Bang Bang Chicken
The original recipe: Skinny Bang Bang Chicken with Cauliflower Rice Meal Prep by Kirbie's Cravings
Makes 3 lunches
INGREDIENTS
Makes 3 lunches
For the chicken:
2 large chicken breasts
2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
For the cauliflower:
1 large head of cauliflower, washed and cut into florets (see Note #2 below)
2-3 tbsp olive oil (depending on how big your cauliflower is)
salt & pepper
For the spinach: *this makes only a small amount as shown above - see Note #3 below
2 large bunches of fresh spinach
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
For the sauce: *no change from original recipe, though I found this made way too much and I'll halve it next time
1/4 cup + 2tbsp fat free plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup + 2tbsp mayonnaise (I used Hellman's 1/2 the fat)
1.5 tbsp honey
1.5 tsp sriracha
2 tsp fresh lime juice
DIRECTIONS
For the chicken:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with all the seasonings, then bake at 375F for 35 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear). Set aside to cool.
For the cauliflower:
3. Increase the oven to 425F.
4. Wash the cauliflower and cut into steak-like florets, aiming to create as much surface area as possible (see Note #3).
5. Lay the cauliflower in an even layer on top of a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Brush with the olive oil and season with salt & pepper.
6. Roast cauliflower at 425F for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through the roasting time. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
For the spinach:
7. Heat a large non-stick pan to medium.
8. Cut the stems (or as much as you can) off the bunch of spinach and wash the spinach before placing half the spinach in the heated pan.
9. Add salt, pepper, and half the garlic powder. Stir so the garlic powder is distributed evenly and cook until wilted. Remove, draining the liquid that remains.
10. Repeat with the second bunch of spinach and divide into 3 lunch containers.
For the sauce:
11. In a small mixing bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
12. Divide sauce into 3 separate, small containers.
Assembly:
13. Now that the chicken and cauliflower have cooled, divide both into the three lunch containers and set the sauce on top to keep separate.
*When serving, it is recommended that you remove the sauce first before reheating. The sauce is meant to be served cold.
My Changes & Notes:
1. The chicken.
For this recipe, I used two large chicken breasts and sprinkled both sides with: salt, pepper, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder. I didn't pan fry it and instead baked them at 375F for 35 minutes (or until juices run clear).
2. The cauliflower.
I absolutely hate ricing cauliflower. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but if my grocery store carried the frozen prericed stuff, I would gladly pay a premium to avoid doing it. Since I literally just riced cauliflower last night, I decided to roast it instead; plus, I prefer the roasted cauliflower because it tastes better.
All I did was cut the cauliflower into large florets, then sliced them into small floret "steaks" to provide as much surface area as possible. Next, I brushed them with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, then baked at 425F for 30 minutes, flipping the cauliflower halfway through.
3. Shrinkage.
Trying to gauge how much cooked spinach I will have from raw spinach is like my kryptonite. I can't do it properly for the life of me. So, if you want more spinach than the sad little portion you see above, there's probably a reason the original recipe asks for a whole pound of fresh spinach. I used two large bunches of spinach and could have sworn it was about a pound... but once I chopped off the excessive stems, I probably had far less and it cooked into almost nothing. To make it a little less sad, I added some sesame seeds.
I also added more seasoning when the spinach was cooking; after chopping off the stems and giving them a wash, I added the spinach in 2 batches to a large non-stick pan at medium heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once the spinach was added, I seasoned with salt & pepper, plus 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and stirred thoroughly to distribute the seasonings. Drain pan before repeating the process with your second batch, and drain the spinach before you serve/divide into your lunch kits.
4. Sauce separate.
Like the original recipe indicates, keep the sauce separate until you have heated up the chicken/cauliflower/spinach and are ready to serve. I can't speak to whether this would taste good if you just drizzled the sauce on and heated it all together, but I do know that despite my very strong love for tzatziki sauce, I hate it when it gets warmed up, so I relate this 'bang bang' sauce to that experience and have packed it up separately. I'm not taking any chances here!
