Meal Prep for the Week: Healthy Chicken & Broccoli

If you’re not already on the meal prep train, it’s time to hop on and buckle up. Whether you’re a busy mom, a single millennial, or just want save a little money and not go out to eat as much (we all know the feeling), give meal prepping a try.

If you have some time on the weekend (#MealPrepSunday) – or even at the start of the week (#MealPrepMonday) – do a little cooking and prep your meals for the week. Whether you need lunch or dinner, having meals already cooked and ready to go before your week starts takes a lot of stress out the day. All you have to do is grab them out of the fridge and go. Trust us, it’s worth the time and effort over the weekend.

For meal prep this week make slow cooker healthy chicken and broccoli. Use your Hamilton Beach® slow cooker and rice cooker – they’re both great meal prep tools. The slow cooker can cook food in bulk – which is great when you’re portioning meals out over a week. Rice cookers can also cook multiple cups of rice (in this case, farro) – enough to easily portion out over 7 days.

Add chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and black pepper to the slow cooker crock. Then add chicken and stir until it’s fully coated. Cover the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4 hours.

Uncover the crock then add and stir bell peppers. Then top with broccoli (do not stir) and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes until the broccoli is tender.

When your chicken is almost finished, cook farro in the rice cooker. You could also serve this with brown or white rice, even quinoa.

When everything is finished, prepare your to-go containers. We portioned the farro on one side and the chicken and vegetables on another. We packed walnuts to top the dish in a dressing container – but a resealable bag would work too if you have those on hand.

Throw the containers into the fridge and they’ll be there for the taking during the week. Whether you need a not-so-sad desk lunch to take to the office, or a quick dinner before heading to the gym or one of the kid’s games – the effort ahead of time pays off throughout the week.

Healthy Slow Cooker Chicken & Broccoli

Author: Hamilton Beach Test Kitchen

Ingredients

2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup lite soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 pounds chicken tenders
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced
2 cups broccoli flowerets
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Cooked farro

Instructions

In a slow cooker crock, combine chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and black pepper. Add chicken and stir until chicken is coated with mixture.
Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 4 hours.
Add bell peppers and stir until blended. Top with broccoli (do not stir) and cover, cooking another 20 to 30 minutes or until broccoli is crisp tender.
Stir before serving. Serve with cooked farro and sprinkle with walnuts.