I went down the rabbit hole of looking at diet or macro-friendly meal delivery services online the other day. It’s a booming business these days and I was really curious about what kind of food these services offered. What I found were incredibly simple meals offered at a super high price (IMHO) for the convenience of not having to prepare them yourself. So, I wanted to offer a DIY option for those that can’t afford $9-$12 per meal to have them delivered. These Salsa Chicken Meal Prep Bowls area really easy to make, super satisfying, and customizable to fit your tastes (or macros). ;)
And hopefully I’ll have a few more options like this in the coming weeks!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
The Simple Meal Prep Formula
Meal prep is super easy. Just pick a protein, pick a vegetable, pick a carb (or a second vegetable), and add a fat or sauce if desired. For this southwest inspired meal prep I combined shredded chicken cooked in salsa, roasted bell peppers, brown rice, and a dollop of sour cream. You can adjust the quantities of any of these four components to make the meal fit your preferred macro ratio.
Make Your Salsa Chicken Meal Prep Fancy
I kept this meal simple to mimic the type of meals that you’d get with the meal delivery services, but you could always make this more fancy, if you prefer. Try adding more toppings like fresh jalapeño, pickled red onions, or even some tortilla crisps. I added a dollop of sour cream to the top of mine, but you could also do a little cheese.
Salsa Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Servings 4Ingredients
Brown Rice
- 1 cup brown rice ($0.60*)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1.75 cup water ($0.00)
Salsa Chicken
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.3 lbs. total) ($5.62)
- 16 oz. salsa ($1.99)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth ($0.07)
- 1 tsp chili powder** ($0.10)
Roasted Bell Peppers
- 3 bell peppers ($2.99)
- 1 Tbsp oil ($0.04)
- pinch salt ($0.02)
Toppings
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.22)
- 4 Tbsp sour cream ($0.11)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Cook the brown rice according to the package directions. (Add rice, salt, and water to a pot, cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 35 minutes.)
- While the rice is cooking, begin the chicken. Add the chicken breasts to a medium sauce pot along with the salsa, chicken broth, and chili powder. Give everything a brief stir.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once the liquid starts boiling, turn the heat down to low and let the chicken simmer over low for 30 minutes. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time, adjusting the heat slightly if needed.
- While the rice and chicken are cooking, prepare the bell peppers. Slice the bell peppers into 1/2-wide strips. Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with cooking oil. Toss the peppers to coat them in oil, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
- Roast the peppers in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until they are browned on the edges, stirring once half way through.
- After the chicken has simmered for 30 minutes, remove it from the salsa mixture and use two forks to shred the meat. Return the shredded chicken to the pot of salsa and stir to combine.
- Once the rice has rested, the chicken has been shredded, and the peppers have finished roasting, it’s time to build the bowls.
- Add about 3/4 cup rice to each container, followed by 1/4 of the roasted peppers, and 1/4 of the shredded chicken. Spoon the salsa mixture from the pot over the shredded chicken in the containers. This will act as a sauce to help moisten the entire dish. Top with sliced green onions and a dollop of sour cream and serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 4 days.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Chef’s Knife
- Color Cutting Boards
- Enamelware Sheet Pan
- Pyrex Glass Meal Prep
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Salsa Chicken Meal Prep – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Begin cooking 1 cup brown rice according to the package directions (the rice I am using specified 1 cup rice, 1.75 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, simmer for 35 minutes).
Once the rice has cooked, turn the heat off and leave it on the stove with the lid in place until the chicken and peppers are finished cooking (they should finish soon after the rice finishes).
While the rice is cooking, begin the chicken. Place two boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1.3 lbs. total) to a medium sauce pot and add a 16 oz. jar of salsa (I’m using cilantro lime salsa from Aldi).
Also add 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1 tsp chili powder to the pot with the chicken and salsa. Give everything a brief stir, place a lid on the pot, and bring it up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer over low for 30 minutes. Make sure it’s simmering the entire time, adjusting the heat slightly if needed.
While the rice and chicken are cooking, begin working on the bell peppers. Slice three bell peppers into 1/2-inch wide strips.
Place the sliced bell peppers on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 Tbsp oil, and toss until the peppers are well coated in oil. Add a pinch of salt, then transfer the peppers to the oven.
Roast the bell peppers for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re browned on the edges, stirring once half way through.
After the chicken has simmered for 30 minutes, remove the chicken to a cutting board and use two forks to shred the meat.
Return the shredded chicken to the salsa in the pot and stir to combine.
To build the Salsa Chicken Meal Prep Bowls, place about 3/4 cup cooked rice in each container, followed by 1/4 of the roasted bell peppers, and 1/4 of the shredded chicken. Spoon the salsa liquid from the sauce pot over the chicken in each container.
Finish the Salsa Chicken Meal Prep Bowls by topping with sliced green onion and a dollop of sour cream (or the toppings of your choice).
An “easy 5 stars” to this one! Really easy to make, satisfying/flavourful, and travels well too work. I’d give it an extra star for the fact that it makes my wrinkly old fridge peppers and freezer burnt chicken thighs taste just fine! It’s not up to “fake-out take-out” level fame, but for a weekday favourite, it’s a winner :)
How do you heat this up?
I plan on taking this to work, where they have a microwave and and oven. Would the microwave work?
Microwave would be just fine!
This was super easy to make and extremely delicious!
This was really yummy and super simple to make. I used rotisserie chicken already shredded and just boiled it for 10/15 min, I also substituted the rice for garlic couscous and that was really good together. Next time I’ll go by some of the other reviews and add some onion in my bell peppers. Great baseline recipe that’s easily adjustable to your preferences and liking
Great meal! I did have to make twice/three times as much rice though.
This was G double O dee GOOD. I used more chicken broth because I didn’t thaw my chicken first. It still turned out okay. I also used trader Joe’s salsa. Flavors came together nicely.
I’ve been trying to find some meal prep recipes that I can eat for multiple days without getting tired of the taste, and I’m already on week 2 with this meal! So easy to put together and it’s great.
This was delicious! Had to a make a few changes tho, as my salsa was less chunky. At the end of cooking, I added arrowroot starch+water to make the salsa thicker and more sauce like. Delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I have made this twice now and it is absolutely delicious!! I used two bell peppers and one onion.
I made this today for lunches this week. I tasted it and didnt really get much salsa or chili powder taste so I will just keep trying different kinds. I added some onions with the bell peppers and plan on using this chicken and rice for burritos/fajitas (I’m not looking for macros just budget friendly foods haha) Even with the lack of salsa flavor (more than likely due to the brand I used) it is still a very hearty and savory dish! Cant wait to enjoy it this week!
Can i freeze this ?
This should freeze pretty well. :)
Can this be frozen?
This one would probably freeze pretty well. :)
I’m not a fan of cooked bell peppers do you have any specific substitutions? I was thinking to just cook some sweet potatoes.
p.s. I’m in college and love budget analysis and simplicity of these recipes.
Zucchini are always great! I think you could probably do just about any vegetable in this meal prep box and it would be tasty. :)
love your meals plans we are now doing are full week of meal prep and its lovely to come home from and not cook we spend 3 hours on Sunday doing our meals. my question how long can this meal be kept in the fridge
I usually suggest about four days, but your milage may vary. :)
Whoa, this is crazy good! I simmered the chicken for 40 minutes because I had the time and used water instead of broth. I’m already excited to make it again!
Can you post the brand of products you used in your recipe? it will help identify similar products with similar nutritional breakdown.
Hello Clark,
Some of us are cooking these recipes from outside the USA. Beth uses essentially fresh ingredients, with only a few exceptions, so that should be easy enought to replicate. For example, in this recipe brown rice and fresh bell peppers would be the same, regardless of the brand. Aldi in Germany does not do this salsa, so I would just have to find something else that’s similar to work. I think its not about following the recipes to a T, but to use this as an inspiration to create delicious food yourself. :-)
How many servings does this recipe make?
This makes four servings. You can find the serving information in the top of the recipe, and it’s also adjustable. So if you want to increase or decrease the serving amount just change the number in the box and it will adjust the ingredients for you. :)
The chicken is super tasty cooked this way! I also love how the chicken stays nice and chewy even after being in the refrigerator for several days.
Be mindful when you pick your salsa from the store as some cheap brands will have a ton of sodium in them.
After the meal in the 3 cup glass container has frozen, I take it out and put it in a quart freezer ziplock and then in a gallon freezer ziplock, I put masking tape on the gallon bag and label and date it.
This lets me make & freeze multiple meals so I have a choice when I go to grab a meal from the freezer.
I have been doing this for years with my homemade soups. I cook 1 soup a week in the fall, winter and spring. I eat 1 immediately, save 2 to eat for the week and freeze 3 or 9 (My veggie soup is 12 servings.)
This way when I take the food from the freezer, it is already in the shape of the dish I want to reheat it in.
Yes love that trick Jane! Thank you for sharing.
The easiest and tastiest I’ve made so far! Can’t wait to make this again
Happy to hear it Alexa!
What are the nutritional facts for this recipe per serving ?
We do get that request a lot, but unfortunately we don’t have a reliable source for the nutrition information. The calculators and databases that most bloggers and websites use to calculate the info can be extremely inaccurate, and for something that can so severely impact the health of people with health conditions, we just don’t feel comfortable publishing unreliable numbers. We prefer to leave it up to the reader to use the database or calculator they trust. I’m sorry and I wish accuracy were easier than shipping the food off to a lab for analysis! 😅
Hi. Would you eat this cold or reheat? Thanks
You could certainly do either!
Can you freeze this?
You certainly could. I would omit the toppings though.
this is an incredible recipe, and perfect for what I was looking for.
I just have a slight issue. I dont have an oven at home, is there any alternative you could suggest for cooking the capcicums in the pan as well?
I think the best alternative would be to cook them in a very hot skillet so they can still get some caramelization on the edges. If you add them to the pan with the chicken they’ll just kind of break down and disappear. :)
Have to comment, my boyfriend has requested for me to make this twice now, it’s just that good! To make it an ever quicker meal, I stir fry the peppers in a big pot, add the salsa, then shred up a rotisserie chicken from a grocery store and simmer all that together. Still cheap and delicious!
We love to hear when it’s a crowdpleaser!
This was so easy and so good! I accidentally bought a pretty liquid-y salsa, so I had to let it simmer an extra 15-20 minutes without the lid on to really reduce the broth. Otherwise this was insanely good and so, so easy to make. Next time I’ll probably aim for a chunkier, less liquid-y salsa though. Thanks for another winner!
How much ingredients should I put for one person
Very tasty!
However, I feel like I’m doing something wrong. I put the 16oz of salsa and the 1/2 cup broth, and simmer the chicken as indicated. I always end up with a ton of leftover broth and salsa in the pan, which is way too much to put over the top of the chicken when I portion it out into bowls. Is this normal?
If you feel like you have too much liquid, you can let it simmer for an additional ten minutes or so with the lid off after the normal simmer time. That will allow some of the liquid to evaporate away while concentrating the flavors. :)
This was so delicious. Thank you.
I wish I had seen this recipe sooner. I went freezer/pantry diving to see what I had and made my own version of this. I used ground turkey instead of chicken (Inspired by your burrito bowl recipe) and I added Cumin and chilli powder to the rice (Inspired by your make ahead burritos). I substituted plain greek yogurt for sour cream (because I had it on hand). I also added some frozen diced avocados to boost the veggie macros. (Not sure if that ruins the budget part of it but I got a big bag of prediced avocado from Costco). I love your recipes Beth, but as I dive into my fitness I need to boost my veggie macros and unfortunately many of your recipes are grain heavy. I’ll have to look more on the macros of beans and lentils. Thanks again Beth.
More like this please!!
Absolutely delicious and easy. I used trader Joe’s chunky salsa -highly recommend!
It’s good, but I recommend starting the chicken an hour ahead and letting it simmer at least twice as long. 45 minutes to an hour on low was enough to cook the chicken, but not nearly long enough to get it to a “shreddable” state.
Other than that, it tastes great, and is quite a versatile recipe given the wide variety of salsas out there.
I made riced carrots to swap with the regular rice. Awesome!!
So I’m from the Netherlands, and I am loving your recipes, but some times i have a hard time finding the correct ingredients! Like for instance “chicken salsa” I have no idea what kind of thing I should get. Is it suposed to be sweet? I think the Salsa can make or break the dish!
I’m not sure if you’re using an automatic translator, but there is no ingredient called “chicken salsa”. Just use a regular salsa, not a sweet salsa. :)
Hahaha, nope, no translators. There were so many kinds of Salsa at my local supermarket haha, but I went for one with some asian flavous and a lot of stuff I had no idea about, and it turned out to be absolutely delishious! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe. :)
Haha, okay good! I’m glad it still turned out well for you! :)
This was so good! More meal prep ideas that have meat protein please!!!! Great for following macros!
This is such an easy and delicious meal! I can’t wait to think of more ways to use the salsa chicken.
I think next time I make it I’ll substitute the rice (which was just a little blah) with some black beans and roasted sweet potatoes.
I used chicken thighs as that was what I had in. It made a terrific, tasty and simple meal which was even tastier as leftovers. Thanks.
This looks awesome, thank you! And I appreciate the link for the Pyrex. I’ve been looking to buy some glass containers that I could use to take lunches to work and be able to microwave in the container.
Can you use homemade fresh salsa or does it need to be store bought?
This was SO SO good. OMG. Even my husband who is usually somewhat wary of healthy foods (lol) couldn’t get enough of this! I’m having the leftovers right now for lunch and they taste just as good as they did when we made it. This has definitely made it into my regular meal prep rotation! Thanks Beth!
Simply delicious. I was low on salsa so I added chili sauce and taco sauce and it still turned out great. We really enjoyed the roasted peppers that accompanied the meal. We topped our chicken with grated cheddar cheese instead of sour cream. We are definitely making this again. YUMMY!
Love your website and emails. But…. would you please consider supplying the metric measurements in your recipes ? US customary measurements only suit the US not your wider or younger audience. Thanks
Google can convert for you! :)
Beth, I love all of your meal prep ideas. Keep ’em coming! :)
Made this tonight; it was delicious! However, the chicken didn’t shred very well. I was curious if the chicken could be made in the instant pot. What would the pressure cook time be? Is there an easy conversion?
Yes, you can definitely do the chicken in an IP. I don’t know the cooking time off hand, so I suggest checking the manual that comes with it for suggested times and settings for boneless breasts. :)
Hi Bri:
I make chicken in the IP a lot (it shreds like a dream). 8-10 minutes on manual and 10 minutes natural pressure release has worked for me.
This looks great. Looking forward to more meal prep recipes!
This does dound great but if people wanted to devote this much time to prepar this meal then they would have zero interest in meal delivery. If sour cream is ommited vould the meals be frozen for quick after work meal?
Yes, this would probably be fine for the freezer. :)