Jerk-Inspired Chicken Rice Bowls {Meal Prep Lunch}

These Jerk-Inspired Chicken Rice Bowls are the most delicious meal prep lunch idea with mango salsa, homemade jerk marinade and brown rice.

Ingredients and substitutions

• Chicken breast – chicken thighs are a juicy cut of meat that can be used in place of chicken breasts.
• Brown rice – feel free to use long grain rice, white rice, or a different grain entirely like barley, farro or couscous.
• Sugar snap peas – use snow peas, green beans or another green of your choice. Feel free to leave them out entirely as well.
• Jalapeno peppers – use pickled jalapenos to reduce the heat level or leave them out entirely.
• Avocado – use fresh diced avocado or guacamole for this bowl.

Jerk-inspired marinade

• Olive oil – any neutral oil like avocado or grapeseed oil will work in place of olive oil.
• Lime juice – fresh or bottled lime juice is best but lemon juice will work in a pinch.
• Brown sugar – make your own brown sugar using a combination of white sugar and molasses.
• Soy sauce – tamari or coconut aminos are the best substitutes for soy sauce.
• Sweet onion – use yellow or white onions in place of sweet onions.
• Garlic – use fresh or jarred minced garlic.
• Allspice – cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon will all provide a similar flavour.
• Thyme – oregano would be the best substitute here.
• Nutmeg – mace is a great swap for nutmeg.
• Scotch bonnet peppers – try using jalapeno or serrano peppers instead.
• Salt – to taste.

Mango salsa

• Mango – pineapple or peach will also give a tropical summer flavour to this recipe.
• Red pepper – replace with another bell pepper colour (like orange or yellow) or leave this out entirely.
• Red onion – use a sweet onion in place of red onion for a milder taste.
• Cilantro – if you don’t like cilantro, use parsley instead.
• Lime juice –  fresh or bottled lime or lemon juice can be used in this recipe.
• Salt – to taste.

How to make a chicken rice bowl

1. Make the jerk-inspired marinade.
2. Pour the marinade over the chicken.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Mix together the mango salsa.
5. Cook the rice.
6. Assemble your bowls.
7. Store in the fridge for later or eat fresh.

Meal prepping this recipe

This recipe is great for meal prep – it’s packed with protein and veggies and stores really well. When it comes to meal prepping, I like to store individual serving sizes in glass meal prep containers. That way, all I have to do when I’m ready to eat is pull a container out of the fridge, pop it in the microwave and dig in! Easy-peasy.

For this recipe, I suggest storing the mango salsa, avocado and sugar snap peas separately if you plan on reheating this dish, since all those ingredients don’t do well heated up. If you want to eat it cold, you can definitely store everything altogether.

Frequently Asked Questions

Storing and reheating

This jerk-inspired chicken will last in the fridge for up to 4 days, making it a great meal prep lunch or dinner idea. Wait until the dish has cooled down and then transfer individual servings into meal prep containers. You will want to store the mango salsa, avocado and sugar snap peas separately from the chicken and rice. This is so that you can warm up your dish without warming up the mango salsa – warm mango salsa and avocado may not taste so great!

To reheat, put your meal prep container in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until fully warmed then enjoy! I suggest sprinkling some water over top to avoid that leftover chicken taste. If you want to eat your leftovers cold, feel free to store the whole dish as one and enjoy straight from the fridge the next day.

Freezing this dish

You can also freeze this dish without the salsa and avocado in airtight glass containers for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy, defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating.

You can also reheat from frozen by sprinkling some water over top to keep the rice and chicken from drying out and microwaving for 5-6 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top it all off with some freshly made mango salsa and diced avocado and dig in!

More chicken meal prep bowls

• Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
• Spiralized Pad Thai Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
• Sheet Pan Greek Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
• Chicken Falafel Bowls

Meal prep tools for this recipe

• Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing the leftovers.
• I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.