Ground Chicken Taco Bowls: An Easy High-Protein Meal Prep Dinner
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Somewhere along the way, “meal prep” got a reputation for meaning five identical containers of plain chicken, broccoli, and white rice lined up on the kitchen counter.
We respectfully disagree.
If you're trying to get more protein into your diet, make better choices during a busy week, or simply cook dinner tonight without making a huge production out of it, these Ground Chicken Taco Bowls check a lot of boxes.
They're loaded with seasoned ground chicken, rice, black beans, smoky Cajun corn with bacon, and a healthy spoonful of Blue Smoke Salsa.
No taco shells required. And, more importantly, no sad desk lunch tomorrow.
Why Ground Chicken?
Ground chicken might be one of the more overlooked proteins in the grocery store.
It's lean, relatively inexpensive (we all know how important that is today), and takes on seasoning incredibly well. That makes it particularly good for weeknight dinners and meal prep.
Protein also plays an important role in maintaining muscle and can help meals feel more satisfying. And while you certainly don't need to turn dinner into a math equation, building meals around a good source of protein can be a simple way to put together a more balanced plate.
For this recipe, we're essentially taking everything we love about taco night and putting it into one bowl.
Ground Chicken Taco Bowls
Makes: approximately 4 bowls
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20–25 minutes
For the Ground Chicken
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ cup water
For the Cajun Corn
- 4 slices bacon, chopped into small pieces
- 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced or finely chopped
- 2 cups frozen corn
- Cajun seasoning, to taste
For the Bowls
- Cooked rice
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- Ground chicken taco meat
- Cajun corn
- Blue Smoke Salsa, your favorite variety
Make the Ground Chicken
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground chicken.
Cook until browned and cooked through, breaking the chicken into crumbles as it cooks.
Add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and black pepper. Pour in about ¼ cup of water and stir everything together.
Let the chicken simmer for another 2–3 minutes, until most of the water has cooked away and all that seasoning is coating the chicken.
That's your taco meat.
Make the Cajun Corn
In a separate skillet, cook the chopped bacon until crisp.
Remove the bacon, leaving some of the rendered bacon fat behind in the skillet.
Add the sliced or chopped jalapeño and cook briefly in the bacon fat. Add the frozen corn and cook until hot with a little browning around the edges.
Season lightly with your favorite Cajun seasoning and stir the crispy bacon back into the corn.
And yes, we realize adding bacon technically makes the phrase “healthy meal prep” a little more interesting.
But, hey, come on...bacon.
Build Your Bowls
Start with a layer of rice.
Add a generous portion of the seasoned ground chicken, followed by black beans and Cajun corn.
Finish the whole thing with a good spoonful of Blue Smoke Salsa.
That's it.
You've got protein from the chicken and beans, carbohydrates from the rice and corn, plenty of flavor, and a dinner that doesn't feel remotely like something you're eating because you're “supposed to.”
Make Dinner Once. Eat Lunch Tomorrow.
This is where the recipe really earns its keep.
If you're already cooking everything tonight, make extra.
Divide the rice, chicken, beans and corn into meal-prep containers and refrigerate them. When you're ready to eat, heat the bowl and add the salsa afterward.
You can also change things up throughout the week. Add shredded cheese one day. Throw everything over greens another day. Skip the rice and double the beans. Add a fried egg and call it breakfast.
There aren't many rules here.
What About the Macros?
The exact nutrition will depend heavily on how much rice, bacon, beans and salsa you put into each bowl, so we'd rather give you an honest estimate than pretend every homemade bowl comes out of the kitchen exactly the same.
Using four servings as a starting point, this can easily be built into a protein-forward meal, especially with a generous portion of ground chicken and black beans.
If you're tracking calories or macros closely, weigh the ingredients you actually use and divide the finished recipe by your number of portions.
If you're not?
Build yourself a good bowl and enjoy dinner.
Sometimes healthy eating really can be that simple.
From Appalachia. Enjoyed Everywhere.