3 Chicken Recipes I Use When Meal Prepping and Working 80+ Hour Weeks

Before going all-in on personal training, I used to work professionally as a cook in a fine dining restaurant. This was at the same time that I was prepping for CPF Nationals and set a national squat record.

Problem: I was facing was simply that so many of the recipes I knew were pretty labour intensive and by the time I was done with work and training for the week, I couldn’t be bothered to put together a million ingredient to have some sort of food but knew I needed my food to still taste like something if I was going to stay compliant with my nutrition strategies and still hit my macros.

Solution: I developed a simply strategy that let me use just about anything in my pantry to create convenient portion-packed meat that made meal prep a breeze, faster than take out and SUPER easy to create different variations should you get bored with the current flavors you’re working with.

Methods

Before jumping in to the recipes, it’s worth noting the methods I used for prep.

• Most value packs of boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs you can buy at the store are ~ 2 kilos (4.5 lbs). When meat goes on sale, I will purchase them in bulk, split the packs in half and freeze them with any of the marinades outlined below in freezer bags.
• In order to keep fresh meat ready to go at any given point, when I cook a bag of chicken, I will take another bag of chicken out of the freezer and allow it to thaw over a few days in the fridge. By the time I’ve eaten all the current batch of chicken, the next one is good to go and I can cook it fresh.
• Cooking methods can be as simple as dumping the contents of the bag into a baking dish and cooking at 350 for 30-45 minutes or popping it on the grill. Personally, I don’t like pan frying with marinades as they tend to be a pain to avoid burning them. YMMV.
• Once the chicken has cooked and cooled, I will slice or dice it all at once before putting it into an airtight container and refrigerate. By having it already cut up, it makes it super easy to just scoop on to your plate/bowl/whatever without needing to make a mess or any more dishes.

The basic thought process behind the marinades is having a balance of salt, fat, sweet, heat/umami and any additional flavorings. you are looking for.

Salt: could be salt, soy sauce, or other high sodium sauces

Fat: a bit of oil here helps not only with keeping the meat flavorful, but also prevents sticking during cooking.

Sweet: sugar, honey, etc

Heat/umami: miso paste, hot sauce, etc.

Other: herbs, spices based on your flavour preferences.

So, here’s the 3 recipes I use most commonly. The amounts are rough approximations and I seldom measure exactly. Mix all ingredients in a ziploc bag or airtight container, add your ~1 kilogram of chicken, pork or beef and let marinate for at least 4 hours OR freeze for later.

Recipe 1: Chili-Sesame-Garlic

• 1/4 cup sambal oelek or other chili paste
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic

Recipe 2: Honey-Miso

2 tablespoons miso paste

• 1/4-1/2 cup soy sauce (enough to thin the whole mixture into a thick sauce)
• 1/4 cup honey

Recipe 3: Oil and Herb

• 0.6-1% of the weight of your chicken in salt (more will give a moister but different texture)
• enough olive oil to cover the surface of the meat (I use 1-2 tablespoons per kilo)
• 1 tablespoon Herbs of choice (I like dried thyme or rosemary).
• Optional: Juice of 1 lemon if you want a brighter citrus flavour.

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