Buffalo Chicken Salad Bento Box
This creamy Buffalo Chicken Salad will leave you craving for more- I swapped out a few ingredients to bring down the calories + sodium in this to keep it within your macros!
Creator: Leslie Stokes
How is this chicken salad lower in calories?
I have actually made this higher in protein and lower in calories + fat by swapping out the mayo for greek yogurt and the buffalo sauce for buffalo seasoning! The buffalo seasoning is such a game changer because it still brings all the flavor, with Z-E-R-O calories and less sodium! Most buffalo sauces do not have a ton of calories, but they are so high in sodium and have canola oil in them, which is something you want to stay away from, as your body does not process it as well as some other oils.
Ingredients:
- chicken breast- I use 2 breast cooked in the instant pot, but you can use rotisserie chicken or canned chicken if you want,
- greek yogurt
- kinders buffalo sauce- I found it at sams club, but check your local grocery store!
- celery
- green onions
- I stuffed my bento box with celery, carrots and crackers, but you can do whatever you want! I could have even added in some fruit on the side!
*** see full recipe below
My instant pot chicken-
I have found that the easiest and most cost effective way to cook chicken for meal prep is in the instant pot.
I simply add 2-3 chicken breast into the instant pot and season with salt, pepper + garlic, add in 1/2 cup of water and set the pot to the meat setting for 20 minutes (30 for frozen) and then let it slow release so that the chicken will get a little more tender.
When the chicken is done, I like to put it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes before chopping, this will keep it from shredding and you can actually chop it into pieces. I did not have time to do that with the recipe and the chicken shredded a little more than I would have liked, but since we were making chicken salad, it was fine!
Cooking chicken this way is so versatile and you can use it for so many things- just add in your sauce or seasoning to whatever it is you are making!
Tips for this Meal Prep
I paired this recipe with the Apple Cinnamon Protein Waffles. This whole meal prep took me about 55 minutes- here is how I did it!
- about an hour before I’m actually ready to start preparing the meals, I cook my chicken in the instant pot and let it slow release
- I take the chicken out to let it completely cool down while I chop the celery, green onions and apples.
- Once the chicken is cool, I chop it and then let it sit for about 5 more minutes before I mix in the other ingredients for the chicken salad- set that in the fridge
- next- I made the waffle batter and then placed the chopped apples on the stove to cook
- I cooked the waffles as I was putting the buffalo chicken salad together in the meal prep containers.
- Once that was put away and the waffles were done, I put those in the containers and topped them with the cooked apples.
- I then cleaned up the kitchen!
That’s it!
I hope this meal prep helps you! Don’t forget to follow along on social media for more Meal Prep + healthy recipes!
Buffalo Chicken Salad Bento Box
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breast or 2 1/2 cups of chopped/shredded chicken
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt to sub for mayo
- 2 tbsp kinders buttery buffalo chicken seasoning
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/4 cup diced green onion
- veggies + chip or crackers of choice to dip
Let's Make It
- To cook the chicken, add it to an instant pot and season it with salt, pepper + garlic- add in 1/4 cup of water and cook on the meat setting for 20 minutes (30 if frozen). Let the instant pot slow release.*** you can use rotisserie chicken if you want, but this is my favortie way to cook chicken. I do this about 1 hour ahead of time so that way it has time to slow release.
- Let the chicken cool down completely before chopping- add into a bowl with the yogurt, seasoning, celery + green onions- mix together until combined.
- Taste the chicken salad to make sure you don't need to add more yogurt or seasoning- the seasoning will get stronger as it sits overnight, so don't add too much.
- Add about 3/4 cup of the chicken salad into the meal prep containers with whatever crackers/chips and veggies you want. You can even add some fruit on the side too!
- Store in the fridge for up to 4 days!
Nutrition Facts
Meal Prep in 1 Hour
You can use any two of the meals in this series to get your meal prep done in just about and hour, give or take!
Having your breakfast and lunch ready for the week helps you stay on track with your nutriton, saves you time and money! I truly beleive that meal prep does not need to be over complicated, take too much time or be boring!
I always get asked- “do you ever get tired of eating the same thing all week?” and the answer is, no! Not when the food taste good! I give plenty of variety in these preps and keep it simple!
As always, thanks for being here and remember, don’t over complicate the process! Take a deep breath, you got this!
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