Healthy Meal Prep That Actually Tastes Good
After being on vacation or developing junk food recipes, I crave something clean and simple to hit the reset. These three light meals deliver exactly that! They’re healthy, ideal for meal prep, and, most importantly, genuinely delicious enough to eat again and again.
Ingredients
Korean Beef
- 375 g medium-grain sushi rice
- 500 g water
- 6-8 g kosher salt (for rice)
- 15 g cooking oil
- 1 kg ground beef, 90/10
- 400 g broccolini, chopped into 1" pieces
- 200 g red bell peppers, 2 large, sliced into ¼"x1" pieces
- 10 g garlic, 4 cloves, crushed
- 20 g ginger, ~2" piece, grated
- 75 g oy sauce
- 15 g sesame oil
- 50 g beef stock or water
- 25 g rice vinegar
- 25 g brown sugar
- 75 g gochujang , (or sub 25g sriracha + 25g miso + 15g extra sugar)
- 15 g cooking oil
- kosher salt for vegetables
Shrimp & Pesto Pasta
- 1 kg shrimp, 16-20 count
- 10 g smoked paprika
- 5 g garlic powder
- 10 g kosher salt (for shrimp)
- 25 g olive oil
- 450 g fusilli pasta
- 300 g kale, thinly sliced, 2 bunches
- 400 g green beans, cut into 1" pieces
- 150 g basil pesto
- 30 g parmesan cheese, grated
- 10-15 g cooking oil
- kosher salt for boiling water and veggies
Mexican-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep (chicken)
- 1 kg boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 20 g olive oil
- 10 g kosher salt
- 10 g chili powder
- 5 g cumin (for chicken), ground
- 1 g dried oregano
- 5 g onion powder
- 5 g garlic powder
- 1/2 c water
Mexican-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep RAJAS:
- 400 g yellow onion, thinly sliced pole-to-pole
- 400 g Anaheim or poblano peppers, sliced thinly
- 15 g garlic, minced, 4-5 cloves
- 10 g kosher salt
- 150 g frozen cor
- 150 g sour cream (sub greek yogurt)
- splash of water
Mexican-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep BEANS:
- 1275 g canned black or pinto beans, drained (reserve the liquid)
- 5 g cumin, ground
- 5 g kosher salt
- 10 g garlic, 4-5 cloves, minced
Instructions
Korean Beef
- In a rice cooker, combine rice, water, & salt. Give everything a good stir and cook on the white rice setting. When finished, divide evenly between 6 meal prep containers.
- Chop broccolini into 1-inch pieces. Slice bell peppers into ¼-inch thick strips, then cut those strips into 1-inch lengths. Crush garlic and grate ginger; set aside.
- Heat wok over high heat (or medium-high if using nonstick). Add oil & ground beef. Cook, breaking apart with a ground meat musher until browned, about 10 minutes.
- Once the beef is browned, add in the garlic and ginger, stir-fry for 60 seconds. Add soy, sesame oil, beef stock/water, vinegar, sugar, and gochujang. Stir until sauce reduces slightly. Transfer the cooked beef to 6 meal prep containers, divided evenly.
- Wipe out any debris from the wok. Return the wok to high heat and heat up more oil, sauté the vegetables for 5 minutes until tender but still snappy. Divide the vegetables evenly between the 6 meal prep containers with beef and rice in them.
Shrimp & Pesto Pasta
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until slightly past al dente. Drain and mix immediately with pesto and parmesan. Divide the pasta evenly between 6 meal prep containers and set aside.
- Marinate shrimp with paprika, garlic powder, salt, and olive oil while you prep your vegetables.
- Thinly slice the kale and the cut green beans into 1”/2.5cm pieces.
- Heat a wok over high heat. Heat up your cooking oil and sauté the green beans with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes. Add in kale and cook until the kale wilts. Stir in the garlic, cook for another 30 seconds, reduce the heat to medium and cover with a lid. Cook for another 2 minutes. until the vegetables are tender. Evenly divide the vegetables up between the 6 meal prep containers with the pasta in them.
- Wipe out any debris from the wok and return it to high heat. Heat up the cooking oil and sauté the shrimp in 2 separate batches until each piece is lightly seared and just cooked through. Divie the shrimp up evenly between the 6 meal prep containers with the pasta and vegetables in them.
Mexican-Inspired Chicken Meal Prep
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Toss chicken thighs with olive oil, salt, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano, dried onion, & dried garlic. Roast directly on sheet pan for 25 minutes until cooked through.
- When chicken is cooked, immediately add ½ cup/110g of water to the sheet pan and let sit. Once it has cooled slightly, scrape up any pan drippings, then shred chicken, mixing with drippings. Divide the chicken up between 6 meal prep containers.
- For veggies, preheat wok over high with oil then sauté onion and peppers with salt until charred and tender, 6-8 minutes. Add corn and for cook 5 more minutes. Add sour cream and a splash of water. Stir and cook another 2 minutes. Divide the veggies up between 6 meal prep containers.
- For the beans, add ⅔ of the drained beans, to a food processor. Process the beans until smooth, adding in a little bit of the reserved bean liquid to loosen.
- To refry beans, heat oil and minced garlic in a pan over med heat until garlic has softened. Stir in pureed beans and fry for about 3 minutes. Add in the remaining drained beans that were not processed. Cook for 3 minutes until thickened.
- Divide the beans up between 6 meal prep containers.
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