Cooking chicken in bulk: easy meal prep for hitting high protein goals

Because cooking once and eating all week is the real definition of endurance.

If you’re an athlete-with-bills and a day job, you don’t have the time or mental energy to cook from scratch every night. Bulk chicken cooking fixes that: one cooking session, several days of easy, high-protein meals, and less chance of accidentally having cereal for dinner.

Why meal prep chicken in bulk?

• Save time: Cook once, reheat many times. That’s hours of life you can spend training, socialising… Or lying down.
• Hit your nutrition targets: Control exactly what’s in it and hit your macros without mystery ingredients.
• Save money: Buying in bulk costs less per kilo.
• Fewer bad decisions: If there’s ready-to-eat chicken in the fridge, you’re less likely to just have toast after training.

Chicken breast spice mixes and rubs for meal prep

Why anyone would eat plain cooked chicken, boiled rice and broccoli without any added flavour is beyond me. For now, let’s just look at how to make the chicken taste better, and we’ll revisit “How to make chicken and rice more interesting” later. These are my personal favourites.

Disclaimer: The measures here are guestimates, because I haven’t made these specific recipes in a few weeks and I tend to eyeball it. I promise to weigh next time and update this post!

For ~1kg of chicken breast, or 5-6 chicken breasts:

Honey mustard marinade

• 3tbsp honey
• 3tbsp dijon mustard
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp garlic granules
• 1tsp salt

Mexican spice rub

For ~1kg chicken, or 5-6 chicken breasts:

• 3tbsp paprika
• 1tbsp ground cumin
• 1tbsp garlic granules
• 1tbsp dried oregano
• 1tsp salt

Lemon & garlic marinade

• 2tbsp lemon juice
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 2tbsp garlic granules
• 1tbsp dried dill
• 1tsp salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Give the chicken breasts a nice rub until all chicken breasts are nicely covered by the sticky mess you’ve just made.
3. Go wash your hands.
4. Line a baking tray with foil and spread the chicken out on top
5. Bake for 23 minutes. Keep in mind that every oven can be slightly different, think of this as your starting time and adjust based on the results from your oven.

This method works whether you’re cooking 500g or the full 2.5kg - assuming the chicken breasts are around 200g-250g each.

Storing and freezing cooked chicken

Once cooked, it can live in the fridge for 5 days before it will turn into poison (yes, I’ve learnt that the hard way). If you live alone, that means eating 500g of chicken per day - that’s 150g of protein - which is fine if you’re the size of the hulk (or building up to be), but for me personally I chicken out at 250g per day. Not to mention - you’d probably be quite sick of chicken if you’re eating that much of it every day.

Instead, to make sure you don’t get sick of chicken or poison yourself, follow:

1. Use different spice mixes: Season half with one blend, half with another. It’ll feel like you cooked two different meals, but with minimal extra effort.
2. Freeze half (or more): Be realistic about how much chicken you will eat over the next few days, then get the next batch out of the freezer when you run out
3. Mix up the format: A whole chicken breast is one of the most boring things to eat. Try slicing it and put it in a salad or pasta, or shred it and put it in a wrap. Mix and match the format and it will feel like a new meal every time. If you have a food processor, try using that for slicing and shredding. If you don’t have a food processor: you should buy one.

Bulk chicken cooking isn’t glamorous. But it’s the difference between eating like an athlete and eating like a raccoon in a bin. Cook once, eat well all week, and save your energy for other tedious tasks.