Gourmet Chicken Recipes Made Simple: 5 Easy Meal Preps for Hectic Days

A fulfilling chicken meal is something most of us crave, and not just chicken, but gourmet style, but to prepare it takes time and effort. But weekdays often get chaotic, and that’s when we end up ordering food we didn’t plan to eat. 

What if I tell you there is a solution! With a few kitchen tricks, you can upgrade your normal chicken recipe to gourmet flavours. Today, I would share with you my prep secret to make my chicken recipes more juicy and flavourful. They sit ready in your fridge or freezer. Cook once, use in wraps, rice bowls, salads, or sandwiches all week.

Upgrade Your Meal Prep: 5 Game-Changing Chicken Marinades

It's not easy to flavour chicken, and marinade preparation often takes time. Let's know the best kitchen hack to upgrade your chicken recipe on busy days. 

Pesto Chicken

My favourite to-go recipe that I often make is light in taste, with healthy ingredients and can be added in variety of chicken recipes on the go, and green is good anytime. 

Marinade Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp basil pesto
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• Salt & pepper
• Green chillies (optional)

Prep and Storage:

• Generally, for marinades, whole chicken breast or boneless chicken in cubes are best, and wash it thoroughly 
• For the marinade, grind the basil along with olive oil and garlic cloves. Once smooth, add lime juice and adjust salt and pepper to taste and give a final grind. And if you want it spicy, just add in green chillies.
• In a storage bowl or storage box, add chicken and coat well with the prepared paste. 
• Refrigerate the marinated raw chicken, which can stay in the fridge for 24 hrs and the cooked chicken can stay 4 days.
• Remember to defrost before use if you have frozen the chicken, but if it's just refrigerated, you can always remove it 30 minutes before cooking. 
  

Cooking Options: 

• You can grill, bake (200°C, 20 mins), or pan-sear the chicken. 
• It is great to use in pasta and risotto, the pesto chicken is light in taste, sometimes and is even good for salads and wraps. But make sure you have ample veggies on the side it enhance the diet.
• Sometimes you can make a pesto cheesy chicken sandwich or just have it with cheesy garlic bread perfect combination for Italian cuisine lovers.

Tandoori Chicken

A great tandoori flavour is something one can have anytime, and to make this spicy chicken marinade, you need some simple ingredients, and you can have your chicken stir fry recipe prepared beforehand. 

Marinade Ingredients:

• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Salt
  

Prep and Storage:

• Prepare the marinade by adding all the ingredients to yogurt (you can take the thick hung curd or one in the market). Adjust chilli powder according to your taste
• Make deep cuts in the chicken breasts, chicken leg quarters, chicken leg pieces, or whole chicken, whatever you select, and coat them heavily with the marinade.
• The marinated raw chicken can be kept for 2 days in the fridge, and the cooked chicken can be kept for 4 days in the fridge.

Cooking Option: 

• This can be baked, grilled, or air fry till slightly charred.
• Since it's tandoori its best for Indian chicken recipes. One can use it as chicken tikka in butter chicken gravy or protein in rice bowls, in salads, wraps, or rolls. 
• I like it most to be made in the Mediterranean-style wrap with hummus or the Lebanese-style Shawarma. And to make it easy, I also have my veggies and hummus prepped on weekends for the whole week. So during working days i just have to cook the chicken, which takes about 20 minutes and assemble it all. 

Malai Chicken (Creamy Mild Prep)

I havent hear most people liking this prep just because it is not spicy enough for many, but indulging in this creamy delight is something else, and this yogurt-marinated chicken would change your taste preference. 

Marinade Ingredients:

• ¼ cup fresh cream
• 2 tbsp hung curd
• 1 tbsp cashew paste
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• Salt
• Optional: Caramelized onion, saffron

Prep and Storage:

• Whisk all the ingredients together and coat the chicken cubes. Those who like spicy food can add green chillies to the mix.
• Refrigerate the marinated raw chicken can stay in the fridge for 24 hrs and if it is cooked chicken, it can stay 3 days in the fridge. 
• Since this marinade uses curd, it is advisable not to deep freeze it and use it within 24 hours for the best taste, and fresh. 

Cooking Options: 

• You can bake it or cook it in curry, but it is best grilled or pan-cooked gently and is best moulded with the Indian chicken recipes.
• This is perfect for kids with mild flavours, for their sandwiches and pasta fillings.
• I like it best as biryani. The malai tikka biryani is delicious, and with the flavouring of caramelized onions, it is something no one can forget. or shredded filling for sandwiches and Shawarma, it tastes so good.

Japanese Soy Orange Chicken

When you want to indulge in light and mild flavours with a gourmet feeling, this asian marinade for chicken is perfect. A big fan of Japanese cuisine, and after Malai chicken recipes, this is my second favourite, given the sweet and umami taste it has. 

Marinade Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Slit green chillies/chilli flakes (optional)
  

Prep and Storage:

• Mix the ingredients and marinate the chicken. You can either cube them or use the strips; you can even use the drumstick or lower leg to marinate.  
• The marinated raw chicken can be kept for 2 days in the fridge, and the cooked chicken can be kept for 4 days in the fridge.

Cooking Options: 

• This marinade is best for your chicken stir fry recipes. You can cook it stir-fry or bake it till caramelized, and the taste is to swoon over.
• This marination is ideal for rice bowls, noodles, and even salads. 
• If you select the drumstick or lower leg with this Japanese chicken marinade, you can have grilled chicken legs as a side. 

Teriyaki Chicken 

The teriyaki marinade for chicken is another Japanese cuisine marinade that can be used to glaze the chicken with flavours. 

Ingredients: 

• ½ cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp honey or brown sugar
• 2 tbsp mirin (or 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp water substitute)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp cornstarch (helps the sauce glaze later)
• Optional add-ins: 1 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tbsp orange juice 

Prep and Storage:

• You can take chicken thighs, breast or boneless cubes for this asian marinade for chicken
• Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl, add chicken, and coat well.
• Marinate minimum of 2 hours, best overnight (8–12 hrs) in the fridge, can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours. 

Cooking Options: 

• Can be panfried or grilled on medium-high heat.
• You can make a simple stir-fry chicken recipe with this or make it a gravy base with thick cornstarch slurry. It can be consumed with steamed rice/brown rice,
• Teriyaki chicken salad is another recipe made with stir-fried broccoli, carrots, beans, or bell peppers. 

Meal Prep Chicken Marinade Storage Tips

A few things to remember for meal preps are the storage options, 

• One should use an airtight glass container for storage or zip bags for compact storage.
• If you use the clear glass container, it would be best to identify it or label it with a date so you know the timeline for use.
• I don't often go with freezing, but if you do, freeze flat for faster thawing, or keep it to thaw overnight in the fridge, not the counter.
• One caution about frozen chicken marinade is reheat only once; constant reheating can reduce the flavour and nutrient value. 

The Final Touch 

Meal prep recipes are life saver, and for chicken prep, marinades are game changer. When I want to have biryani or tikkas and stir-fry chicken recipes for the week i often keep these ready on the weekends.

It's quite convenient with one prep session; I get to have multiple meals on weekdays, and it reduces my daily cooking stress. This also means that I have fewer takeouts and better nutrition in my meals, saving and maintaining my diet plan. Well i even tried these in Paneer, and trust me, they are another level of taste booster for your meals. 

By P. Manika (Performist Content Writer)

​