What is a Street Corn Chicken Bowl?
Street Corn Chicken Bowls are a simple, balanced meal that combines yummy seasoned chicken with fluffy rice, sauteed corn, and a delicious cilantro lime sauce that is lighter than your typical versions.
These flavors combine to make the most delicious chicken bowl you have had in a while. It has a ton of protein in it from the chicken breast, but it also has some veggies and whole grains, so you know you are also getting your fiber in. Which is really important to your whole digestive system, so make sure that you are getting that in! Learn more about the importance of fiber in your diet by checking out this article from Houston Methodist. If you need a goal for the year, make it getting in more fiber.
Everything in this bowl is layered, so you are going to have a perfect bite from start to finish when you are eating it. You can add more sauce if you are into that, or don’t put as much on if you aren’t.
There are other veggies you could easily add to, like tomatoes, red onion, or add a little tanginess and salt by sprinkling on some feta cheese. Really, you can’t go wrong when you are making the street corn chicken bowl.
Why You’ll Love Street Corn Chicken Bowls
They are super high in protein, but they won’t make you feel heavy. The protein is primarily coming from the chicken breast, which you can bake, saute, cook in an air fryer, or grill. This gives you some wiggle room and can also change the flavor without adding any extra fat or calories.
Street corn chicken bowls are an ideal meal prep because they heat up beautifully. You do not have to worry about keeping the meat separate from the other ingredients because they can all be heated up without getting soggy! Yay! The easier the meal prep is, the more likely you are going to enjoy it and eat it up!
Anyone can make this meal prep. All you need are a few staple ingredients and a pan or two. This is a really affordable way to do meal prep. There aren’t really any special ingredients, and you will be able to use up the whole thing (except maybe the cilantro, but you can use that to garnish other recipes later on too).
Short on time? No worries! Meal prep doesn’t have to take a long time for it to be delicious. Street corn chicken bowls only take about 30 minutes (maybe a bit longer if you forget to thaw out the chicken, ummmmmm definitely not me hehehe). Even if you have to quickly thaw your meat out, it still comes together really quickly. That means your starving kids are fed in a bit, or you don’t have to spend hours making your meal prep for lunches, either way, it is a win-win, sister.
Tips for the Best Street Corn Chicken Bowl
Rice is rice, and it is nice if it is fresh or leftover, but if you are making this for meal prep, you might enjoy the overall quality a bit more if you start with fresh rice on day one.
To really pop the flavor of the corn, you might want to use fresh; however, I usually use frozen corn. You can use canned if you want to, but it has a little more moisture in it, so the texture will be a little different depending on what style of corn you start with. All of them are delicious, just know they will be different.
I like to saute the corn because I can do that in the pan on the stove really easily, and I can make it any time of year. You can grill it, though, if you want, which gives it a really yummy flavor that you can’t get from any other way of cooking it if you want to brave the weather.
To change the flavor from one day to the next, you can add a little chili powder to the sauce to give it a little heat, or you can add some smoked paprika to give it a little smokiness and depth.
You can also add a little feta cheese if you are wanting a more classic street corn experience. This will add a touch more calories and a touch more protein, depending on how much you use. This can also be an addition to some of the bowls and not others to add a touch of variety to your meal prep for the week.
Budget-Friendly Tip for Making Street Corn Chicken Bowls
Using frozen or canned corn will keep the costs of the veggies down. This could also save you money if you don’t end up using everything that is on the fresh ear of corn. Also, it is always in season so your street corn chicken bowls will always be affordable, no matter the season.
You can also buy your chicken in bulk. When I do this and buy a family pack from Aldi, I put the chicken breasts into freezer bags with 2-3 breasts in them. This way I can save money and have the right amount of chicken no matter the occasion or recipe.
Meal Prep and Storage Tips for Street Corn Chicken Bowls
Post contains affiliate links, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
You can assemble these bowls for meal prep and then store them in air-tight containers. These are my favorite containers to use; click here to shop them. . I use them for everything, they are perfect because they are glass and can go from the fridge, to freezer, to oven, to microwave.
If you try these mixed together and feel like the texture changed, you can always keep the corn part separate or the sauce to the side for it to stay a little more crisp.
Check out more tips on my blog page for Meal Prep for Beginners here!
Ingredients
Method
- Cook the rice according to the package instructions.
- While the rice is cooking, saute the chicken breast and add the taco seasoning.
- While that is cooking, make the cilantro lime crema by adding the Greek yogurt, mayo, lime juice, and 1/4 cup cilantro to a blender and blend.
- When the chicken is done cooking drain the corn and add it to the saute pan. Cook until it is starting to turn golden brown on the outside.
- When everything is cooked. Lay out your favorite meal prep bowls. I like these glass containers from Ello.
- Layer 1/2 cup rice, 1/4 cup corn, 4 ounces cooked chicken, 2 T cilantro lime crema drizzle, and then the cilantro for a topping. I would also add the other toppings listed above, especially the feta, we just didn’t have any tonight, either way these are going to be delicious!