Jerk Chicken Thighs with Black Bean Salsa {Simple Meal Prep}

This meal is SO easy. I love it because you don’t use a lot of equipment. This meal prep is perfect for a crazy weekend or whenever you want an easy cleanup!

Before I dive into the recipe, I want to share a few personal updates! Life has been super crazy this winter!

LIFE UPDATES

First, we got a cute baby puppy right before Christmas. His name is Shadow and he is an Alaskan Klee Kai. We drove all the way to Georgia to pick him up. It was quite the adventure down south and we even made time for me to try mussels for the first time!

Here is a picture of the cutie. 🙂 He sure is a handful right now but he loves to follow me around and help me cook.

Second, we finally went on our honeymoon! After much thought and research, we settled on Cozumel in Mexico! (my hubby was completely against Mexico at first until he researched the reefs) We flew standby so that was adventurous and luckily had no problems. We stayed at the Grand Royal Park Resort which was all-inclusive. Overall, we were quite happy with our resort. We spent the week snorkeling, exploring, and SCUBA DIVING!! I was so scared to scuba dive, but I really liked snorkeling so that helped me to push through the fear. It felt great to conquer a big fear and have a lot of fun at the same time. My hubby is obsessed with saltwater tanks and reefs so this was one of his dreams. We really enjoyed our first trip to Mexico and it was a success!!

Between all of this, I took a mini-trip to Phoenix in January to visit a friend. Then my grandpa suddenly passed away at the end of January. We took a quick trip to Fargo for that. 🙁 And then we got some BIG news from my sister who is now engaged and having a baby!!! I can’t wait to be an aunt!!! 😀

Wow, so that is a lot of updates. I am ready for a calmer month in March. I know the rest of the year is going to fly by so this is my time to get grounded and focus. 🙂

Now time to talk about my favorite spice blend company and the chicken meal prep recipe!

My Favorite Spice Blends

The key to keeping this recipe super simple is by using my favorite spice blend company, Primal Palate! I love these spices! They are so yummy and the perfect blend to make any meal easier. I trust them because they don’t have any crap in their blends. Unfortunately, spice blends tend to have corn starch, sugar, and other weird ingredients. Because of this, I make a lot of homemade spice blends, which I do recommend. But sometimes it is nice to have blends on hand as it is one less step!

Primal Palate sells all organic spices! And they are all whole 30 approved, gluten-free, kosher, and non-GMO! And they sell spice blends for specific dietary needs like AIP. (autoimmune paleo diet)

My favorite spice blends by Primal Palate include (besides the Jerk Blend):

1. Meat and Potatoes Seasoning – This is a good standard blend to throw on anything and everything.

2. Super Gyro – Um this recipe is amazing and it requires this blend. And I have no idea how to recreate it so I would say this spice blend is a requirement.

3. Breakfast Blend – This is a great blend to throw on your weekend breakfast hash!

But I have not tried them all so this list could change! The recipe I am sharing below uses the Jerk seasoning blend which is why I am sharing this amazing company!

Jerk Chicken Thighs with Black Bean Salsa

*This recipe makes 10 meals

Ingredients:

3.25 lbs of organic boneless chicken thighs
1-2 TBSP Primal Palate Jerk Seasoning
2 cans of organic black beans (15 oz each)
1 fresh pineapple
1 organic red onion
1 bunch of organic cilantro
2 organic limes
1/2 tsp of sea salt
4 cups of uncooked rice

Directions:

Start the rice in the rice cooker. I find that using a rice cooker is the easiest way to cook rice and you don’t have to pay attention to it boiling over!

Next, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Prep your large sheet pan with parchment paper and lay out the chicken thighs. Sprinkle on the seasoning to cover each thigh. (I estimated 1-2 tbsp but I just shake out of the bottle) Cook for about 25 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, prep the salsa! Start out by cutting the pineapple into small pieces. (If you aren’t sure how to cut a pineapple, watch this video) (I was nervous to cut a pineapple before, but now I think it is so easy! I won’t buy canned ever again!)
Then chop up the red onion and cilantro. Add everything into a large bowl. Add the black beans. Last, squeeze the limes and add the sea salt. Mix everything together!

Grab your 10 glass containers and separate the rice, chicken, and salsa into each. And that is it! You are prepared for your weekly lunches and ready to take on the world!

Comment below if you have any recipe requests or if there are any specific protein and veggies you want to see in a recipe!