These Meal Prep Chicken & Butternut Squash Harvest Bowls are cooked on a sheet pan and filled with fall flavours thanks to squash and brussels sprouts!
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Ingredients in harvest bowls
Oh hi there fall lunches.
These Meal Prep Chicken & Butternut Squash Harvest Bowls are basically my favourite season made all in one on a sheet pan. It's lunch, it's dinner – really, whatever you decide. And the trick? Lots of garlic and sage! Aka my two favourite fall flavours. Here's everything you need to make these bowls:
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- honey mustard
- butternut squash
- brussels sprouts
- red pepper
- red onion
- garlic
- sage (fresh or dry)
How to make harvest sheet pan chicken
I don't know if you've noticed but I've been on a real squash and sweet potato kick lately. They're basically my go-to starches when the weather gets colder, and it helps that they're in season and super cheap at the grocery store. Here's how to make this delicious sheet pan recipe step-by-step:
- Cook wild rice according to package directions, preferably in a rice cooker.
- While rice is cooking, toss chicken with honey mustard. Add all veggies to baking sheet, tossing with olive oil, garlic, sage and salt & pepper. Add chicken and cook in oven for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
- Evenly divide all ingredients among four meal prep bowls. Serve and enjoy – leftovers last in fridge up to 5 days.
How to cook wild rice
Here's what you need to make 4 servings of wild rice:
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1 and 3/4 cups water
- 1 tsp butter
You'll add all ingredients to a rice cooker and just set it and forget it! You can also cook the above in a pot on the stove, which should take about 45 minutes. I prefer the rice cooker method because it's hands off and often provides a faster cook time but you can use what you have on hand.
Ingredient substitutions
This recipe is highly versatile! If you're looking to make some changes, here are my recommendations below.
Rice – You can use any type of rice with this recipe or even sub in quinoa for a hearty fall flavour. However, you can just leave the rice out altogether and that will make this sheet pan dinner even easier to make!
Veggies – Feel free to use any vegetables you'd like! You can sub out any of the veggies for ones you prefer. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, parsnips, beets, turnips and carrots are all great choices.
Squash – Instead of the squash you can use sweet potatoes! They are often easier to peel and prepare than squash.
Chicken – You can use any type of meat of your choosing – sausage would also go great here! If you'd like to make this recipe vegetarian, you can also leave out the chicken.
Seasonings – I use honey mustard on the chicken and season the veggies with garlic and sage. You can use fresh or dried sage, or you can also add/sub in rosemary or thyme.
Storing and reheating
These harvest bowls reheat very well as leftovers! Just make sure to divide the entire recipe into meal prep bowls (you'll get 4 to 5 servings with this recipe), and then sprinkle a bit of water overtop before reheating. From there, microwave for 2-3 minutes. These bowls will last in the fridge up to 5 days.
Freezing the chicken and rice
You can't freeze this entire cooked recipe (or the raw ingredients), but you can freeze components of it. I recommend freezing the raw chicken in the honey mustard, or freeze the chicken after it's been cooked. You can also freeze the cooked rice so that it cuts down on your prep time when you do go to make these bowls.
Sheet pan chicken marinade
I just use a basic honey mustard to marinate this chicken, and that's all that's really needed! If you don't have honey mustard on hand, you can mix together dijon and honey to make a very similar marinade. You can also just season your chicken with the same seasonings that you use on your vegetables (olive oil, garlic, sage, salt & pepper) then add a little bit of lemon juice.
More sheet pan chicken recipes
If you're looking for more sheet pan recipes I've got you covered! Here are some other favourites:
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- This is the wild rice blend I use
Chicken & Butternut Squash Buddha Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breasts diced
- 1/4 cup honey mustard
- 1 cup butternut squash, diced
- 1 cup brussels sprouts, sliced in half
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (alternative: 1 tsp dried)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Wild rice
- 1 cup wild rice
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 1 tsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 F. Cook wild rice according to package directions on stove top or in a rice cooker (highly recommend a rice cooker so you can set it and forget it!)
- Toss chicken with honey mustard. Add all veggies to baking sheet, tossing with olive oil, garlic, sage and salt & pepper. Add chicken and cook in oven for 20-25 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
- Evenly divide all ingredients among four meal prep bowls. Serve and enjoy - leftovers last in fridge up to 5 days.
Video
Nutrition
Rebecca says
I wonder if these would reheat ok in the oven. No microwave here
Taylor Stinson says
I would reheat in a skillet instead with a little bit of water sprinkled overtop 🙂
marianna friday says
Do you thaw out the chicken when freezing it raw marinated in honey mustard? How do you thaw the chicken? Also how do you thaw the rice like you mentioned being able to freeze? And do all of these veggies freeze well? Just need some tips on making it freezer friendly and tips to table. Thank you!
Taylor Stinson says
To be honest, this isn’t the best freezer friendly recipe. You can freeze the raw chicken in marinade or cook the chicken and freeze it afterward. You can also freeze the cooked rice. You can’t freeze the veggies. You can microwave the frozen rice for a few minutes to serve with the chicken and you can also let the raw chicken defrost in the fridge overnight then bake with the rest of the veggies. Alternatively, you can microwave cooked frozen chicken to serve alongside the fresh cooked veggies. It may make more sense to freeze the rice to cut down on prep/cook time and then just do the sheet pan fresh altogether but there are options if you need to do the chicken ahead of time too.
Louise says
Hi I was wondering if it is safe to reheat rice for lunch time
Taylor Stinson says
Yes it is!
Ilona says
I made this great recipe last night subbing with fresh white turnip, beets and carrots. Enjoyed by both hubby and I. My oven time was somewhat longer as always, each oven is a little different.
This recipe will become a star in my Fall line-up! Thanx Taylor
cathy C. says
This looks like a great dinner idea. Wondering though, what is the source of all the fat & saturated fat ? I am meal prepping for a heart patient so the stats are important to me. Thank you!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Cathy..I’m not a nutrition expert so all I can guess is the olive oil? Or maybe there’s been a misprint with my recipe plugin because I don’t think it should be so high in fat. If you need to calculate it exactly you could plug all the ingredients in an app like MyFitnessPal!
Lt says
The mustard is the main fat offender from what i can tell.
Lori says
There are usually 0 grams of fat in mustard. The honey mustard would have some sugar carbs, if anyone is watching those.