These Coconut Mango Chicken Meal Prep Bowls with basmati rice, black bean salsa, avocado and mango sauce make for delicious lunches!
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How to make coconut mango chicken
- Preheat BBQ to med-high heat (or oven to 425 F).
- While the BBQ is preheating, cook rice in a rice cooker according to package directions.
- Make the mango marinade and then divide marinade into two separate bowls. Marinate chicken cutlets in the one bowl of marinade for 10 min while leaving the other bowl untouched of raw meat.
- Make corn salsa.
- Add chicken to grill and cook for 5 min per side (or bake for 15 minutes).
- Divide rice among four glass meal prep bowls. Add 1 piece of chicken to each bowl and top with extra reserved mango sauce, corn salsa, shredded coconut and cilantro.
- Add slices of avocado and refrigerate up to 5 days.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Chicken breast – chicken cutlets are harder to find than chicken breast but will allow you to opt out of cutting the chicken breasts very thinly. Chicken thighs are also a great, juicy alternative to chicken breasts.
- Avocado – use fresh sliced avocado or add in fresh guacamole if that’s preferred.
- Shredded unsweetened coconut – shredded sweetened coconut can also work as well as plain coconut chips. Leave it out entirely if you’re not a fan of coconut.
- Cilantro (to garnish) – if you’re really not a fan of cilantro then leave it out altogether.
Mango marinade
- Mango – use
- Olive oil – any neutral oil can replace olive oil. Some alternatives would be sunflower oil or avocado oil.
- Lime juice – fresh or bottled lime juice will both work.
- Honey – agave nectar, stevia syrup or maple syrup are all great alternatives to honey.
- Sriracha – any other hot sauce can be used but for a similar taste use sambal oelek, an Indonesian hot sauce or a Louisiana hot sauce.
- Garlic – use fresh or jarred minced garlic.
- Salt (to taste)
Corn salsa
- Corn – if you’re not a fan of corn, replace the corn with tomatoes and replace the black beans with yellow or red onions to create a fresh pico de gallo for the recipe.
- Black beans – see substitution notes above.
- Red pepper – use any other bell pepper colour that you prefer.
- Red onion – yellow onion or sweet onions will work well in this salsa.
- Lime juice – use fresh or bottled lime juice.
- Cilantro (to garnish) – if you’re really not a fan of cilantro then leave it out altogether.
- Salt (to taste)
Jasmine rice
- Water
- Jasmine rice – basmati rice will also work well in this recipe. If you want an alternative to rice, feel free to use quinoa as well.
- Butter – this is optional to create a smoother texture for the rice.
- Salt (to taste)
An important note about the marinade
A great tip for meal prep bowl recipes that require a chicken marinade is doubling the marinade! By doubling the marinade, you're able to use the other half as a dressing or sauce for the bowl. Double the marinade, double the flavour!
Keep in mind: if deciding to double the marinade, make sure to mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl separate from the chicken to avoid contamination of the whole batch. Divide the mixture in two servings and save the uncontaminated version (the one not used to marinade the chicken) for after you're done cooking everything as a dressing or sauce. You can even keep this marinade in the fridge for up to a week in case you want to make this recipe again later on.
Making this recipe in the oven
If you don't have a BBQ, no need to worry! You can cook the chicken the same exact way in the oven – just let it cook in the sauce in an oven-safe dish at 425 F for 12-15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked. To help you out, I've included the oven cooking instructions in the recipe card below!
Storing and reheating
You can store this mango chicken in the fridge up to 5 days. To reheat this recipe, sprinkle some water overtop and microwave for 1-3 minutes. The purpose of sprinkling water over the dish before microwaving is to prevent the chicken and rice from drying out. If reheating, you will want to remove the avocado, but the corn salsa is fine to heat. These bowls are also quite enjoyable cold, so if you don't have a microwave around, don't feel the need to heat if you don't want to!
Freezing the chicken
You can freeze the leftover cooked chicken and rice in this dish, but not the salsa or avocado. If freezing, be sure to pack in individual portions in glass containers, then defrost in the fridge overnight. From there, you can reheat using the same instructions above. If you add fresh avocado and salsa after reheating, you won't even be able to tell it's a freezer meal!
More meal prep chicken recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into your weekly lunches
- Stock up on jasmine rice while you're at it.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
Mango Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise (or 4 chicken cutlets)
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- Extra cilantro, for garnish
Mango marinade
- 1 mango
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp Sriracha
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp salt
Corn salsa
- 1 cup corn
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 3/4 tsp salt
Jasmine rice
- 3/4 cups water
- 1/2 cup jasmine rice
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat BBQ to med-high heat (alternatively, preheat oven to 425 F). Cook rice in a rice cooker according to package directions.
- Blend ingredients for mango marinade together in a blender, then divide marinade into two separate bowls. Marinate chicken cutlets in the one bowl of marinade for 10 min while leaving the other bowl untouched (do not get this near the raw chicken!)
- Meanwhile, mix together ingredients for corn salsa.
- Add chicken to grill and cook for 5 min per side (alternatively, bake for 12-15 minutes). Remove from heat. Divide rice among four glass meal prep bowls. Add 1 piece of chicken to each bowl and top with extra reserved mango sauce, corn salsa, shredded coconut and cilantro. Add slices of avocado and refrigerate up to 5 days.
Video
Nutrition
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Sandra Jeffers says
My daughter just finished making this recipe. She is working a contract job and staying with me for a month. Instead of buying cafeteria food at her work, she now has homemade food to take. She had me try it and it was wonderful. I will be making it soon for my husband. Thanks for sharing.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed Sandra!! 🙂
Danielle Taggart says
Been meal prepping lunches for a few weeks now and this is by far the best yet! Even Hubby agrees. I added a chopped jalapeno to the salsa for an extra kick!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you liked it Danielle!! 🙂
Jess says
How do you reheat when using this recipe as meal prep?
Taylor Stinson says
Reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes on high 🙂
Kimber Hays says
How do you keep the avocado from turning brown
Taylor Stinson says
You can put some lemon or lime juice overtop!
Tiffany says
Hi. This looks delicious. Can this meal be put in the freezer to eat at a later date?
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks Tiffany! You should be able to freeze the meat up to 3 months – defrost in the fridge overnight then sprinkle some water overtop before reheating for 2 minutes or so in the microwave!
Hanna says
I am planning to serve this as an Easter lunch for the family. They love chicken and rice with the right accompanying ingredients.