Meal Prep: Chicken, Sweet Potato & Black Beans

November 10, 2016 | 1 Comment

I think it’s fair to say that chicken and sweet potato is a pretty standard combination on a lot of meal preps, bodybuilder sites and general health and fitness blogs. There’s a reason for it — lean protein, low-GI carbs, easy to make.

That said, there is absolutely no reason for it to be bland or boring. It aggravates me so much when people just skip out on flavour when it comes to basic meals. Here, I prepare all three parts separately and combine them.

The order you should do this in (for efficiency):

Prep your chicken first, so it marinates for as long as possible while you’re doing everything else.
Get your sweet potatoes chopped, spiced, and stick them in the oven.
Make your black beans while your potatoes are cooking.
Grill your chicken.

Meal Prep: Chicken, Sweet Potato & Black Beans

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

45 mins

Below I've included each of the spices needed for the separate dishes under the main ingredient (for instance, spices and salt after sweet potatoes are for the potatoes, the next spices are for the chicken and under the chicken).

Author: Sand Kitchen

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Two large sweet potatoes, or three medium ones, into wedges.
1 heaped tbsp hot smoked paprika*
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
4 chicken breasts (500g total)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tbsp olive oil
1 can black beans, drained
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli powder

Instructions

Toss your wedges in the spices along with 1½ tbsp olive oil, then bake at 200C for 30-40 minutes, until slightly charred. That’s where a ton of the flavour comes from. If you don’t have that long, 20 minutes will be long enough for them to be cooked.
Slice halfway into your chicken to ensure even cooking time. Leave it to marinate for three-quarters of the time it takes to cook your sweet potatoes. Once you’re ready to grill it, use a grill machine (which is what I did) or a hot griddle on the stovetop. It takes me about five to six minutes for my chicken to be ready. Leave it to sit.**
Add your onions to a hot pan and let it them fry off for a little while until they’re golden. Add your chilli powder here as well, to cook off the powder a bit. Then add your beans and make sure to have the flavours incorporate well. Once you’re satisfied it’s well-mixed, take it off the heat.

Notes

* If you don’t have (or can’t find) hot smoked paprika, use smoked paprika and add a ½ to 1 tsp of chilli powder, depending on how hot you like it. The smoked paprika is essential here, the regular sort doesn’t impart the same flavour.
**Just as important as not overcooking your chicken (which will dry it out), let it sit after it’s come off the grill. If the juices don’t settle, you will once again lose out on moistness and flavour.

Just as important as not overcooking your chicken (which will dry it out), let it sit after it’s come off the grill. If the juices don’t settle, you will once again lose out on moistness and flavour.

This recipe makes enough for four portions. For those of you counting macros, if you stick to my ingredients, you’ll end up with roughly 38g of protein, 76g carbs and 12.4g of fat per portion, at a total of 565 calories.

I was trying to up my protein here, but I also upped my carbs because I’d needed it that week. Now that I’m lowering my carb intake and upping my protein some more, I’d probably reduce the amount of sweet potato — but that’s the great thing about meal prep. You mix and match to suit your needs and requirements.

As for serving it up, it won’t surprise you to know I like my food to look good! I usually heat up my portion at work and then serve it up for myself on a bed of baby spinach to get some greens in.

Simple, quick – 40 minutes for four meals! – and delicious. Let me know if you’ve got an meal preps you want to see.

As always, bilafiya (well wishes and wellbeing)

« Green Smoothie, Quinoa Chicken & Energy Balls | What I Eat in a Day #10

From Sweet Potato to Hummus, Avo & Poached Eggs | What I Eat in a Day #11 »

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Healthy & Delicious Beetroot Quinoa Salad says:

June 16, 2017 at 11:58 pm

[…] Et viola! I didn’t show how to cook the chicken because I’ve covered that before (check out this post). […]

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