Easy Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowl (Meal Prep Friendly)

Healthy buffalo chicken bowls

These healthy buffalo chicken bowls are a reader favorite! They have been shared on social media time and time again and for a very good reason, they’re delicious and perfect for meal prep. They’re packed with protein, spicy buffalo sauce, creamy ranch and lots of veggies making them a nutritious and flavorful dish. When it comes to meal prepping I like easy meal prep recipes and these easy buffalo chicken rice bowls are no exception. Prep and store in a airtight container and bring it with you work all week with a side of ranch dressing and/or blue cheese crumbles. 

Homemade creamy buffalo sauce

This buffalo chicken rice bowl recipe uses a homemade creamy buffalo sauce that packs a punch while also adding some extra protein to the bowls with greek yogurt. Using a combination of  hot sauce, maple syrup to sweeten it, spices to level it and greek yogurt to cream it it’s the perfectly balanced sauce  for these buffalo bowls. 

Can I use shredded chicken?

Definitely. You can use chopped chicken breast, shredded or sliced for this buffalo chicken rice bowl recipe. Just be sure to cook the chicken prior to adding the sauce. Alternatively, you can cook the chicken in the instant pot with the hot sauce, syrup and seasonings and add in the greek yogurt after shredding and mixing everything together. 

Is this gluten and dairy free?

This buffalo chicken rice bowl is not dairy free since it uses greek yogurt but just substitute with your favorite dairy free alternative like Oatly or Kitehill. Substitute the ranch dressing at the end with your favorite dairy-free ranch, mine is definitely Tessemae’s. This recipe is gluten-free as directed. 

How to bring these buffalo bowls for meal prep

When I am meal prepping this I like to keep the cold veggies in a separate container to place on top after reheating the bowl. This allows for a warm and cold crunchy bowl. You can also pack toppings like blue cheese crumbles to go on top after reheating of prior to heating for a melty topping. 

Ingredients and Substitutes:

These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions for this buffalo chicken rice bowl recipe.

Chicken Breast: this recipe uses 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into cubes. You can cube, slice or shred the chicken. You could also use ground chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken if preferred. 

Buffalo Sauce: the creamy buffalo sauce is a combination of Franks Red hot (use your favorite hot sauce), Lite Pancake Syrup (I buy the Safeway brand that is 50 cals for 2 tbsp. because it tastes good), garlic powder and 0% nonfat plain greek yogurt. You can save on time and use Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce which is delicious. The nutritional information will change. 

Buffalo Sauce Substitutes for this buffalo chicken rice bowl recipe

• Franks Red Hot Sauce – your favorite hot sauce! Or sub with Frank’s Buffalo Wing Sauce.
• Lite Pancake Syrup – honey, 100% pure maple or date paste 
• Garlic powder – use fresh 
• 0% nonfat plain greek yogurt – I prefer the brand Fage, use any brand of a dairy free alternative like Kitehill or Oatly!

Cauliflower / Basmati Blend: I prefer using a pre riced package of frozen cauliflower rice when meal prepping as it saves a ton of time. This recipe is using a 12 oz bag of cauliflower rice combined with one Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Basmati, again a huge time saver vs. boiling rice. You can use brown, jasmine, white rice or any rice you prefer. 

• substitute frozen cauliflower with 250 grams of cooked riced cauliflower
• substitute basmati with jasmine, brown rice or your favorite cooked rice to mix with the cauliflower rice 

 To lower the carbs in this bowl use cauliflower rice only and omit all other rice. 

Toppings / Add ins: I think the creamy buffalo flavors is great with green onions, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers and chopped cherry tomatoes. Don’t forget a drizzle of your favorite ranch or blue cheese dressing. To keep calories low I like using Bolthouse Farms dressings.  Add other veggies like bell peppers, a bag of cabbage slaw mix, red onion, zoodles, roasted cauliflower and your favorite crunch vegetables.  

How to make this Buffalo Chicken Rice Bowl:

Cook the chicken

Heat a pan over medium, spray with cooking spray and add the cubed chicken. Season with salt and pepper and cook until it is fully cooked through and no longer pink in the center approximately 8-10 minutes. 

Make the sauce

While the chicken cooks add all the sauce ingredients to a sauce pan and whisk while boiling to thicken some. Once the chicken is cooked through add the greek yogurt to the sauce and mix until it is fully combined. Pour the sauce into the pan with the chicken and mix to coat. 

Mix the rice blend

Cook the cauliflower rice and basmati according to their package instructions. Mix them two together in a bowl and drizzle with some lime juice. 

Assemble the bowls

Assemble the buffalo chicken rice bowl with rice blend, cooked buffalo sauce covered chicken, shredded carrots, sliced cucumber, chopped green onion and a drizzle of ranch. 

Details below for exact measurements.

Serving size notes!

For meal prep: each buffalo chicken rice bowl gets approximately 140 grams of chicken, 161 grams of rice blend, 1/4 cup shredded carrots, 4 chopped cherry tomatoes, a couple of slices of cucumber and chopped green onions. The recipe makes 3 bowls. Top with 1 tbsp. of your favorite ranch (Bolthouse Farms ranch is included in nutrition facts). 

As always for the most accurate serving size weigh your final dish and divide by the number of servings. 

Bowl nutrition facts are entered into MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst tracking apps. 

Need something sweet after this spicy buffalo chicken rice bowl? Definitely check out my friend Matt’s Oatmeal Cream Pies over at Cheat Day Design! He’s got you covered for all the high protein sweets, just be sure to tell him I sent you. 

If you like this recipe be sure to check out some of our other easy recipes!

• Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowl
• Ground Chicken Stir Fry
• Taco Mac and Cheese
• Cracked Out Tater Tot Casserole
• Big Mac Casserole