Sweet potato rice bowls
My first recipe that I prepared was a sweet potato rice bowl. This recipe made me 3 meals and can be easily adjusted based on taste or amounts wanted.
Sweet Potato Rice Bowls
Cook time: 1 hour
Meal prep: 3 meals
Rating: ★★★★☆
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts ( or meat of choice)
- 2 sweet potatoes
- ¼ of a cucumber
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons or to taste Japanese bbq sauce
- 2 cups of rice- I use minute rice, account for the time difference if using a different type
- 1 tablespoon oil
Start by preparing your sweet potatoes. Peel the skin off the sweet potatoes and cut them into circular slices, then quarter them. Add around ½ tablespoon of oil to the pan and let it warm. Once warm, turn the stove to low- medium heat. I use around 4 or 5 on my stove. Add the sweet potatoes and let cook, occasionally stirring them. I like to add some Italian seasoning to taste and salt and pepper at this point. Once the sweet potatoes are almost fork tender start the chicken.
Take your 2 chicken breasts and cut them into small even size pieces. I aim for them to be around 2 times bigger than you would want a bite size piece to be. Heat your pan with oil, around ½ a table spoon. When the oil is hot, place the chicken in your pan and put it on medium heat. Avoid flipping your chicken until it is white about halfway up the side of the chicken. This ensures the sides get some crips to them. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Once the chicken looks almost halfway cooked, flip all pieces and add salt and pepper.
Start cooking the rice and follow instructions for your type of rice. I use minute rice. To do this add two cups of water to a pot and boil it. Once it is boiling add two cups of rice and a tablespoon of butter. The butter is optional but the rice is better for reheating if butter is added. Remove the pot from the element, put the lid on and let it sit for five minutes without touching it.
Check on the sweet potatoes and ensure to continue occasionally stirring them.
When the chicken looks fully white, use a fork or a flipper to cut the pieces in half. This allows you to check if the inside is fully cooked. Use a meat thermometer to check your chicken. I pull my chicken off at 155 and let it rest for it to finish cooking to 160.
Cut some cucumbers into slices then quarter them so they are bite size.
At this point your sweet potatoes should be fork tender, the chicken done and the rice finished. Plate your dish for dinner that night with rice, chicken, sweet potatoes and cucumbers. Drizzle with Japanese bbq sauce and enjoy.
For meal prep choose your containers and add rice followed by chicken, sweet potatoes and Japanese bbq sauce. If you want to make it fresher, cut the cucumbers the morning that you plan to use your meal prep or do this right before. I cut and added my cucumbers right after I was done cooking so I didn’t have to remember to do it and they stayed good.
Overall this meal was delicious and as good as it was as leftovers, it was better the first night. I wonder if there is something I can do to the sweet potatoes to make them stay better in the meal prep containers. It was easy to grab in the morning, reheated fairly good and was a well balanced and enjoyable plate.