This Chicken and Wild Rice Bowl is what meal prep dreams are made of—wholesome, packed with flavor, and easy to pull together. It’s built around three solid layers: hearty wild rice, juicy grilled chicken, and tender sweet potatoes, all topped with a bright, zippy cilantro-lime sauce that seriously steals the show.
Why You’ll Love This Bowl
- Meal-prep perfection: These bowls store well and reheat beautifully.
- Balanced and satisfying: A great combo of protein, healthy fats, fiber, and greens.
- Big flavor: The cilantro-lime sauce adds a bold, fresh finish that ties everything together.
- Simple to customize: Add your favorite toppings to make it your own.
Ingredients Overview
Wild Rice
Use a boxed wild rice mix for convenience or make it from scratch with butter, broth, and a blend of herbs and seasonings. It forms the hearty base of your bowl.
Grilled Chicken
Boneless skinless chicken breasts, seasoned simply or with your favorite spice blend, grilled and sliced thin. You can also use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to save time.
Sweet Potatoes
Microwaved until soft, then grilled or pan-seared for a crisp finish. These add sweetness and a satisfying texture.
Cilantro-Lime Sauce
This creamy, tangy sauce is packed with flavor. You’ll need:
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime juice + zest
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Jalapeño
- Dijon mustard
- Honey
- Almond butter
- Cumin
It’s quick to blend and totally addictive. Drizzle it on everything.
Optional Toppings
These bowls are great on their own, but if you’re feeling extra:
- Baby greens (arugula or spinach): Adds color and freshness
- Avocado: For creaminess and extra richness
- Sliced almonds: Add crunch
- Dried cranberries or tart cherries: A pop of sweetness and contrast
How to Make These Bowls
1. Cook the Wild Rice
Use two boxes of wild rice mix, or make it from scratch:
Combine rinsed wild rice, broth, butter, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for about 45 minutes until tender. Fluff with a fork.
2. Make the Cilantro-Lime Sauce
In a blender, combine cilantro, lime juice/zest, olive oil, garlic, jalapeño, Dijon, honey, almond butter, and cumin. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Prep the Sweet Potatoes
Pierce each potato with a fork. Microwave until tender (5–8 minutes depending on size). Let cool, remove skins, and grill or sear in a pan for a crisp outer layer, then cube.
4. Grill the Chicken
Halve and pound chicken breasts for even cooking. Brush with olive oil and season well. Grill or pan-sear over medium-high heat until cooked through. Let rest, then slice thin.
5. Assemble Your Bowls
Layer cooked rice, sweet potatoes, and chicken in your bowl. Drizzle generously with cilantro-lime sauce. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Storage Tips
- For meal prep: Divide the rice, chicken, and sweet potatoes into individual containers (five portions). Store the sauce separately. Add fresh toppings like greens and avocado right before serving.
- Fridge life: Keeps well for up to 4 days in the fridge.
- Reheating: Microwave the base until warm, then top with sauce and fresh extras.
Pro Tip: The sauce may thicken in the fridge. Let it sit at room temperature and give it a good shake before drizzling.
More Ways to Enjoy This Bowl
- Use quinoa or farro instead of wild rice.
- Swap sweet potatoes for roasted butternut squash.
- Make it vegetarian with grilled tofu or chickpeas.
- Use the sauce as a dressing for tacos or salads—it’s that good.
Chicken and Wild Rice
This hearty bowl is full of flavor and packed with real ingredients—grilled chicken, tender sweet potatoes, and perfectly seasoned wild rice, all tied together with a zesty homemade cilantro lime sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 (6-ounce) packages Long Grain and Wild Rice Mix
- 4 to 5 sweet potatoes (about 2 pounds total)
- 1/2 cup cilantro, gently packed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
- 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped jalapeño
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
- Toppings as desired
- 4 limes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chicken seasoning blend
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
Instructions
- Start by prepping the sauce. Zest the limes to get about half a teaspoon and juice them for a quarter cup.
- In a small blender, add the lime juice and zest along with the cilantro, jalapeño, honey, almond butter, cumin, mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Pulse until smooth. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and blend just until it all comes together. Transfer to a jar and keep chilled until ready to use.
- Cook the wild rice according to the directions on the package. Once it’s done, fluff with a fork and keep covered to stay warm.
- Scrub the sweet potatoes clean and prick them a few times with a fork. Place on a microwave-safe plate and cook for about 5 minutes, then flip and microwave for another 3 to 5 minutes, until soft and tender.
- Let them cool slightly, then peel off the skins and spray both sides with cooking spray. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, chicken seasoning, and cumin. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally and pound them to an even thickness. Pat dry, then coat both sides with the seasoning blend using a brush or your hands.
- Preheat your grill to medium-high heat, around 400 to 450°F. Clean and oil the grates, then add the chicken. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, or until internal temperature reaches 160°F.
- Remove and cover loosely with foil. Grill the sweet potatoes next, about 2 minutes per side, just to get a little char and color.
- Slice the chicken and chop the grilled sweet potatoes. Assemble your bowls with a base of wild rice, then layer in the chicken and sweet potato chunks.
- Top with anything extra you love—arugula, baby spinach, avocado slices, almonds, dried cranberries—and finish with a generous drizzle of that cilantro lime sauce.
Notes
- Chicken seasoning: Use a salt-free blend if possible. If your seasoning has salt, reduce the added salt to avoid over-salting the rub.
- Wild rice: You can use any long-grain and wild rice mix you like. If you’d rather go homemade, feel free to cook up a wild rice blend from scratch.
- Optional toppings: Arugula, spinach, sliced almonds, dried cranberries or cherries, and ripe avocado are all delicious here. Mix and match based on what you have.
- Storing the sauce: As it chills, the olive oil may firm up a bit. Just let it sit at room temp for about 20 to 30 minutes, then shake or stir well before using.
- Meal prep tips: Divide the chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, and sauce into individual containers. Store the sauce separately and add avocado fresh to avoid browning.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 627Total Fat 32gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 25gCholesterol 129mgSodium 435mgCarbohydrates 35gFiber 5gSugar 10gProtein 51g
All Chicken Recipes.com, occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although allchickenrecipes.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.