Meal Prep Taco Bowls

Make meal prep easy with these tasty taco bowls!

Start the new year off strong by making meal prep a habit. It saves time, money and eliminates bad choices, so there’s really no reason not to! Plus you don’t want to miss out on these oh so delicious taco bowls. All you need is 30 minutes to get them packed and loaded for the week!

They’re simple, mess-free and versatile. The perfect combo! These bowls are packed with flavor with a little kick. And did I mention gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo-friendly? I promise they’ll have your co-workers (and you!) drooling!

Hi there friends! I’m really excited about today’s post, but we before we dive in to the goods, I thought I do a quick update. 🙂

First, can we talk about how much work owning a home is. Holy cow. I swear, my list of 20 things keeps growing and I can’t keep up.

It has been fun though! I love decorating, even though it’s taking a while. And we’ve been entertaining like crazy… which means cleaning twice a weekend, but other than that it’s been amazing to have our own (and permanent) house together.🏡

Second, THE WEDDING! I’m finally starting to get into the crazy planning stages. I held off for a a while, but now I’m in the trenches. We’ve found our DJ, florist, hair stylist, makeup artist, bought my dress and started putting together the day of schedule. There are so many things that go into a wedding, it’s ridiculous. Oh and my mom and I are completely opposite, so you can imagine how that’s going 😏 I’m excited to see it all come together and mostly just excited to have a really FUN day with all my friends and family 🙂

We are thinking about going to Hawaii for our honeymoon, so if you’ve been, I’d love to hear all about it! What island to stay on, activities, food, the whole bit!

Other than that, I’ve just been working – I just had my 3 year anniversary – teaching a lot of classes at the Y (I love it because the room’s packed with all the new years people) and relaxing. 2018 is the year for me to do more of nothing, so I’m doing just that! 😴

Now let’s talk about these yummy bowls!

I make all my lunches and snacks for the week in an hour or less on Sunday. I know meal prep can be really daunting, but as long as you have a plan, it’s easy! And I know what you’re thinking, you don’t have time to make a plan. We’ll guess what?! I have one already created for you. Check out my Meal Prep Guide post for all the tips and tricks + a FREE week’s meal plan and grocery list!

Done and done. √

Better yet, you can swap out one of the lunches or dinners with these tasty taco bowls! All you need is 5 ingredients and 30 minutes. That’s it and you’ll have 4 meals done for the week.

I’ve been trying to mix up meal prep, because I generally do a different meal every day of the week, which is great, but it also takes a little more effort. By batch making meals it saves time and less waste. Cue the bowls! 🥣

There are two ways you can make the taco bowls 1.) the old fashioned way in the Skillet, or 2.) in the INSTANT POT! Either way works and they’re both easy.

Here’s what you need:

• Bell Peppers
• Yellow Onion
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Shredded Chicken
• Cauliflower Rice
• Spices: paprika, cumin, chili powder
• Toppings: avocado, plain greek yogurt, green onion, salsa, sriracha or chips

Skillet

Cook chicken in the oven and then shred it (you can do this beforehand). I always cook a bunch of chicken at the beginning of the week and keep it in the freezer. (You always need shredded chicken, amright!?)

I’ll let you in on a little secret – get the instant pot. It’ll make your life a whole lot easier. I have a food processor that shreds chicken, so I usually just run it through that. You can also use a hand mixer. (I’ll show both on Insta stories this week!) But if you have the instant pot, the chicken just falls apart, it’s glorious.🙌🏼

Once the chicken is ready to go, slice the peppers and onions length-wise and throw them in the skillet with olive oil and cook until browned, then set them aside. Throw the shredded chicken in the SAME skillet and add the spices (or you can use salsa instead, whichever you prefer), mix until spices are well combined and set that aside.

While all of that is cooking, pop a bowl of cauliflower rice in the microwave to heat. My favorite brands are Trader Joe’s and Green Giant. Both are amazing!

And that’s it! Portion it out into 4 containers and add the toppings! 😋

I use PrepNaturals glass containers that I got for Christmas, which work great because of the different compartments. But any old bowl will do.

Instant pot

Throw thawed or frozen chicken and spices into instant pot (manual for 10-12 minutes depending on how much chicken you’re making – I do 12 minutes for 2 lbs.). Shred the chicken and set aside (or measure and put them in your containers). Once the chicken is done, remove from the instant pot and turn on the sautee feature to cook the onions and peppers until browned. Set those aside. Then you can either steam the cauli rice in the Instant Pot or use the microwave. Viola! Throw everything together and you’re golden. I’m talking easy peasy!

Nick told me his co-workers were all jealous when he took it for lunch last week, so that’s a win in my book!

I have a feeling this is going to be a go-to this year.

Looking for other meal prep recipes? Here are some of my favorites: Chicken and Squash Budha Bowls, Chocolate Cranberry Protein Energy Balls, Healthy Buffalo Chicken Wraps, Waldorf Chicken Salad on Apple Slices   

Now go ahead, get planning and add this healthy meal to your line-up this week!

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