High-fiber high-protein roasted vegetable chicken bowls

We shared these meal prep friendly spicy high-fiber high-protein roasted vegetable chicken bowls around 4 years ago for the first time…And surprise, they’re still notable. Anytime we have chicken and sweet potatoes or pumpkin or butternut squash we have to make them.

Aside from being satisfying, they’re also great for your body in so many ways. Not only because they provide a ton of protein and fiber. These chicken bowls are also low-GI and packed with essential vitamins that help you absorb and utilize the protein you eat. Like vitamin A, C, B12, B6 and magnesium.

We realize, these healthy chicken bowls are a bit different than burrito or Mediterranean bowls, but they’re absolutely our favorite.

If you’re looking for satisfying clean eating dinner ideas – this one is it.

Ingredients

You will need quite a few things to make these. While the recipe is simple to prepare, there are many things going on at the same time and it takes a little. Here’s what you need:

• Chicken thighs. Skinless, boneless, you can also try chicken breast, if you have a favorite way of cooking it. We personally am not a huge fan, so chicken thighs it is.
• Flavors: We’ll use some smoked paprika, some crushed red pepper flakes, some garlic and some salt and pepper. Nothing too intense, but you can definitely add some cumin, coriander or other spices you like to your chicken.
• Fresh herbs. We mainly used fresh dill here, because that’s what we had at home. You can use cilantro, basil, mint or parsley – whichever one you like and have at home. But we absolutely LOVE and recommend the dill (if you like it).

the original photos from 2021 with cabbage salad

• Spicy roasted vegetables. We showed you how to make those in the oven a few days ago, and now it’s time to use them. We’re using a mix of roasted sweet potatoes, cauliflower and a red bell pepper.
• Cabbage and more fresh vegetables. We’re going to make a healthy salad as the base for this bowl. It’s good, trust us. You can also use arugula or make this lettuce salad as the base – that’s what we did when we were updating the recipe.
• Garlic dill sauce: you can make this fast using yogurt or for a dairy-free option try this avocado dill sauce or the cashew sauce in this recipe.

How it comes together

As we mentioned, you’ll have multiple things going on at the same time:

1. Roasting sweet potatoes, cauliflower and red bell pepper
2. Cooking the chicken on the stove with some herbs and spices. That’s going to take you 15 minutes.
3. Chopping some vegetables to make a fast little salad for the base.
4. Preparing a garlic dill sauce to finish it all off.

We know, it seems like a lot, but once you put it all together, you’ll know it was all worth it. And if you’re multitasking, it won’t take three thousand years, we promise.

How To Meal Prep

If you only want to do this once and have yourself a healthy dinner or lunch for the next few days, double the chicken and the roasted vegetables to meal prep these chicken bowls.

Put all individual parts in individual containers, or separate into compartment containers and you’re gonna be good. We recommend making the salad right when you need it.

However, if you do want to prepare you can pre-chop the cabbage, dill, olives and the lettuce and then season when it’s time to eat.

Make it With Seasonal Vegetables

The recipe is solid for fall, because we’re roasting cauliflower, sweet potatoes and peppers.

However, if you decide to make it during a different season, you can use other seasonal vegetables.

The one thing we would always keep in this one is the sweeter veggie – like pumpkins or sweet potato.

We just remembered, carrots exist as well, so they can be a great option for spring. For salad you can use lettuce, herbs and spring onions.

• Yield: 2
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 25 minutes
• Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Chicken

• 12oz/340g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• lemon juice (optional)

Roasted Vegetables:

• 1 small sweet potato, chopped (about 2 cups)*
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt

Cabbage Salad:**

• 2 cups cabbage, chopped
• 1 cup lettuce, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp vinegar
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped olives
• 1 tsp olive oil

Yogurt Garlic sauce (see DF options in the notes)**

• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• salt

Method

1. Let's start with the roasted vegetables. You can do all of the next steps while they're in the oven, just make sure to check on them after 15-20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Mix the sweet potato, bell pepper and cauliflower florets with the other ingredients, so that every piece is coated evenly. This time we did the mixing in the pan (otherwise we would use a bowl). Spread vegetables in a single layer in a baking sheet/pan and roast for 20-30 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
2. Make the chicken. Mix chicken with paprika, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt and garlic in a bowl or directly in the pan, then cover the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes at medium-high. Take the lid off and stir for 6-7 more minutes or until the chicken is done, then stir in the fresh dill (or whatever herbs you enjoy!) - and if you enjoy it - squeeze a bit of lemon.
3. For the salad, add all ingredients to a bowl and mix them. We recommend massaging the cabbage with vinegar or lemon juice and a little bit of salt first and then adding the rest of the ingredients.
4. Prepare the garlic sauce by mixing yogurt, fresh dill, garlic and salt in a small bowl. If using strained Greek yogurt, you might need to add a tbsp or two of water to thin it. For a dairy free option try this avocado dill sauce or the recipe for the cashew sauce here.
5. Time to assemble your bowls: start with a base of the salad and then top with the chicken and roasted vegetables. Top everything with the sauce and enjoy! Last time, we also sprinkled some nigella seeds for their flavor and health benefits (that's the black seeds you see).

Notes

*You can also use pumpkin or butternut squash

**You can also use other seasonal salad you like - the one we made when updating the recipe was without the cabbage, instead more lettuce, some spinach, dill, lemon juice, scallions, olives and olive oil.

***If you're dairy-free, use the cashew sauce from this recipe and add some dill to it. For a nut-free option, you can also make this avocado dill sauce.

Also, everywhere mentioned - the dill is fresh, finely chopped; we don't know why, but it always disappears from the ingredients.