Today we’re talking about everything related to Keto Chicken Meal Prep. Bookmark this post, we’re sharing tons of keto chicken meal prep ideas and you’ll be coming back to it often!

Most people love chicken. Not only is it a great source of protein, affordable, and delicious, but it’s also incredibly versatile! Another thing to love about chicken is that it acts as a blank canvas, easily taking on the other flavors in a dish.

With everyone being so busy between work, family, other responsibilities, and trying to have some kind of a social life, most of us are happy for any help we can get in terms of time-saving tips. Meal prep is one of the biggest ways to get organized (which saves you time!) and save money. How does meal prep save money?! You’re not eating out as much, you’re only buying the things you need at the grocery store, and you’re utilizing leftovers.

There are so many different ways to meal prep, but today we’re going to focus on everyone’s favorite…chicken!

Chicken and Food Safety

How Long Can I Keep Raw Chicken in the Fridge?

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, raw chicken can be kept in the fridge (40F) for 1 to 2 days. Use this to plan accordingly when you’re making your meal prep schedule.

How Long Does Cooked Chicken Last in the Fridge? How Long Does Cooked Chicken Last in the Freezer?

As per the US Food and Drug Administration, cooked chicken can be stored in the fridge (40F) for up to 3 to 4 days. If kept in the freezer (0F), cooked chicken can last 4 to 6 months.

Chicken Meal Prep

We’re tackling everything related to everyone’s favorite protein…chicken! Get ready to meal prep!

How to Prepare Chicken for Meal Prep

There are a lot of different ways you can get chicken ready for cooking to make meal prep easier.

How to Meal Prep Whole Chicken

Whole chicken doesn’t really need much preparation before cooking. You can pick up a whole chicken from the store and then roast it when you get home. Take note that sometimes whole chicken comes with a bag of organs stuffed inside, which you should remove before cooking the chicken. A lot of people use the organs to make gravy, but that’s up to you.

Chicken Kebabs

How to Meal Prep Chicken Breasts

You can buy chicken breasts with bone-in skin-on, bone-in skin-off, or boneless skinless. For the most flavor, we like to go for bone-in skin-on, but this also takes the longest to cook. Also, if you’re going to eat the skin we definitely recommend organic (we recommend pasture-raised, organic chicken anyway, but especially if you’re going to eat the skin, which has a high fat content).

Cooking chicken breasts whole requires little-to-no preparation. If you buy bone-in breasts with the wings attached you can cut those off because they have a different cooking time than breasts. (Save the wings to cook later though, they’re delicious!)

If a recipe requires chicken to be chopped, it’s a time-saver to buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders. They are both quick and easy to chop, and you can do this a day in advance.

Marinating Chicken Wings

How to Marinade Chicken

Our favorite way to marinade chicken is very easy; the basic ingredients are:

• Olive oil or avocado oil
• Vinegar, such as red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• Aromatics, like fresh lemon, onion, and/or garlic
• Fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, sage, etc.
• Salt
• Black Pepper

We add chicken along with the marinade to a gallon-size zip-top bag and put it in a bowl in the fridge for up to two to three days (the vinegar and salt act as a preservative, which is why it’s ok to keep raw marinated chicken in the fridge a little longer than non-marinated raw chicken). The result is chicken that’s incredibly moist, tender, and flavorful!

How to Cook Chicken for Meal Prep and How to Batch Cook Chicken

A huge time-saving tip is to cook a big batch of protein, such as chicken, steak, etc., and find different ways to use it throughout the week. Batch cooking is basically cooking up a larger quantity of something than what you need for just one meal, so you can utilize leftovers. For example, if you’re roasting chicken for dinner one night, roast another chicken at the same time to make into chicken salad for lunches and chicken casserole for later in the week. Batch cooking is very helpful because it allows you to cook food for multiple meals with minimal extra effort.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to cook chicken for eating throughout the week, or for portioning out and freezing:

Baked Chicken Meal Prep

We cook this different ways; sometimes topped with a sauce (like BBQ, honey mustard, etc.), sometimes breaded, and sometimes we just bake the chicken plain without additional flavorings because we want a more basic flavor profile because we’re planning on using it in something like casserole or chicken salad.

Whole Roast Chicken Meal Prep

One of the best tips we can give when you want to meal prep chicken is to make a roast for dinner one night (and serve it as a roast chicken dinner with all the fixings), and cook another roast at the same time. Leftover roast chicken has just about endless uses; we like making leftover chicken into soups, stews, casseroles, chicken sandwiches (on keto bread), chicken salads, etc.

Grilled Chicken Meal Prep

You can use any herbs, spices, sauces, etc. to flavor grilled chicken. You can grill chicken with the bone-in or bone-out. Additionally, you can cut up boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cook them kebab-style on skewers.

Skillet Chicken Meal Prep

This is basically sliced or chopped chicken breasts cooked in a little olive oil in a hot skillet seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s a quick and easy way to make chicken with minimal time and effort. We sometimes add veggies like broccoli to make a stir fry, and sometimes we add onion, bell pepper, and homemade taco seasoning to make fajita-style chicken.

Best Tools to Help with Chicken Meal Prep

• Instant Pot
• Slow Cooker
• Heavy Duty Sheet Pan
• Casserole Dish

Chicken Nutrition

Living a ketogenic lifestyle, chicken is a delicious and nutritious part of our diet, so we love chicken meal prep!

Rotisserie Chicken Nutrition Information

According to the USDA Food Database, 3 ounces (84g) of rotisserie chicken has the following nutrition information:

• 160kcals
• 22g protein
• 8g fat
• 0g carbohydrates

Chicken Breast Nutrition Information

Additionally, according to the USDA Food Database, 4 ounces (112g) of boneless, skinless chicken breast has the following nutrition information:

• 110kcals
• 23g protein
• 5g fat
• 0g carbohydrates

Low Carb and Keto Chicken Meal Prep Ideas

Here are 15 Mouthwatering Low Carb Chicken Recipes!

Crack Chicken

Instant Pot Keto Chicken Meal Prep Ideas

• Crack Chicken
• Lemon Chicken with Garlic
• Chicken Burrito Bowls
• Old Bay BBQ Pulled Chicken
• Date Night Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

Slow Cooker Keto Chicken Meal Prep Ideas

• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Creamy Chicken Marsala
• Chicken Fajitas
• Creamy Mexican Chicken

Chicken Casserole Meal Prep Recipes

• Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
• Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
• Cheesy Chicken Casserole with Poblano Peppers
• Turkey or Chicken Jalapeno Popper Casserole

Indian Butter Chicken

Chicken Soups, Stews, and Curries Meal Prep Recipes

• The Best Leftover Chicken Bone Broth Soup
• Indian Butter Chicken
• Quick Creamy Chicken Paprika Soup
• Indian Chicken Korma

Chicken Sausage and Brussels Sprouts Sheet Pan Supper with Balsamic Onions

Sheet Pan or 1 Pan Chicken Dinner Recipes

• Greek Baked Chicken Dinner with Tzatziki Sauce
• Sesame Chicken and Broccoli Sheet Pan Meal
• Sheet Pan Chicken Caccitore
• Chicken Sausage and Brussels Sprouts Sheet Pan Supper with Balsamic Onions

Chicken Souvlaki Salad Bowls

Chicken Salad Recipes and Ways to Use Leftover Chicken or Rotisserie Chicken

• BBQ Chicken Salad Bowls
• Chicken Souvlaki Salad Bowls
• Dill Chicken Salad
• Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
• Keto Honey Mustard Dressing to dip chicken in

More Meal Prep Resources

Here at The Keto Queens, we believe the success of your meal plan and eating habits happens when you take a little bit of time to plan ahead. That way, no matter what comes up unexpectedly, you know dinner will be a breeze to put on the table (no need for fast food!) because you’ve already taken the time to plan, grocery shop, and prep ahead.

Here are a few other meal planning and meal prep resources:

• Healthy Meal Prep Tools for Easy Meal Prep
• Keto Meal Prep Made Easy
• Easy Guide to Meal Planning and Meal Prep

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If you need a little more hand holding and want something longer term, you may be interested in our 4 week keto meal prep course. It comes with 4 weeks of keto meal plans (1200, 1500 and 1800 calorie levels), weekly keto grocery lists, 40 keto recipe ebook, how to meal prep ebook, videos and more!

Or if you’ve been doing keto for a while and just need a little help meal planning, we’ve got you covered! Get 1 week of keto meal plans for free!

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