How do I meal prep chicken and rice?
Fridge tomorrow’s box, freeze the rest. Cooked chicken keeps 2 days in the fridge. Cooked rice keeps just 1. So in a chicken and rice box, the rice sets the clock.
On this page
How do I meal prep chicken and rice?
Cook it all in one go, then split it into boxes while it’s still warm. Put one box in the fridge for tomorrow and freeze the rest.
Why only one? The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says to eat cooked rice within 24 hours. Chicken on its own gets 48 hours.
One cook, a week of boxes
- 1
Cook
Cook the chicken until there’s no pink meat and it’s steaming hot inside.
- 2
Split
Spoon chicken and rice into boxes. Smaller boxes cool faster.
- 3
Chill
Rice into the fridge ideally within 1 hour. Chicken within 1 to 2 hours.
- 4
Freeze
Keep tomorrow’s box in the fridge. Label the rest and freeze them.
Sources: FSA: cooking; FSA: chilling; FSA: rice
Pick one recipe from the next section and cook it this week.
Chicken meal prep ideas
Each of these cooks in one pan or tray and splits into four or five boxes.
| Box | Chicken | Goes with |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon and garlic chicken | Breast, sliced | Rice, green beans, peas |
| Chicken fajita bowl | Thigh strips, skin off | Rice, peppers, onions, sweetcorn |
| Chicken and spinach curry | Diced breast | Brown rice, spinach, tinned tomatoes |
| Chicken traybake | Thighs, skin off | New potatoes, broccoli, red onion |
| Chicken noodle stir fry | Breast strips | Noodles, carrots, cabbage |
Source: NHS: meat
The traybake has no rice, so its boxes can sit in the fridge for 2 days.
Fill about half of each box with veg, as the NHS suggests for a plate. Frozen peas and beans count and save chopping.
Grilled chicken breast without skin has 32 g of protein per 100 g. The NHS says chicken without skin is lower in fat. See how much protein you need a day, or swap in other proteins with high protein meal prep.
How do I cook chicken for meal prep?
All the way through. The FSA says chicken can carry bacteria all the way through the meat, not just on the outside like a steak.
| Check | What you want |
|---|---|
| Cut into the thickest part | No pink meat left |
| Look at the juices | They run clear |
| Use a food thermometer in the middle | 70°C for 2 minutes |
Source: FSA: cooking
Don’t wash raw chicken. The NHS says it raises your risk of food poisoning, as the water splashes germs onto the sink and worktop.
Keep raw chicken on the bottom shelf of the fridge so it can’t drip onto other food. Thighs stay juicier than breast after a reheat, so try them if your boxes taste dry.
How long does chicken and rice meal prep last?
One day in the fridge. The rice sets the clock, not the chicken.
Raw rice can carry spores of a germ called Bacillus cereus. The longer cooked rice sits at room temperature, the more likely it is to be unsafe. So don’t leave it to cool in the pan.
| Food | Into the fridge | Eat within |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked chicken | Within 1 to 2 hours | 48 hours |
| Cooked rice | Ideally within 1 hour | 24 hours |
| A box defrosted in the fridge | Keep it there | 24 hours |
Sources: FSA: cooking; FSA: rice; FSA: chilling
Your fridge should be 0 to 5°C and your freezer around -18°C. Get boxes with rice into the freezer within an hour of cooking.
For a full week of fridge and freezer boxes, see lunch meal prep for the week.
Can you reheat chicken and rice?
Yes, but only once. Heat it until it’s steaming hot all the way through, not just warm.
Stir halfway when you use a microwave. The FSA says food can be very hot at the edges and still cold in the middle.
Defrost frozen boxes in the fridge overnight, not on the side.
Prefer it cold? That’s fine if it was cooked properly, cooled, and put in the fridge within two hours. Rice needs to cool down quickly.
Your chicken prep checklist
- Don’t wash raw chicken. Store it on the bottom shelf of the fridge.
- Cut into the thickest part: no pink meat left and the juices run clear.
- Split into boxes and get rice into the fridge ideally within 1 hour.
- Keep tomorrow’s box in the fridge. Freeze the rest.
- Defrost boxes in the fridge and eat them within 24 hours of fully defrosting.
- Reheat each box once, until steaming hot all the way through.
Sources: FSA: cooking; FSA: rice; FSA: chilling; NHS: meat
Cooking to lose weight? See meal prep for weight loss for portion sizes.
When to speak to a GP
Talk to a GP before you change how you eat if you have a medical condition or a special diet for your health. Or if you have an eating disorder, or have had one.
Ill after a box? Food poisoning usually gets better within a week. The NHS says to call 111 if you or your child:
- keep being sick and cannot keep fluid down
- have bloody diarrhoea or bleeding from the bottom
- have diarrhoea for more than 7 days or vomiting for more than 2 days
- are aged 5 or over and still have signs of dehydration, like dark, smelly pee, after using oral rehydration sachets (a powder you mix with water)
- are worried about a baby under 12 months, a child who stops breast or bottle feeding, or a child under 5 with fewer wet nappies
Call 999 or go to A&E if you vomit blood, or vomit that looks like ground coffee. Green vomit (yellow-green or green in children) counts too. So does a stiff neck with pain in bright light, or a sudden, severe headache or tummy ache.
Also call 999 for blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue. Or severe difficulty breathing, or taking lots of quick, short breaths. Or if you’re confused or not responding as usual, or may have swallowed something poisonous.