points and nutrition info.
I kinda just stumbled onto this website. and have no idea why its all in caps when my caps is not on. recipe sounds delicious but i do not see the nutritional content.wondering about carbs.
I found this really nice , I swapped the rice for cauliflower rice and used thighs instead of breast…was a quick and easy prep
I’m excited to taste it.
I’m extremely new to meal PREPPING. I have a lot of trouble judging sizes, so I am trying to buy containers to put the food in and how big should they be? 28 OUNCES?
Yes, the 28oz work great for this recipe! I’ve linked to the brand I use in the recipe instructions.
i’m extremely new to this meal prep. How big do the containers need to be so I can buy some, on amazon they say 28oz, 32oz, etc…
Can anyone give me a hint 🙂
I seen them reply to a comment similar to this saying 28oz is great for this recipe
I did a re-mix with TERIYAKI SAUCE, ONIONS & MUSHROOMS ADDED TO THE CHICKEN, RICE & BROCCOLI. iT’S DAMN GOOD TOO!
tHANKS FOR SHARING THESE MEAL PREP IDEAS! i’VE BEEN EATING THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER…
Hi, this meal looks really good but I can’t seem to find the nutritional values. I would appreciate if someone could show it to me.
what would the calorie difference be if i boil the chicken instead?
I don’t think it would change the calorie count much because the chicken is not really fried or anything.
Easy and yummy. But i think i burned mine coz I got thick cuts of thighs
Just woNdering, but can you reheat the rice? I thought that was bad 😬
Yes, you can re-heat the rice. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is steaming.
Does the calorie count change if you cut out sugar and salt and use only Misses Dash for seasoning( in order to lose weight faster)?
I’m also new to meal prepping. Are all four servings enough for a DAY’s WOrth of food?
it says 354 calories for 1 meal prep bowl. How much chicken and broccoli goes into 1 bowl. it already says 1 cup rice.
Divide the chicken and broccoli evenly into each bowl which should yield a serving.
OMG I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF COOKING THIS AND IT SMELLS SO GOOD. I don’t cook, I try to. I’ve been preparing my own meals for a month, saw this recipe. Decided to do it today. It. Smells. So. Good. And it’s still cooking. I’m excited to taste it.
im new to this meal prep thing,
If i was to make lunches for say a week, and i make them sunday, do i need to freeze them or just leave them prepped in the firdge, and whats the recommended time to put those dishes in the Microwave for in order to heat them up for lunches.
Thank you.
If you are making them Sunday for Monday-Friday, I would leave two in the fridge for M-T and the rest in the freezer. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or until steaming.
How would you reheat the frozen ones?