I don’t know about you, but the first thing I think of when I think of MEAL PREP or EATING CLEAN is chicken breast. It’s super lean, packed with protein…and can be an utter DRAG to eat. I truly get why so many of my clients dread preparing food for the week. Chicken is EASY to cook, bake, or roast, but it’s also EASY to fahk up. What’s worse than a dry piece of chicken? Not much.

Flavorless food is NOT fun to eat, and yet, so many people equate bland food to success with weight loss.

Guess what. It DOESN’T have to be that way.

Over the past decade, I’ve perfected my prep and am sharing TWO EASY ways to prep your chicken breast in BULK for the week.

Perfectly Prepared BAKED Chicken Breast

[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]

• Chicken breast
• EVOO
• Kosher salt
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Black pepper

[/ingredients]

[directions title=”Directions”]

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Optional step: Pound chicken breasts to flatten to a uniform size, so they cook evenly. I don’t LOVE thick chicken breasts because I get a little worried about cooking them all the way through. You know chicken can be kind of funny
3. Brine the chicken breast by dissolving a pinch of salt into a bowl of warm water. Soak chicken breasts for 15 minutes – that’s ALL you need!
4. Wash the brine off the chicken and pat dry
5. Brush LIGHTLY with EVOO on both sides
6. Mix garlic, onion, salt, and black pepper to taste and rub chicken breast
7. Bake 15-20 minutes depending on thickness, make sure the flesh is WHITE when you cut through to know they’re done

[/directions]

Here are some of MY favorite sides to accompany said baked chicken.

Okay, so that’s one way to go about it. Foolproof, and so easy. The brine tacks on an additional 15 minutes which is SO worth it and the EVOO adds some extra (negligible) calories, but again, so worth it for the flavor they bring.

Perfectly Prepared SHREDDED Chicken Breast

My other foolproof prep to SHRED via crockpot.

[ingredients title=”Ingredients”]

• Chicken breast
• Spices of choice
• Liquid of choice

[/ingredients]

When I say cooking liquid, I mean anything from water to broths, oils or marinades, sauces too. The options are ENDLESS

[directions title=”Directions”]

1. Optional step: Pound chicken breasts to flatten to a uniform size, so they cook evenly. I don’t LOVE thick chicken breasts because I get a little worried about cooking them all the way through. You know chicken can be kind of funny.
2. NON-OPTIONAL STEP: Line your crockpot with a liner – marinating the chicken breast AND clean up is a BREEZE. Never NOT have these in your house again. OKEY?!
3. Place your chicken breasts in the lined crockpot and add spices, and cooking liquid, so the chicken is EVENLY coated with a little liquid to spare at the bottom.
4. Bake on LOW heat for 3.5-4-ish hours. Again, cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken breast, but you’ll know when the chicken breasts are done when the flesh is white and the FALL apart when you shred them two forks. Seriously your mouth will start to water the second you start.

[/directions]

Here are some of MY favorite ways to prepare and eat this shredded chicken.

To reheat either of these dishes microwaves on low/medium heat or preheat your oven to 200 and reheat that way. If you ZAP ’em with high, quick heat then you risk drying it all out.

I hope this helps with your future meal preps! Enjoy!