These Sweet Chili Chicken Meal Prep Bowls with jasmine rice, bean sprouts & cilantro are a delicious make-ahead lunch idea!
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Ingredients in sweet chili chicken
This sweet chili chicken looks like it has a long ingredient list but I promise that the ingredients are simple, likely already on hand at home, and you can leave out whatever you don't have in terms of vegetables and toppings. Here's what you need to make this sweet chili chicken:
- chicken breasts
- egg
- cornstarch
- sweet chili sauce
- Sriracha
- jasmine rice
- Mixed vegetables (carrots, red pepper, cabbage)
- Toppings (bean sprouts, scallions, peanuts, etc.)
How to make this recipe
Here's exactly how to make this sweet chili chicken:
- In a large bowl, mix chicken together with egg and cornstarch, then saute with sweet chili sauce and sriracha until fully cooked.
- Meanwhile, cook the jasmine rice.
- Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. Add carrots, red pepper and red cabbage to the same skillet and saute together with soy sauce.
- Divide rice among four glass meal prep bowls and top with veggies, then chicken and your choice of optional toppings. Serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
You can make a number of substitutions to this recipe. Here's what you can do to modify it below.
Chicken –Â You can use chopped up boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts for more flavour – just be aware that chicken thighs have more fat than breasts.
Sriracha –Â You DO need the sweet chili sauce in this recipe and you can't really make any substitution for it, but you can leave out the sriracha if you'd like. Your chicken will just be less spicy.
Veggies –Â Use whatever veggies you have on hand at home! You can even just go with raw lettuce, bell pepper and cucumber if you don't feel like taking the extra step of cooking the veggies.
Rice –Â Feel free to use any type of rice you'd like, or you can use rice noodles or leave the rice out altogether for a lower carb dish.
Optional toppings
Here are some more topping ideas for your bowls:
- Bean sprouts
- Peanuts
- Lime wedge
- Sesame seeds
- Fresh herbs such as cilantro, basil and mint
- Extra sriracha
- Spicy mayo
- Green onions
- Fried onions
- Tortilla strips
Coating the chicken
I use a simple coating of cornstarch and egg to add a little bit of “breading” to the chicken and give it that traditional stir fry texture. The video shows breadcrumbs in addition, which you can add for extra coating but is not necessary. You can also toss your chicken in egg, then in flour before sautéing.
Which sweet chili sauce to use
I just use a no name brand of sweet chili sauce as they are all the same – you should be able to find a bottle in the Asian and stir fry sauces aisle of your local grocery store. You'll usually also find a big brand name version, either Frank's Red Hot or Thai Kitchen alongside the other options; any of them will work.
Storing and reheating
You can store these sweet chili chicken bowls up to 5 days in the fridge. To reheat, sprinkle some water overtop so that the chicken doesn't dry out, then microwave for 2-3 minutes. You can also leave the toppings off and add them fresh after reheating to ensure an extra bit of crunch, but that's optional.
Freezing sweet chili chicken
You can freeze the rice and chicken separately, but unfortunately the veggies won't hold up. Freeze the chicken and rice up to 3 months each, then you can defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before reheating as per the instructions above.
More tasty stir fry recipes
If you're looking for more 30-Minute Stir Fry ideas, I've got you covered!
Tools to make this recipe
- A rice cooker makes meal prep so much easier! This is the one I use.
- Get your square glass meal prep bowls here
- Here's the sweet chili sauce I use
- And of course I get all my free-range chicken breasts from Butcher Box
- If you run out of sriracha, buy some here.
Sweet Chili Thai Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 tbsp Sriracha
Jasmine rice
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
Vegetables
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup matchstick carrots
- 1 red pepper, sliced
- 1 cup Shredded red cabbage
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Topping ideas (all of these are optional add-ons to top your bowls with after)
- 1/2 cup bean sprouts
- 4 scallions, sliced
- 2 tbsp peanut pieces
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix chicken together with egg and cornstarch. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and season with salt, then saute for 6-7 min until browned. Add sweet chili sauce and sriracha and cook another 3-4 min until chicken is fully cooked.
- Meanwhile, cook jasmine rice according to package directions on the stove or in a rice cooker.
- Remove chicken from pan and move to a bowl, setting aside. Do not wipe skillet clean, instead adding 1 tbsp olive oil and sauteeing carrots, red pepper and red cabbage together with soy sauce for 2-3 minutes until softened.
- Divide rice among four glass meal prep bowls and top with veggie mixture. Add chicken and your choice of optional add-on toppings. Garnish with lime wedge (optional) and serve! Keeps in fridge up to 5 days.
Video
Nutrition
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Emily brobeck says
Could you use shrimp instead of chicken? If so.. what would you change?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Emily – you can totally do shrimp! I wouldn’t bread it, and shrimp will cook up in 2-3 minutes so be sure to adjust the cooking time there. Hope that helps!
Christina says
I made this with the VH Sweet Chili Thai sauce and it turned out delicious! I’m not fond of cabbage so I used extra bell pepper, matchstick carrots, and bean sprouts to make up for that. Some of the directions were a little tricky to follow (the video calls for breadcrumbs but the directions don’t, and there’s no direction on how long to sauté the veggies for so I guessed). Makes a lot and quite filling. Next time I think I’ll make a little more rice and stretch it to 5-6 servings instead of 4. I’ll definitely make this again in the future for my meal prep rotation.
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Christina – so happy you enjoyed! I just added timing to the veggies, my apologies for that omission. The video needs updating as the recipe was retested and reshot recently but the print recipe as published is correct.
Toad says
So good! I personally don’t find all Sweet Chilli Sauces the same. Most like VH are really one note, and very sweet. If I’m in a generic grocery store I tend to grab Blue Dragon’s. It has a good tang to it.
Thanks again for the tasty recipe!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed!