These Indian-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep Bowls are a tasty sheet pan meal idea ready in 45 minutes – they've even got pakoras!
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How to make this recipe
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Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix chicken together with marinade ingredients and let marinate for 10-15 minutes.
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Toss cauliflower, potatoes and red onion with the ingredients under the aloo gobi spice heading, along with olive oil on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Mix peas into cauliflower mixture.
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Add chicken and pakoras to the same baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turning pakoras and tossing chicken halfway through.
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Remove from oven, and serve!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – If you don't have olive oil, feel free to use canola, sunflower, or avocado oil.
- Cauliflower – Cauliflower is a main part of this dish, you will want to make sure to have this ingredient. If you're not a fan of cauliflower, you can prepare the dish with just the potatoes.
- Russet potato – Yukon Gold potatoes are a good alternative to Russet potatoes
- Red onion – Red onions will compliment the flavour palette of the meal, but yellow onions or no onions will work just fine.
- Peas – If you don't have peas or don't like them, feel free to leave them out of this recipe.
- Frozen pakoras – Frozen pakoras are a tasty side dish to this meal. If you can't find them or aren't interested in including them, you can leave them out.
Chicken marinade
- Chicken breasts – Though chicken breasts are the leaner option, chicken thighs are a great substitution.
- Plain yogurt – Feel free to opt out of plain yogurt and use a plain greek yogurt or low-fat yogurt instead.
- Lemon juice – Stick to lemon juice, but if you're in a pinch, you can use lime juice or leave out all together.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic is ideal but a garlic paste or jarred minced garlic will also do the trick.
- Turmeric – If you don't have turmeric, you can replace this with curry powder.
- Garam Masala – Substitute this with cardamom or if you're really in a pinch, leave out altogether and double the ground ginger.
- Cumin – Ground coriander can be used instead of cumin.
- Ground dried ginger – In replacement of ground dried ginger, minced fresh ginger can also work.
- Salt
Aloo Gobi Spice
- Curry – If you don't have any curry powder, you can make your own with a mixture of cumin, coriander, turmeric, black pepper and chili powder/flakes.
- Coriander – Add extra cumin to replace coriander powder.
- Turmeric – See substitution notes above.
- Cumin – See substitution notes above.
- Ground dried ginger – See substitution notes above.
- Salt
What are pakoras?
Pakoras are a fried vegetable fritter that originates from Indian cuisine. It's known as a snack served by street food vendors in various subcontinents in India. Pakoras are a side dish packed with flavour and can turn even the most boring meal into something to look forward to. When eaten alone, pakoras are often enjoyed with a special dipping sauce, or chutney, made out of either creamy cilantro or tamarind sauce.
Where to find pakoras
You can find pakoras in the freezer aisle of your local grocery store's International Foods section. If you're having a hard time finding them in your local grocery store, you can also try a South Asian supermarket in your area or buy them fresh from a local Indian restaurant!
Storing and reheating
To store your dish as future meals for the week, you will want to take your meal prep containers and create your bowls to your liking. Once you've prepared each bowl, place your containers into the fridge. Your bowls will stay fresh for up to four days! When you're ready to enjoy your chicken tandoori bowls, warm up your dish in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Freezing the chicken
If you have extra chicken on hand, feel free to freeze it for another time! You can freeze the chicken in the marinade or freeze the cooked chicken for another meal. Once you're ready to enjoy your chicken, defrost the meat in the fridge overnight and then follow the cooking instructions above to enjoy!
More Indian-Inspired Dishes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Glass meal prep bowls are great for reheating these bowls
- These Bento box containers are perfect for packing snacks and lunches together (I usually place the pakoras in the compartments to separate them)
- Restock your freezer with free-range chicken from Butcher Box!
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Indian-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head cauliflower, chopped
- 1 medium-sized russet potato, diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup peas
- 8 frozen pakoras I like the Spice it up Foods brand
Chicken marinade
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tbsp plain yogurt (Greek or low fat is fine!)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp garam masala (sub in cardamom or if you're really in a pinch, leave out altogether and double the ground ginger)
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
Aloo gobi spice
- 1 tsp curry
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix chicken together with marinade ingredients and let marinate for 10-15 minutes.
- Toss cauliflower, potatoes and red onion with the ingredients under the aloo gobi spice heading, along with olive oil on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven. Mix peas into cauliflower mixture.
- Add chicken and pakoras to the same baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turning pakoras and tossing chicken halfway through.
- Remove from oven, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Ali says
Was the chicken supposed to be cut up before cooking? I didn’t see instructions about that and only realized afterwards that the pictures show it in small pieces.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Ali = yes it is! Although it shouldn’t make too much of a difference if you do it whole – maybe just 5 minutes more cooking time.
Tomiko S Mosby says
Hi Taylor,
I am counting my macros so I wanted to know for accuracy purposes: did you count the pakora in your nutrition facts? I’m thinking I can do without them so I wanted to make sure.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Tomiko – I believe I did yes! I don’t have the bag in front of me to give you the nutritional info on the pakoras unfortunately but you may be able to look it up on the brand’s website.
Alana Kaplan says
Do you put the cauliflower back into the oven with the chicken ?
Taylor Stinson says
Yes! You add the chicken and pakoras to the baking sheet with the cauliflower then cook it altogether 🙂