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Creamy Tuscan Chicken Meal Prep
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Prep: 10 minutesCook: 40 minutesTotal: 50 minutes
This Creamy Tuscan Chicken Meal Prep features juicy seasoned chicken thighs simmered in a rich sun-dried tomato sauce, served with your fave rice or pasta! Make-ahead and freezer-friendly, or perfect for a weeknight dinner!
Scale:
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups uncooked rice of choice + cooking liquid
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped
- 1 1/4 cups dry white wine
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half (see note)
- 2 cups baby spinach
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- optional: chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Brown the chicken: Toss the flour, paprika and dried oregano together in a shallow bowl or pasta dish and coat the chicken thighs in the flour mixture. Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan with lid or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, brown the thighs on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Make the sauce: Add the chopped onion and the salt to the remaining oil in the pan and turn the heat down to medium. Fry the onion until soft, translucent and just starting to color. Stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the tomato paste and stir until it has coated the onions and caramelized slightly. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and the white wine, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan with the back of your wooden spoon.
- Season & simmer: Season well with pepper and return the chicken to the pan. Bring the mixture to the boil then turn the heat down to low, allowing the sauce to simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on until the chicken is just cooked through.
- Cook the rice: Meanwhile, cook the rice as per the package instructions and then set aside to cool.
- Finish the sauce: Stir in the cream and the spinach (briefly remove the chicken from the pan for easier stirring if needed). Return the lid to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the lemon juice, to taste, and add a little more salt and pepper if needed.
- Meal prep it: Add about 3/4 cup cooked rice to each of four meal prep containers. Portion the chicken and sauce evenly between each container. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Notes
- Serving ideas: If you want to serve this recipe just after you’ve made it, cooked pasta or orzo is delicious in place of the rice. A dressed green salad on the table would also go perfectly with this recipe!
- Chicken: Feel free to substitute boneless skinless chicken breasts for the chicken thighs. Use 2 large chicken breasts and slice each in half to make sure they cook through properly at the same rate the thighs would. Chicken breasts are delicious here, but I’d recommend choosing thighs instead for meal prep and for freezing.
- Cream: Heavy cream and half and half both work in this recipe, choose heavy cream for a richer sauce, and half and half for a lighter one – or just use whatever you’ve got open even if that means a mixture of both! For a dairy-free option, I love using plain Nutpods in place of the cream!
- Freezing: If you are freezing this recipe, be sure to use chicken that has not been previously frozen.
- Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 662
- Sugar: 4g
- Fat: 25g
- Carbohydrates: 61g
- Protein: 35g
Find it online: https://projectmealplan.com/creamy-tuscan-chicken-meal-prep/