Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl

Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl

A simple bowl packed with healthy carbs and protein. Try this Lime Quinoa Chicken bowl with red cabbage and carrots in your meal prep this week.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Calore Counting, Chicken, Macor Counting, Meal Prep
Servings: 4

Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Heat a small sauce pan over medium heat, add water and quinoa to the sauce pan, season with pepper and garlic powder. Cover with a lid and cook on medium for 15 – 20 minutes, until the water has soaked completely into the quinoa.
  • While the quinoa is cooking, start prepping the chicken.
  • Heat a large stove top pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breast on both sides, with black pepper and garlic powder.
  • Once the pan is hot, add the oil to the pan. Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
  • Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…If not, give each side another minute…your pan wasn't hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 6 minutes, then flip and cover again for another 6 minutes on the other side.
  • After 6 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on 6 oz breast. Although, It is always best to check the internal temperature of chicken before serving.
  • Once the quinoa is done, squeeze the juice from an entire lime into the quinoa, then fluff with a fork. Place the quinoa on your servings plates or in your meal prep containers.
  • Once the chicken is done, cut it into bits size pieces and arrange on top of the quinoa.
  • Then top the quinoa and chicken with the shaved cabbage and carrots.
  • Sprinkle with a little cilantro, a drizzle of peanut sauce, and serve with a lime wedge.
Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl

Macro Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl
Amount Per Serving
Calories 382 Calories from Fat 88
% Daily Value*
Fat 9.8g15%
Saturated Fat 0.7g4%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.5g
Cholesterol 114.6mg38%
Sodium 503.1mg22%
Potassium 170.1mg5%
Carbohydrates 36.2g12%
Fiber 4.9g20%
Sugar 10.5g12%
Protein 42.2g84%
Vitamin A 217.2IU4%
Vitamin C 30.1mg36%
Calcium 15.5mg2%
Iron 12.4mg69%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Are you meal prepping? Do you count your macros or calories? Check out my notes below on how you can incorporate this Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl into your meal prep. Also how you can easily adjust protein, carbs, and fats to meet your macro requirements.

NOTES FOR MEAL PREP:

This lime quinoa chicken bowl is a wonderful recipe for meal prepping. You can store each serving in the fridge for up to 1 week and eat it as it fits your meal plan. When its time to reheat, simply place in the microwave with a lid loosely covering your container. Cook for 60 – 90 seconds, stopping to mix up the ingredients half way through. Then squeeze the lime wedge over top and enjoy!

NOTES FOR COUNTING MACROS:

PROTEIN:

The main source of protein in this recipe is the chicken, making this recipe super easy to increase or decrease the amount of protein per serving.

  • Every 1 ounce of chicken has 8.8 grams of protein.
CARBOHYDRATE:

The quinoa in this recipe is what provides most of the carbohydrates. Again, another easy ingredient to adjust in this recipe.

  • For every 38 grams (1/4 cup) of quinoa there is 27 carbs.

If making adjustments to the quinoa, you will also want to make adjustments to the amount of water you cook the quinoa in. Using 1.5 times water to quinoa.

FAT:

This lime quinoa chicken bowl is relatively low in the amount of fat it contains. I try to keep most of my recipes low in fat to allow for the addition of other ingredients, or to allow for additional fatty snacks such as nuts throughout the day.

  • This recipe would be really great with a little avocado. If you are looking to increase the fat in this recipe I highly recommend adding a few slices of avocado. For every 35 grams (about 1/4 avocado) you can increase the fats by 7.3 grams.
  • However you can also adjust the fat levels by switching from chicken breast to chicken thighs. Every 1 ounce of chicken thigh increases or decreases your fat macro by 1 gram. But it is important to keep in mind, by switching to this different cut of chicken you will also be decreasing your protein by 1.8 grams for every 1 ounce of chicken thigh vs chicken breast.
Tip for meal prepping avocado:
  • You can pre-cut your avocado: Toss your avocado chunks with a little lime juice, then portion into zip lock bags. Suck all the air out of the zip lock bag and store in the fridge. Typically my pre-cut avocados will last 2-3 days before starting to brown if I sucked all the air out.
Tip if you choose to switch to chicken thigh:
  • If you do chose to make the change from breast to thigh, you will cook the chicken thighs following the same chicken breast directions. 

When making adjustments to the macros in this lime quinoa chicken bowl you will want to keep in mind the number of servings you are making.

Lime Quinoa Chicken Bowl
Dirty Rice with Sweet Potato and Chicken

Looking for another easy Chicken prep recipe? Check out my:

Dirty Rice with Sweet Potatoes and Chicken

Do you need new meal prep containers? I prefer glass containers as they last longer, don’t scratch, they are microwave safe, dishwasher safe, you can bake right in them, and my list goes on. Check out a few of my favorites below. 

Would you like to learn more about counting macros? Click here

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