Sweet Peas and Saffron

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Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls

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These Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls have chicken breast, broccoli and asparagus tossed in a sweet and savory honey sesame stir fry sauce. Perfect for healthy meal prep lunches!

Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls, an easy healthy meal prep work lunch recipe

For more stir fry sauce ideas, check out this post with SEVEN different stir fry sauces that you can make ahead and freeze!

Can I tell you a secret? I’m not an organized person.

I know you see all these meal prep breakfasts and make ahead lunch bowls and maybe some neatly stacked containers of chicken fajita lunch bowls and you think ‘wow, that Denise? She’s organized!’.

The truth? I’m so not organized. I mean, my bag is still not unpacked from travelling last week!

The recipes that you see on the blog are a product of my disorganization. This is me, trying to overcome my disorganization. And I hope you don’t mind: I’m bringing you along for the ride!

 

Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls, an easy healthy meal prep work lunch recipe

Can I tell you another secret? Today’s honey sesame chicken lunch bowls are actually just a stir fry, divided into four containers.

I’m pretty sure you figured that out already, but just so we’re on the same page (wink wink).

I’ve already posted lots of salad-type lunch bowls…such as these chicken fajita lunch bowls, and these Mediterranean farro chicken lunch bowls. I thought it was time to mix it up a bit.

Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls, an easy healthy meal prep work lunch recipe

Guess what? These honey sesame chicken lunch bowls can be ready in under 30 minutes.

Just think about this:  30 minutes effort to ensure that you’ll have a healthy, filling lunch waiting for you for FOUR days. Doesn’t that sound awesome? It is.

Note: on day four, your broccoli is not going to smell like roses, but it still tastes delicious! Swap it for carrots, bell peppers or zucchini.

honey-sesame-chicken-lunch-bowls-2

How it all goes down:  cook your rice. Shake together your sauce. Cook your veggies. Then cook your chicken. Toss chicken in sauce and cook until it thickens slightly.

Portion out into four containers (I’m obsessed with these ones right now!)

Take a picture and post it on your social media. Let people assume that you have your life together. The end.

More meal prep work lunches for us!

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4.75 from 8 votes

Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls

Course: Lunch
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: chicken, meal prep
Calories: 445kcal
Servings: 4
These Honey Sesame Chicken Lunch Bowls have chicken breast, broccoli and asparagus tossed in a sweet and savory honey sesame stir fry sauce. Perfect for healthy meal prep lunches!

Video

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time30 mins

Ingredients

Honey Sesame Sauce:

  • 1/4 cup chicken stock or water
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce I use reduced sodium
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Chicken Lunch Bowls:

  • 3/4 cup uncooked rice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cups broccoli chopped into small pieces
  • 3 cups snap peas cut into small pieces
  • 2 large chicken breasts cut into small pieces
  • salt & pepper
  • red pepper flakes optional
  • sesame seeds garnish

Instructions

  • Shake together all honey sesame sauce ingredients and set aside.
  • Cook rice according to package instructions. Divide between 4 storage containers.
  • Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add broccoli and snap peas. Cook for 5 or so minutes, until bright green and tender. Add to the rice in the storage containers.
  • Add additional olive oil if necessary. Add the chicken to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes (if desired). Cook for 7 or so minutes, until cooked through.
  • Add the sauce to the pan and simmer for 2 minutes, until thickened.
  • Add the chicken to the lunch containers and drizzle with sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds if desired.
  • Store in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat to serve.

Notes

* If you are looking for ways to lighten this recipe up, try halving the sauce or swap part of the rice for cauliflower rice
This recipe is mildly spicy. Feel free to reduce or leave out the red pepper flakes for a less/non-spicy version.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 445kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 698mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 20g

Products used in this recipe:

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Comments

    • Denise

      Janis it depends on which source you look at. This one, which pulls its data from the US FDA clearly states 4-6 days. Cool your rice as quickly as possible and reheat to steaming hot and you should be perfectly safe. But you do you and if you don’t feel comfortable with 4 day storage, then go ahead and move on to another recipe.

      Reply

  3. Dee

    I doubled this recipe thinking it would make 8 meals. Didn’t realize how tiny the containers were that were used here. My 8 meals is basically 4. Hoping it takes just as good as it smells! Might be a bit hangry this week though!

    Reply

    • Denise

      The portions I use are what are in line with what is recommended for daily caloric intake. 1/2 cup rice, 4 oz chicken and 1.5 cups veggies is a pretty good sized portion for most people. Sorry you found it small.

      Reply

  7. Ashley Oliver


    This is my second recipe of yours that I’ve tried. I’m really enjoying these balanced, easy meals. This one is delicious as is. I added some toasted cashews on top for a crunch and subbed carrots for snap peas. Next time, I’d like to add a little onion and eggplant to the sauteed veggies.

    Reply

  8. Anu


    Denise,

    Thank you for sharing the honey-sesame Chicken recipe! Prepped it as is and was an excellent addition to my meal prep game plan! I paired it with brown rice and curried cauliflower… Delish!!

    Reply

  10. Renata Diniz

    Hi! My name is Renata and I am brazillian. I think it is difficult for me to prep because I do not have any idea how much of the ingredients I should buy as much as possible. For example, this recipes asks for 1 cup of brocolli. So, how much should I buy or unfreeze to prepare this recipe without leftover? It would be easier if everything was in grams or ounces / pounds (I dont know the measure system of USA).

    I know that this probably isn’t the focus of this website, since I am a foreigner, but … could you recommend another site or maybe a way to solve my problem?

    Sorry for my bad english and thank you! I really loved the site.

    Reply

    • Renata Diniz

      * sorry! the translator made a mess in my previous comment. Here’s the correct one:

      Hi! My name is Renata and I am brazillian. I think it is difficult for me to meal prep because I don’t have idea of how much of ingredients I should buy to loose as minimal as possible. For example, this recipes asks for 1 cup of brocolli. So, how much should I buy or unfreeze to prepare this recipe without leftover? It would be easier if everything was in grams or ounces / pounds (I dont know the measure system of USA).

      I know that this probably isn’t the focus of this website, since I am a foreigner, but … could you recommend another site or maybe a way to solve my problem?

      Sorry for my bad english and thank you!

      Reply

      • Denise

        Hi Renata! Unfortunately that is not a common way for us to measure here in Canada…I do try to weigh ingredients whenever I’m baking but for cooking I am really just estimating in cups, and I don’t know what it works out to in weights. You might have better luck with European-based blogs as they will weigh their ingredients out and don’t use cups to measure. I hope this helps!

        Reply

      • Sinead

        Hi Renata,

        I live in Brazi too! . An American cup measurement is about one teacup. A medium/large head of broccoli from the market is about 4 cups. You do get used to the amounts and what they should look like over time! I’ve tried websites to convert but one cup is a different weight for every type of food so I’ve never managed to do it that way.

        Reply

  12. Sue

    Can’t have rice and was wondering what nutritional value would be for just the chicken, sauce and vegetables

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Sue, that’s a great question. I just popped it into My Fitness Pal and it looks like it is 270 calories without the rice. You can find the full breakdown here

      Reply

    • Beth

      Can you do cauliflower rice? I use it just because it’s less calories and don’t really see a huge difference in taste!

      Reply

      • Denise

        Yes! Absolutely, cauliflower rice is actually great in meal prep! I prefer making my own versus using frozen as it keeps better and doesn’t get as mushy 🙂

        Reply

  13. Tyla Gunning

    This recipe is AMAZING! added a bit to much soy so my end result was very strong in soy sauce but other than that being my own fault it’s INCREDIBLE! Can’t wait to have this amazing meal for lunch for the next few days :D!

    Reply

  14. Erin

    Made this over the weekend and was feeling unsure going into lunch today as my last few attempts at meal prepping have been average at best. However, this was great! A few people told me it smelled amazing and it tasted just as good as it smelled. Even better, it was very filling. This is definitely a keeper for me, easy prep and a delicious meal.

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Brianna! You can absolutely sub the carrots for broccoli. I think they’d cook for a similar time, depending on how you cut the carrots 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

      Reply

  17. Ellie

    This looks greats looking to try this for work next week as lunch just a bit confused by the cup measurements? Is there anything I can use instead of cups to measure the ingredients?

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Ellie, unfortunately I don’t have weight measurements for these ingredients. I did find in my notes that 3/4 cup uncooked rice is 140g/5 oz. Hope that helps 🙂

      Reply

  18. Christy

    Just ate this for lunch today. So delicious!!! pretty easy to make too. I just did some frozen veggies I had in the freezer, still worked great. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Mavis, I actually worked for 7 years in cancer research and have NEVER heard that before. In fact if you type ‘olive oil carcinogen’ into PubMed, you will find a whole lot of articles that suggest that olive oil has anti-cancer properties. I wouldn’t recommend heating olive oil over high heat, though, since it has a low smoking point. Hope this answers your question 🙂

      Reply

  26. Naomi

    Hey this looks delicious was just wondering about the chicken. If I used already cooked frozen chicken is it safe to reheat it again to make the meal and then reheat when eating? Or would you say it’s better to use fresh chicken?

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Naomi! I haven’t tried making this particular dish with already cooked/frozen chicken, but I have frozen lots of my slow cooker chicken recipes after cooking and they seem to keep well in the fridge after thawing. I can’t find any official food safety information about this though…so if you are nervous, go for the fresh chicken instead.

      Reply

  31. Jamie

    I’m following the SlimFast Plan (2 shakes, up to 3 100-calorie snacks, and 1 healthy 500-calorie meal per day), and these bowls are perfect–tasty, filling, and easy! I now have dinner for the next four nights. Thanks so much!

    Reply

  32. Glenda

    Made this today and it was absolutely amazing! Added a red pepper for part of the broccoli and peas and used brown rice but didn’t change anything else. I could have split the recipe into 6 and would have had plenty. I am trying freezing the other 3 bowls so we will see. I will definitely make this again!

    Reply

  34. Jessica

    A great alternative for soy sauce is liquid aminos…I made this today and swapped the soy sauce for liquid aminos, which a great, healthier alternative.

    Reply

  35. Adam

    Just made this tonight. Watch out for salt levels. Used low sodium broth and soy but might have overseasoned a bit. I would say leave it off the chicken since you can always add. Super excited for lunch this week.

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Lauren! I’ve never tried freezing this, actually I’ve never had much luck at freezing rice. If you try it would you let me know how it turns out?

      Reply

  44. Andrew

    This looks great and cant wait to try it. How much of each item (chicken, rice, vegetables) did you put into the containers? Thank you very much.

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Andrew, thanks so much! I think it’s about 1/2 cup cooked rice per bowl, 1/2 of a large chicken breast was about 1/3 cup? And lots of veggies, 1.5 cups per bowl. This is an estimation 😉 I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply

  45. Christina M Laney

    How do you reheat the rice without is turning into a hard gritty crunchy mess? I can never reheat rice, even if I pour liquid into it first.. All I have at work to reheat with is a microwave..

    Reply

    • Denise

      Hi Christina! My rice never ends up crunchy…maybe because I use a rice cooker? With this recipe you will have some sauce on the rice so hopefully that will help too.

      Reply

    • Karen

      Just sprinkle a little water on the rice and have a lid loose over it when you microwave it. I also use a rice cooker which may help to start.

      Reply

    • Sandy

      Have you tried putting a moist paper towel on top of your rice container and heating it that way while adding some water directly on the rice? That should work. Or you may want to put the rice on a plate and push the rice to the edges of the plate and leave the middle of the plate empty and try not to put too much time on the microwave, start with 30 secs and put 15 more secs and so forth to get the desired heat.

      Reply

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