These satay chicken meal prep lunch bowls can be prepped on the weekend and enjoyed throughout the week for a tasty, low carb lunch. You’re going to want to drizzle that peanut sauce on everything!
My parents used to have a dinner rule: you had to have three colors on your dinner plate and had to eat three different colors in order to get dessert.
I seem to have adopted this rule and expanded with it, because hi my name is Denise and I like to eat a rainbow!
While it is true that ugly food can be some of the tastiest (just look at this Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken Curry and this Mediterranean Chicken Quinoa Casserole for confirmation), I also think that rainbow food tastes darn delicious.
Today's rainbow satay chicken meal prep lunch bowls are actually adapted from this Satay Chicken Salad recipe from waaaay back in 2014. It was one of our favorite summer recipes and I wanted to make a meal prep version of it!
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These satay chicken meal prep lunch bowls use chicken thighs, because I find they hold up better over four days than chicken breast. Step one? Get the chicken thighs in a satay sauce bath.
The dressing for this recipe doubles as a marinade, so that means prep once use twice. Multitasking for the win!
While your chicken marinates, get your veggies chopped: crunchy crunch crunch: cabbage, carrots and bell peppers. The original recipe had bean sprouts but they just won't hold up for 4 days.
Next you're going to grill your chicken. I actually used my old school George Foreman grill and they were ready in just 5 minutes. If you have an outdoor grill, they may take 5 minutes per side. Another perk of using chicken thighs: they are hard to overcook!
Allow your chicken to rest, slice into strips, and add to your veggies. You can toss everything in the vinaigrette right away, or wait until you serve. Your choice!
These satay chicken meal prep lunch bowls are perfect for summer in so many ways: no oven means your house stays cool, low carb to keep things light, and full of tropical satay flavor, so you can feel like you got to go somewhere exotic, even if you are stuck at home.
Tips for perfect chicken satay meal prep lunch bowls:
- I love these 2 cup meal prep containers
- This salad dressing shaker was perfect for prepping the dressing/marinade
- chicken breasts may be swapped for thighs but cook time will be different
- for more meal prep lunch ideas, check out these Mexican Chicken and Cauliflower Rice Lunch Bowls and this collection of 19 Healthy Lunch Meal Prep Ideas
Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Satay Chicken Lunch Bowls
Ingredients
Dressing/Marinade
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water adjust to get the consistency you'd like in your vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1.5 teaspoons lime juice
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salad
- 12 oz boneless skinless chicken thighs (roughly 4)
- 3 cups shredded cabbage
- 2 carrots shredded
- 1 bell pepper thinly julienned
Garnish
- green onions chopped
- peanuts
Instructions
- Stir together all marinade/dressing ingredients.
- Remove ⅓ cup and add to a small dish along with the chicken thighs. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes (up to 24 hours).
- While chicken is marinating, prepare the veggies and divide evenly between 4 2 cup capacity storage containers.
- To cook chicken:Heat an outdoor grill over medium-high heat. Spray with oil to prevent sticking.
- Grill chicken thighs for 5 minutes per side, until cooked through.
- Alternatively, pre-heat a George Foreman grill for 5 minutes, then grill chicken thighs for 5 minutes total or until cooked through.
- Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and adding to the storage containers.
- To serve:Either dress the salad ahead of time or right before serving. Enjoy cold.
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Tips:
Nutrition Information
© Sweet Peas & Saffron - Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Dressing/marinade adapted from Food.com
Beth Melander says
So good! Loaded up on peppers, carrots and I added diced cucumbers. I thought the dressing was perfect! I also added cold sticky rice to my husband's bowl, just to bulk it up for dinner. SO SO GOOD!
Helen says
My husband and I both liked this dish. I added glass noodles to it because I wanted additional textures. I also let the sauce sit for an hour and made sure to stir it really well. I feel like the sauce was very balanced.
Brian Bell says
This was delicious. I used bagged shredded cabbage because I'm lazy (lol). The sauce was perfectly balanced and delicious. I tried a few other recipes for similar sauces over the years and there all pretty much the same. To the people complaining about too much vinegar or too much sesame oil, please don't tell someone there recipe is bad or wrong because its not suited to your taste.
Denise Bustard says
Hi Brian! So happy to hear you enjoyed. Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🙂
Erin says
There is way way too much sesame oil in that marinade. I had to add in extra everything else to make it not taste bad. 2 tsp might taste better.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Erin, thanks for your feedback!
Mel says
The dressing had a really strong taste of vinegar (I did use rice vinegar). I added a ton more peanut butter, plus additional brown sugar, ginger, and red pepper flakes to try and cut the taste. It was ok. I don’t know that I’d make it again.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Mel, thanks for sharing your feedback!
Meagan says
This there anyway I could make this a warm cooked meal instead of a cold salad🤔
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Meagan, I am sure you could stir fry the veggies, then serve warm with the satay chicken! We haven't tested it, but it sounds like it would be tasty! You might also enjoy this lemon sesame chicken stir fry instead -it is served warm. I hope that helps!
Beth says
I thought this was absolutely awful. Is the amount of vinegar a typo?
Denise Bustard says
Sorry you didn't enjoy. No typo.
Shourya Watwani says
hey beth, did you perhaps use white or normal vinegar? the flavour profile of white vinegar and rice vinegar are completely different. rice vinegar is sweet, subtle and slightly savoury so the amount seems to be quite normal. perhaps you could give it another try with rice vinegar?
Simon says
Hey! I suggest a saving opttion on the website, Id love to save the recipes I want to try such as this one!
Denise Bustard says
Hi Simon, thank you for the suggestion! I would love to have that option available some day.
Bonnie says
My husband and I have a private facebook group for our favorite recipes. We just post the links there with a title so it's easily searching able. i.e. Chicken - then all the chicken recipes pop and you scroll through them. I guess Pinterest is also a good idea but my husband hasn't jumped on the pinterest train yet.
Carmen says
This was DELICIOUS!!! My husband loved it. This is definitely being added to our lunch rotation. THANK YOU.
Denise says
Hi Carmen! I'm so happy to hear your husband enjoyed! Thanks so much for coming back and leaving a review 🙂
laurence says
bonsoir
je voudrais savoir ou trouver vs boites pour mettre le repas ?
Denise says
Bonjour! Mon francais n'est pas tres bien ces jours 😉 J'utelise les Snapware 2 tasse recipient en verre: http://amzn.to/2wJCosF
Kate says
I made this for my lunch today and it was SO good! Will definitely be making again! I used bagged coleslaw mix to make things quick & easy and also used honey & sriracha in the sauce instead of brown sugar & red pepper flakes (just based on what I had on hand) and it was delicious! Will def be trying some of your other meal prep ideas soon!
Denise says
Awesome! So happy you liked them, Kate, thanks for reporting back 🙂