I am a combination of a stay-at-home mom mixed with a 12-hour-shift-working nurse. I stay home with my kids on week days, and work 1-2 weekend days a week. Whether I am at home or working, I like having the option to have a quick and easy, but delicious lunch ready to go in minutes. One way to make my life much easier is to meal prep protein to have throughout the week. My only problem with meal prepping is that I hate to eat the same thing over and over every day. I have found an easy solution to have the best of both worlds.
This week I chose to meal prep chicken breast. I know just the sound of that made it seem so bland, but this chicken is moist, full of flavor, and completely falls apart. Now, I am not one who can eat chicken breast every day and not get totally bored, but when it is prepared different ways, it doesn’t feel like the same thing over and over. Plus, this is such a cost effective and healthy way to meal prep. Here is how I cook the chicken, and prepare it FIVE different ways for healthy, fast, and amazing weekday (or work weekend) lunches!
Ingredients
6 chicken breast, trimmed
Fat free chicken broth
1 tbsp garlic powder
tsp salt
Directions
Place chicken breast in a slow cooker.
Add chicken broth until it covers the chicken.
Add in the garlic powder and salt.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on low. When the chicken is done, it completely falls apart to create easy shredded chicken.
Shredded Chicken 5 Ways
Fruit & Nut Chicken Salad
Mix the desired amount of shredded chicken with mayonnaise, chopped cashews, diced apples, sliced grapes, and diced celery. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. This is the best chicken salad, hitting the sweet, salty, crunchy and creamy tastes. It is great by itself, with crackers, over lettuce, stuffed in celery, or stuffed in raw green pepper halves (like I had it).
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Mix the desired amount of shredded chicken with mayonnaise, hot sauce, blue cheese, diced celery, shredded carrot, diced tomato and scallions. This tastes exactly like buffalo chicken dip! I like to wrap in up in lettuce wraps, put it over a salad, stuff it in a tortilla wrap, or stuff inside an avocado.
Salsa Verde Chicken
Mix the desired amount of shredded chicken with jarred salsa verde. It is deliciously spicy and can be turned into so many meals. Stuff it in a quesadilla, scoop it up with nachos, or put it on a salad. For my salad, I used lettuce, chili and cumin seasoned cauliflower rice, salsa verde chicken, tomato, scallions and avocado.
BBQ Chicken
Mix the desired amount of shredded chicken with your favorite BBQ sauce. This can also be transformed into so many meals. Stuff it in a quesadilla with cheddar and bacon, load a baked potato or sweet potato, or make some lettuce wraps, like me! I filled the BBQ chicken inside lettuce wraps and topped with diced tomato, pickles, and raw onion.
Salsa Chicken
Mix the desired amount of shredded chicken with your favorite red salsa. I used a roasted garlic salsa that was amazing. This can also be turned into quesadillas, nachos, loaded baked potatoes, over a salad, or turned into plantain nachos! I topped some plantain chips with salsa chicken, guacamole, cilantro, and fresh lime juice!
I will be creating more ways to utilize shredded chicken soon!
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