Disclosure: This post is sponsored by PERDUE® Foods, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This healthy Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl features seasonal vegetables with the Butternut Squash red enchilada sauce and kale. An easy meal, the sauce recipe makes enough for two dinners, allowing you to freeze it for another night or double up your recipe! And it’s perfect for Mexican night!
Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl
You might remember that I shared my Butternut Squash Red Enchilada sauce not too long ago. I use a lot of locally grown produce, and that recipe came about while I was trying to think of another way to use my butternut squash besides soup. I know I promised you all some new recipes using the sauce. Today I have one for you that I think you are going to love!
In the fall and the winter, I love making rice bowls. They tend to feel like comfort food to me.
My butternut squash red enchilada sauce adds a nice flavor to the chicken, and I added seasonally available kale from my CSA share. You could certainly add whatever greens are in season at the time, but I think kale holds the sauce nicely, and my family really likes kale.
My Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl is an easy dish to make. You can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes! Start your rice…I use a rice cooker because it comes out perfect every time, and I don’t have to think about it while I am cooking it. I can’t tell you how many times I have burnt rice because I wasn’t paying attention to it. My rice cooker simply stops cooking at the right time, beeps to tell me it is ready, and then goes into a warming mode. Easy peasy.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can make your butternut squash red enchilada sauce ahead of time. The recipe makes enough for two dinners, so you can freeze the extra for those times that you are trying to make an easy dinner, or when you’re cooking for another family besides your own. If you’re anything like me, you like keeping things simple on a weeknight, so you’ll just be taking it out of the freezer to thaw in the morning or the night before.
Then you’re going to brown your chicken, add the butternut squash red enchilada sauce, and then towards the end of the cooking, you’ll add in the chopped kale. Spoon it over the top of the rice and you’ve got a healthy Southwestern style dinner that tastes delicious!
Speaking to doubling recipes, I love what Perdue is doing right now. This fall and winter Perdue has a promotion called Get Deals Donate Meals, and I’m working with them in the fight against hunger and to help feed families in need.
Every time you redeem one of Perdue’s digital coupons for easy, convenient PERDUE® Chicken Products, which are available through the back to school season, Perdue Foods will donate 4 ounces of protein to Feeding America® to help provide a meal* through its nationwide network of food banks. ** Maximum donation: 450,000 pounds of protein.
*Feeding America guidelines: 4 ounces of protein = 1 meal. 1 meal = $0.10.
You save money, and help Perdue help those in need at the same time! How great is that?! Plus they’ve also got great new recipes, tips and techniques that they are sharing!
You can also join the Perdue Crew to get some pretty sweet rewards, and you can also follow them on Facebook for recipe ideas, product information, news and exclusive savings as well.
For my Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl recipe, I used Perdue Perfect Portions. These are so convenient for our family, because each chicken breast is individually wrapped, which allows me to make only what I need that night. If everyone isn’t home for dinner, it’s easy to freeze the leftovers because they’re already packaged for the freezer.
Because of the individual packaging, it also makes it easy to make a meal for others as well, knowing that you need to allot one boneless chicken breast per person when you are cooking for a friend or family member in need of a little extra help. Sometimes I make extra for my mother in law, because its not always easy to cook for one, but when you’re already cooking for a household like I am, it’s very easy to make sure there is an extra portion for her.
When you are freezing the butternut squash red enchilada sauce, or even the sauce with the chicken and chopped kale in it, I would recommend making sure it is completely cooled before you place it in your plastic bag or plastic container. The last thing you want is for hot food to trigger the plastic to release chemicals into your meal. I often freeze things in Ball jars with plastic lids as well. If you are going to use those for individual servings, I would recommend leaving a little space at the top for expansion. You’re also going to want to let your sauce cool down first, because you don’t want to take a chance on your glass cracking.
Ready for the recipe?!
Yields 5
This healthy Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl features seasonal vegetables with the Butternut Squash red enchilada sauce and kale. An easy meal, the sauce recipe makes enough for two dinners, allowing you to freeze it for another night or double up your recipe! Perfect for Mexican night!
10 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 chicken breasts
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 cups Butternut Squash Red Enchilada Sauce
- 2 cups of kale, rib removed, and sliced into slivers
- 3 1/2 cups water (1/2 cup optional)
- 1 1/2 cups of rice
- Avocado (optional)
- Sour cream (optional)
Instructions
- Start rice. I use a rice cooker so I don't have to watch it...just add my rice and water to the cooker and it tells me when it is done! Typically your rice measurement is half of your water. In this case, I used 3 cups of water, and 1 1/2 cups rice.
- Cut chicken breasts into chunks.
- Heat olive oil, sauté chicken chunks until they start to brown, about 10-15 minutes.
- Once chicken browns, add 2 cups of the Butternut Squash Red Enchilada Sauce to your pan.
- Turn heat to low and allow sauce to simmer with chicken.
- Add kale.
- Cook about 5 minutes or until sauce is heated through and kale has taken on a wilted texture.
- If sauce thickens too much, you can add 1/2 cup of water to loosen it up.
- Serve over rice.
- Garnish with avocado chunks and/or sour cream.
I can’t wait to hear how you like my Southwestern Chicken Rice Bowl! Let me know if you try it!
Looking for more chicken recipes? Don’t forget to check out Perdue on Pinterest!
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