This easy buffalo chicken and rice meal prep with roasted garlic cauliflower makes for such a healthy, flavourful and satisfying meal that you can make in advance and store for a quick and convenient meal. Serve it up as a bowl or take it on the go! The spicy shredded buffalo chicken is cooked in the crockpot and it’s so flavourful, you’ll want to eat it for lunch or dinner everyday! {gluten-free & dairy-free-friendly}
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Buffalo Chicken Meal Prep
One of my top tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to meal prep and plan ahead wherever possible. When you have tasty and healthy food that’s ready to grab, it’s so much easier to stay on track with your lifestyle goals!
That’s where this buffalo chicken and rice meal prep comes into play. It’s perfect for lunch or dinner, and is portion-controlled and well-balanced since it contains protein, whole grains and veggies.
Not to mention, it’s super easy to prepare. The spicy buffalo chicken is cooked in the slow cooker, and the brown rice and roasted garlic cauliflower can be whipped together in a flash for multiple ready-made meals for the week.
Meal prep doesn’t get much easier, or more delicious than that!
For more healthy chicken meal prep recipes, be sure to try this Healthy Orange Chicken and Chicken Pesto Recipe too!
Why we love this chicken meal prep recipe
- Quick and easy: Because the pulled buffalo chicken is cooked in the crockpot, most of the cooking time is totally hands off. It requires very little effort to make up four meals for the week.
- Satisfying: With veggies, whole-grains and chicken, this meal prep recipe is a great well-balanced meal. High in protein and fibre, with 30 grams of protein and 5 grams of fibre per serving, this recipe will leave you feeling satisfied for hours.
- So delicious! If you love everything buffalo flavoured, then you’re going to adore this meal! Tangy, spicy, and packed with flavour, this is no boring meal prep recipe.
Ingredient notes
- Chicken: I like to use skinless boneless chicken breasts for this recipe. They’re a leaner option and once cooked I find them easier to shred.
- Red Bell Pepper: For extra vegetable goodness! I typically use red, but any colour will work.
- Buffalo Sauce: I love to use Frank’s buffalo sauce to flavour the shredded chicken, you can use your favourite brand.
- Lime Juice: A little lime juice adds a fresh and zesty flavour.
- Honey: To naturally sweeten the sauce. You can also use maple syrup.
- Broth: I like to use low-sodium chicken broth to cook the chicken and rice. Vegetable stock will also work well.
- Seasonings: Garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper add additional flavour to the buffalo sauce.
- Brown Rice: I like to use brown rice for added whole grains, although white or wild rice can also be used. I typically use a quicker cooking brown rice to save on prep time.
- Cauliflower: The cauliflower is roasted with olive oil and garlic to bring out its naturally nutty flavours.
Step By Step Instructions
With just a few simple steps, you can whip up the shredded buffalo chicken, rice and cauliflower for four balanced meals. Here’s how to get it done!
How to Make Buffalo Chicken in a Crockpot
- Start by placing the chicken breasts in your slow cooker along with the diced red pepper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the buffalo sauce. Set aside a quarter of the sauce.
- You can use this extra sauce to drizzle over the meal prep bowls once they’re all done to jazz them up a bit more.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the chicken breasts and flip the chicken until it’s coated in sauce.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- When it’s all finished cooking, shred the chicken using two forks.
How to Make Rice
- Meanwhile, add the rice and chicken broth to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.
- Cover and simmer on low heat until cooked (the time will depend on the type of brown rice that you use).
- Add a squeeze of lime juice to the cooked rice to incorporate more flavour.
How to Make Roasted Cauliflower
- For the roasted cauliflower, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, place the cauliflower florets, olive oil, minced garlic, dried parsley, salt and pepper. Toss until ingredients are evenly distributed and cauliflower is coated lightly in oil.
- Dump the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. The cauliflower should be lightly golden on the edges.
To Assemble
- Evenly divide the buffalo chicken, rice and roasted cauliflower between four containers or bowls. Top the chicken with a drizzle of the leftover buffalo sauce, some sliced green onion and crumble of blue cheese, if desired.
Recipe Notes:
- To save time when meal prepping, make the buffalo sauce in advance or make a double portion and freeze the extras. I like to use these Souper Cubes to freeze sauces since you can freeze it in individual portions and pop it out when you need it. That way, you just have to thaw it out, pour it over the chicken breasts and peppers in the crockpot and press start!
- I like to reserve about a quarter of the homemade buffalo sauce to drizzle over top of the cooked chicken and rice. It infuses even more buffalo flavour and the extra drizzle gives the chicken a nicer presentation too.
- Be sure to massage the garlic and olive oil mixture into the cauliflower to help it adhere. This helps ensure that the minced garlic ends up on the cauliflower and not burnt on the baking sheet.
- You can either portion out the buffalo chicken, rice and cauliflower into bowls for a quick and easy meal at home or pack them up into containers for on the go! I’m a huge fan of these meal prep containers.
How to store
You can store these buffalo chicken rice bowls in the fridge for up to four days in air-tight containers or covered bowls.
To reheat: Reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until warmed through.
Recipe FAQs
Traditionally, buffalo chicken refers to wings that are tossed in sauce, but now the sauce is so famous that it’s used in so many recipes like this meal prep buffalo chicken!
Buffalo sauce is made with butter and cayenne sauce, so it’s tangy, spicy and finger lickin’ good! You can get it in a milder flavour or super hot depending on your tastes.
Once made, these buffalo chicken and rice meal prep bowls or containers will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days.
I love to use a quick cooking brown rice for meal prep. Brown rice is a whole grain, so it contains more fibre, in addition to vitamins and minerals. Plus, I love the texture and nutty flavour it provides. You can also use white rice or wild rice if you prefer, however, you may have to adjust the amount of liquid used and cooking time accordingly.
Serving suggestions
This meal prep buffalo chicken with rice and cauliflower is a great well balanced meal all by itself. For additional meal prep, I like to pack it up along with some healthy snacks for the day.
Try packing it with:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Nuts
- Yogurt
- Granola bars (try these Healthy Granola Bars)
- Energy balls (we love these No Bake Oatmeal Energy Balls or Healthy Protein Cookie Dough Balls)
- Muffins (like Banana Protein Muffins)
Recipe variations
- Use different veggies: Instead of cauliflower use broccoli or green beans.
- Switch up the grains: Try quinoa instead of rice.
- Cook chicken without a slow cooker: If you don’t have a crockpot, you can boil or bake the chicken breasts, shred them and then stir the sauce into the shredded chicken. Alternatively, you can use a rotisserie chicken if really short on time.
- Make it lower carb: Skip the rice and double the roasted cauliflower.
- Make it spicier: If you’re a lover of super spicy food, try adding in a little cayenne pepper into the sauce for an extra kick!
What Readers Are Saying
“Made for lunch this week! Everything tastes so great!” – Jerri
“I doubled the sauce to mix it with the rice! Such a great recipe! I also added parmesan cheese to the cauliflower.” – Kayla
“Great recipe!” – Darion
More Buffalo-Flavored Recipes
- Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
- Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash
- Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers
- Buffalo Chicken Chili {Slow Cooker}
- Crispy Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a star rating and review!
Buffalo Chicken and Rice Meal Prep
Ingredients
For the buffalo chicken:
- 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1/4 cup Frank's buffalo sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
To prepare the brown rice:
- 1/2 cup dry brown rice
- 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- Squeeze of lime juice
To prepare the cauliflower:
- 1 medium-sized head of cauliflower cut into florets (about 6 cups chopped)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
To garnish:
- Drizzle of reserved buffalo sauce
- Sliced green onion
- Crumbled blue cheese (or sub in feta or goat cheese if you're not a fan of blue cheese)
Instructions
- Start by placing the chicken breasts in your slow cooker along with the diced red pepper.
- In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the buffalo sauce. Set aside a quarter of the sauce.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the chicken breasts and flip the chicken until it’s coated in sauce.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. When it's all finished cooking, shred the chicken using two forks.
- Meanwhile, add the rice and chicken broth to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat until cooked (the time will depend on the type of brown rice that you use). Add a squeeze of lime juice to the cooked rice to incorporate more flavour.
- For the roasted cauliflower, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, place the cauliflower florets, olive oil, minced garlic, dried parsley, salt and pepper. Toss until ingredients are evenly distributed and cauliflower is coated lightly in oil.
- Dump the cauliflower florets on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through. The cauliflower should be lightly golden on the edges.
- Evenly divide the buffalo chicken, rice and roasted cauliflower between four containers or bowls. Top the chicken with a drizzle of the leftover buffalo sauce, some sliced green onion and crumble of blue cheese, if desired.
Video
Notes
- To save time when meal prepping, make the buffalo sauce in advance or make a double portion and freeze the extras. I like to use these Souper Cubes to freeze sauces since you can freeze it in individual portions and pop it out when you need it. That way, you just have to thaw it out, pour it over the chicken breasts and peppers in the crockpot and press start!
- I like to reserve about a quarter of the homemade buffalo sauce to drizzle over top of the cooked chicken and rice. It infuses even more buffalo flavour and the extra drizzle gives the chicken a nicer presentation too.
- Be sure to massage the garlic and olive oil mixture into the cauliflower to help it adhere. This helps ensure that the minced garlic ends up on the cauliflower and not burnt on the baking sheet.
- You can either portion out the buffalo chicken, rice and cauliflower into bowls for a quick and easy meal at home or pack them up into containers for on the go! I’m a huge fan of these meal prep containers.
- You can store this meal prep recipe in the fridge for up to four days.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted December 2019 and was updated February 2022 to include better tips and photos.
I am confused at what is one portion size of the chicken?
This recipe uses 1 lb of raw chicken breasts and makes 4 servings (a 1/4 pound per serving). One portion size of the chicken would be 1/4 of the cooked shredded chicken breast. Hope that makes sense!
Can I use rotisserie chicken?
Yes, that should work fine! Just prep the sauce and drizzle it over the shredded chicken :) Keep me posted on how it turns out!
Do you reheat this or eat it cold please? Thanks x
I usually like to reheat it, but you could also eat it cold if you like. Works either way!
Why is chicken broth included under the rice category if it says to cook rice according to the box instructions? Looks good but I’m confused on this part.
I apologize — I forgot to include in the notes that you can make the rice with chicken broth instead of water to infuse more flavour into the rice. I’ll make that change to the recipe. Thanks for bringing that to my attention and hope you enjoy the recipe if you try it out!
Amazing!! This dish has so much flavor! Perfect for meal prep!
Thanks so much Chelle! So happy you enjoyed it!! Love this one for meal prep!