The ultimate meal prep! Spicy buffalo chicken, a fluffy rice and cauliflower rice combo, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and a dollop of creamy dill dip.
Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Cauliflower Garlic Rice
This post is sponsored by ALDI
Please imagine this:
- Spicy-puckery buffalo chicken, grilled to juicy perfection.
- Served over fluffy rice speckled with roasted cauliflower bits and herbs.
- Topped with a freshy-fresh little cucumber and tomato situation.
- Dolloped with a spoonful of creamy dill dip.
- And hungry you, at lunchtime, with this exciting little container of flavor fireworks awaiting you.
I mean, come on! It’s juicy, spicy, and cool and crunchy and almost comforting all at the same time. And the fact that this is an all-around feel-good with big flavor and a yummy mix of protein and fiber and carbs…
This is the energy we are bringing into the month of September.
Fresh, clean, big and bold, and just generally ON IT.
In This Post: Everything You Need For Buffalo Chicken Bowls
- Best ALDI Ingredients for These Bowls
- How to Make Buffalo Chicken
- How to Make Cauliflower Garlic Rice
- How to Store for Meal Prep
- All About Toppings
- FAQ About These Bowls
If You’re Not Already, You Should Be Shopping At ALDI
Here’s the deal. ALDI is a really important part of our weekly grocery situation at home for two reasons: 1) the products are good – like, GOOD good, and often organic! and 2) it saves us money.
We get so many of our basics from ALDI every week:
- organic whole milk
- organic produce
- organic grains
- organic yogurt
And if you’re not already shopping there, I just think that as we get into the fall times with back to school, making more regular grocery trips, getting back on the meal planning train, etc. – you’re going to want to be doing some weekly stock-ups.
Check out this post of 21 Things You Should Absolutely Be Buying at ALDI to get you started if you’re not sure. Or DM me on Instagram and I’ll send you the detailed receipts of all my weekly Instacart orders to ALDI so you can see what I’ve been mowing down on every week. (Kidding, sort of?)
Everything you need for this recipe can be found at ALDI – yay! – and some of the featured items would be their Simply Nature Organic Thin Sliced Chicken Breast Fillets (love that you can buy them already thinly sliced!), their frozen Season’s Choice Riced Cauliflower, their fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, their Park Street Deli Dill Dip, and their Simply Nature Organic White Rice.
How To Make Buffalo Chicken
There’s a lot of buffalo chicken in the world. This buffalo chicken is:
- Marinated and grilled, not breaded and fried
- Super super easy
- Packed with flavor
- Extra juicy
- Golden and beautiful
- Versatile and can go with just about everything.
To make the chicken, just marinate it with some pantry basics… and then grill it.
And if you’re like me you can just use a grill pan right on your stove and avoid the actual grill which isn’t hard but sometimes just feels hard, know what I mean?
Marinate and inside-grill. Easiest. Ever.
I prefer the thinly cut chicken breasts because they cook more quickly and evenly.
How To Make Cauliflower Garlic Rice
This might actually deserve its own post later on because it’s one of my new favorite ways to rice.
It’s really a hybrid regular rice and cauliflower rice:
- You cook the rice.
- You roast the cauliflower rice.
- And then you combine the two.
They really do need each other, ya know? Like plain white rice on its own doesn’t have enough zazz, and cauliflower rice on its own leaves you a little carb-sad. So roasting the cauliflower rice to concentrate the flavor and get a little crispy browned texture, and then tossing it in with the regular rice to help it be more yummy and interesting? It is SUCH a win. Part veg, part carb, all-around texture and flavor winner.
Every time I make this rice, Bjork raves about it and my kids are all over it.
How To Store This Buffalo Chicken
The chicken and the rice will store beautifully together in the fridge for a couple of days.
The veggies will prep well, too! But they should just stay in their own container so that they don’t have to be heated up when you reheat the individual portions.
I’d recommend storing the rice and chicken in individual containers, and then just keeping a side container for your toppers (the fresh veg and the dip).
Speaking Of Toppings
The dill dip is what I used here – because I am a sucker for the dill dip at ALDI. (Okay, fine, all their dips.)
But any store bought sauce you like that has some kind of creaminess would be great. Even just… ranch? If you wanted to go the homemade route I feel like either this magic green sauce or this jalapeño ranch would be really, really good.
All of this is weirdly getting me kind of excited for that September back-to-everything rush. Is this allowed? Can we be excited to pack up our little lunches and eat buffalo chicken and garlic cauliflower rice? Because that’s where I’m at.
Buffalo Chicken Bowls: Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the best way to store this for meal prep?
Store the chicken and rice together in the container, and the tomatoes, cucumber, and dill dip separate. After you’ve warmed the chicken and rice, add the rest of it on top!
How spicy is this?
On its own, the chicken has a bit of a kick! But when combined with everything else, it really tones it down. If you’re concerned about it being too spicy, feel free to reduce the amount of hot sauce.
How could I make this vegetarian?
Swap the chicken for buffalo cauliflower florets, buffalo tofu, or buffalo chickpeas.
Buffalo Chicken Bowls with Cauliflower Garlic Rice
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
The ultimate meal prep: Buffalo Chicken Bowls! Spicy buffalo chicken, a fluffy rice and cauliflower rice combo, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, and a dollop of creamy dill dip.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the Chicken:
- 1 lb. Simply Nature Organic Thin Sliced Chicken Breast Fillets, pounded or cut in half lengthwise so they are flat and thin
- 1/4 cup Burman’s Hot Sauce
- 2 tablespoons Specially Selected Raw Honey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- black pepper to taste
For the Rice:
- 1 cup Simply Nature Organic White Rice
- 1 package Season’s Choice Riced Cauliflower
- 1–2 tablespoons of Simply Nature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt to taste
For the Cucumber Salad:
- cucumbers, sliced
- cherry tomatoes, halved
- Park Street Deli Dill Dip or avocado cilantro dressing
Instructions
- Marinate Chicken: Place chicken, buffalo sauce, honey, garlic powder, paprika, salt, onion powder, and black pepper in a bowl or bag. Place in the fridge to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Cook Rice: Cook rice according to package directions.
- Roast Cauliflower: Place cauliflower rice on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes until partially browned and a little roasty. Add roasted cauliflower rice to cooked rice. (Optional: season with garlic powder, lemon juice, parsley, or parmesan.)
- Cook Chicken: Heat a grill pan over high heat. Add a little olive oil if needed, then add the marinated chicken pieces, discarding extra marinade. Cook for a few minutes on each side until nice and browned, and no longer pink on the inside. Remove from the pan and let rest for a few minutes.
- Serve: Slice chicken and serve with a scoop of cauliflower rice. Top with sliced cucumber and tomato and a dollop of dill dip or ranch dressing. Yum!
Notes
Nutrition note: Nutrition label does not include dip or dressing.
If you want to make this as a meal prep recipe in individual containers, just package the rice and chicken together. Keep the cucumber, tomato, and dip separate, and add them after you heat up the individual servings.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Lunch
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: buffalo chicken, meal prep bowls, meal prep buffalo chicken, cauliflower rice bowls, healthy lunch, healthy meal prep
Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this recipe!
More Delicious Meal Prep Bowls
- Sheet Pan Chicken Tinga Bowls
- Sticky Ginger Rice Bowls with Pickled Veg and Mango
- Spicy Peanut Tofu Bowls
- Roasted Vegetable Bowls with Green Tahini
- Easy Vegan Burrito Bowls
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of Best Healthy Gluten-Free Recipes. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Bowls Cauliflower Gluten-Free Healthy Lunch Meal Prep Meat and Chicken Rice
August 22, 2022
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
How do you think this would be without the rice?Unfortunately I am rice and gluten sensitive. Love your recipes and your cookbook.
You can definitely skip the rice and perhaps just use cauliflower rice or roast up your favorite veggies!
Hi
For those of us who buy cauliflowers and make our own cauli rice, what is the weight of the “1 package Season’s Choice Riced Cauliflower”? I know you are having to promote your sponsor, but it is a bit tricky to work out how to make the recipe when I don’t have access to your specific brands!
Similarly, I’ve never heard of Burman’s Hot Sauce – what exactly is it (i.e. what’s the flavour profile – tomato based, green sauce, heavy spice or light spice etc.)? That way I can look to find a substitute here.
thanks! 🙂
The Aldi bag is 12oz! And Burman’s Hot Sauce is just Aldi’s version of Frank’s Hot Sauce. Hope that helps!
Hi Amber – thanks, however I’m in New Zealand (should have made that clear in my first post – sorry) – I’ve never heard of Frank’s Sauce either! (basically, assume that most brands that are common in the US are unlikely to be on our shelves LOL)
Hi Jo! Half of a head of cauliflower should give you the same amount of cauli rice that comes in the package. Burman’s hot sauce has a similar flavor profile to buffalo sauce. Enjoy!
Thanks Krista! I shall google how to make buffalo sauce 🙂
Trying to make this as meal prep, the temperature to roast the cauliflower rice is missing.
Hi, I made this and tried the cauliflower rice at 350. It took 35+ minutes and some additional time under the broiler to achieve the browning described in the recipe. Hoping POY can clarify for both of us soon!
Hi Tori! Sorry about the confusion. You should roast the cauliflower rice at 425.
Is there anything diabetics can use instead of honey?
Hi Bethanie! We’re not super familiar with diabetic-friendly sweeteners. But if you have one that you use, I’m thinking it work just fine for this recipe!
This sounds so good I can’t wait to make it.
Do you start roasting the cauliflower rice from frozen? Or does it need to be thawed first?
You can roast from frozen!
These are a regular in our weeknight rotation! I do a version for myself with chickpeas instead of chicken and it’s absolutely delicious, too. I also add a bit of sliced red onion to the cucumber tomato mix, as well as some green onion and blue cheese for serving!
The taste of cumin ice cream is quite strange to me. I have never eaten it until reading this share of yours. This dish I think is also quite suitable for those on a diet.
I made the chicken with Franks Hot Sauce. It was easy and had a fun and different flavor. I think I might use it for shredded chicken burritos in the future. Swapped the cauliflower rice for our go-to coconut rice recipe from another P.O.Y. recipe.
Love
Love this recipe. So easy and flexible for what we have on hand. Leftovers are great for lunch the next day
I had this all week and was obsessed with it. It has a super good flavor, and the chicken wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be.