• About Me
  • Contact Me
  • How To
  • Meal Prep
Happy Stirring
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • How To
  • Meal Prep
Lunches, Meal Prep

Chipotle Lime Drumsticks & Fajita Veggie Sheet Pan Meal

by Happy Stirring

My chipotle lime chicken sheet pan meal prep is insanely quick to make. Cut and cook your peppers while you chicken is marinating, and the time flies by! Soon you’ll have four containers full of spicy tangy chicken and peppers you will be thinking all morning about! Seriously I have been looking forward to eating lunch every day this week, and if you’ve been here before, you know I tend to get bored halfway through the week.

Jump to Recipe

Week Three: Easy Sheet Pan Meal Prep

Welcome to week three, folks! Today I bring you an easy sheet pan meal prep! Honestly I am super proud of myself, I’ve gone three weeks in a row without ordering food to the office. And it feels GREAT! I know I’m like a few weeks late but is this my 2020 resolution? It feels like it. And you know I will be coming in hot with week number four! Make sure you follow my instagram, to see the recipe before it’s officially posted here.

Got a good arm workout juicing all these limes for this meal prep – but it was absolutely worth it! The lime juice soaks into the chicken and keeps it’s super juicy all week!

I already knew what I was going to make this week, at least 6 days in advance (and that’s RARE.) I have been craving that wonderful lime and chipotle combination dancing on my tongue. My mom makes these awesome lemon, pepper, and dill chicken cutlets. Definitely going to have to get that recipe from her. She marinates the chicken in lemon juice for half an hour, which gave me the idea to do the same.

However, I marinated my chicken in lime juice instead. In all honestly I have a serious addiction to these spicy rolled tortilla chips called takis. They are BRIGHT red and have such a tangy lime flavor, I’m not kidding I’m obsessed with them. So obviously with the chipotle lime I took a lot of inspiration from two things I love: my mom, and takis.

Marinade at work – soaking into the chicken and creating a wonderful spicy and tangy flavor!

Benefits of a Sheet Pan Meal

Obviously I love a sheet pan meal. Mostly because I hate cleaning up the dishes after I finish cooking. Hopefully as I get older I will learn that cleaning as I go would only be beneficial for everyone involved. I set this recipe up exactly like my mom’s sheet pan Sausage and Peppers. While the chicken is marinating, I sliced up the peppers and onion and got them into the oven.

10 minutes in the oven while the chicken is marinating!

I knew I wanted my peppers to be spicy and super soft. So I figured if I should get them in the oven first, like I do with the peppers in my mom Sausage and Peppers recipe. I mixed the peppers right on the pan, and cooked them for 10 minutes before taking my chicken out of the marinade. In total, my chicken actually marinated for about 45 – 55 minutes while I got the peppers and onion ready. The longer the better!

Nestle the chicken in and then throw it back into the oven for an additional 40 minutes to cook the chicken to perfection!

Benefits of Marinating Your Chicken

A good marinade seeps into your chicken prior to cooking. When the chicken is ready to eat, the lime flavor is a subtle acid this spicy chicken needs to add balance. The longer your chicken marinates, the more flavor will get inside. I’m thinking one day I’ll set this up to marinate for a couple hours instead and note the differences in a future post.

Not only is a marinate good for adding flavor, it helps keep your chicken from drying out in the oven. It keeps all those wonderful juices and flavors trapped inside the meat. Which is perfect for when you’re new to cooking, like I am. This is a good preventative measure to make sure you’re meal prep isn’t chewy and dry.

Seasoning Your Chicken

At the last minute, before putting my chicken in the oven, I decided it needed something else. Since the seasoning in my marinade didn’t stick to them, they looked to bare on the pan. So I quickly grabbed my chipotle seasoning again (seriously best $4.99 I’ve spent in a while.) I took an additional Tbsp of the seasoning and sprinkled it over the top, along with some salt of course.

Not only did it make for MUCH better pictures, it helped bring that spicy chipotle pepper flavor through so every bite has a kick to it. Not only that, but since I mixed the peppers on the pan the chicken was nestled in the wonderful fajita seasoning as well. When I was younger (like just a few years ago honestly,) I really disliked chicken. I found it to be bland and flavorless. But little did I know, all I needed to do was experiment a little bit more and find what I liked. Turns out chicken isn’t so bad! And from what I heard, the healthier alternative when it comes to eating meat.

Fully cooked chicken – ready to taste and plate! Of course I had to make an extra two drumsticks for me and mom to try before I packed them away for the week. I needed to know I was going to like them – and I always love impressing my mom with my recipes.

Doesn’t Feel Like Enough?

I don’t know if anyone else has this problem at work, but I’m SO HUNGRY when it’s time to eat lunch. And since, I don’t have too much time to snack at my desk, my lunch has to be filling. So this week I served my peppers over some quinoa. Is that really surprising since last week’s post? But this time I used white quinoa.

I plated my fajita veggies over the white quinoa and ate them together. The quinoa was the perfect addition to make this meal more filling.

It was definitely fluffier, and softer, with more of a brown rice texture, and flavor. It was the perfect addition to my meal. However, it wasn’t necessary. If you’re truly trying to keep this a simple sheet pan meal, just make extra peppers! I would definitely double, if not triple the peppers in you’re not making the quinoa. Perfect for anyone that is looking to cut down some carbs for the midday meal.

Or alternatively you could put two chicken legs in each container. I ended up having eight legs in my package. You could make all of them. But instead I decided to go with the quinoa, even though I did make 6 of the 8 legs. I mean, obviously I wanted to try one before packing them away, and so did my mom! Honestly we had to practice a lot of restraint not eating all the peppers. We each got to try one before I put everything in the fridge. And so far all week, it’s been my favorite part of the meal. I haven’t even thought once about ordering in!

Looking forward to lunch this week!

Chipotle Lime Drumsticks with Fajita Veggies

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 50 minutes mins
Marinating Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins
Servings: 4
Course: Lunch
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Marinade
  • 6 chicken legs
  • 1 cup lime juice about 8 limes
  • 1 Tbsp chipotle seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Fajita Veggies
  • 2 red bell peppers sliced
  • 2 green bell peppers sliced
  • 1 medium onion sliced
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 Tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 400°
  2. Combine all marinade ingredients and submerge chicken legs in mixture. Marinade for at least 30 minutes.
  3. While chicken is marinating, combine onion and peppers on sheet pan.
  4. Add olive oil, and fajita seasoning and mix on pan.
  5. Cook veggies for 10 minutes, remove from oven.
  6. Nestle chicken in, drizzle some extra olive oil on top, sprinkle with chipotle seasoning and salt (optional) and cook an additional 40 minutes.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Tags

  • easy recipe
  • healthy recipe
  • lunch
  • meal prep
  • one pan

Post navigation

Easy Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites
Spicy Shrimp and Cabbage over Mexican Rice Meal Prep

Stay up to date with Happy Stirring!

Search

Recent Posts

  • Soft and Creamy Baked Feta Dip
  • Egg Boats with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
  • Pesto Veggie Pizza with Baby Kale and Zucchini Ribbons
  • Tuscan Pasta with Shrimp, Pesto, and Charred Artichokes
  • Easy Sausage and Peppers Sheet Pan Dinner

Recent Comments

  • Michael on Extra Soft Banana Bread
  • Simon Andrew on Easy Sausage & Spicy Potato Hash
  • Michael on Vegan Mediterranean Spiced Chickpea Balls
  • Happy Stirring on Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
  • ExoRank on Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps

Archives

  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Dessert
  • Dinners
  • Drinks
  • how to
  • Lunches
  • Meal Prep
  • Pizza
  • Snacks
  • Soups and Stews

Search by Tags

  • asparagus
  • bacon
  • basil
  • cabbage
  • cheesy
  • chicken
  • chicken thighs
  • chorizo
  • cocktail
  • cream cheese
  • creamy
  • easy breakfast
  • easy dinner
  • easy lunch
  • easy recipe
  • eggs
  • fall breakfast
  • fall dinner
  • feta
  • ground beef
  • healthy recipe
  • instant pot
  • kale
  • leeks
  • lobster
  • lunch
  • meal prep
  • mushrooms
  • olives
  • one pan
  • pancetta
  • pasta
  • peppers
  • pesto
  • pizza
  • puff pastry
  • puff pastry tart
  • Pumpkin
  • risotto
  • sauce
  • sausage
  • shrimp
  • soup
  • spicy
  • weeknight meals

Recent Comments

  • Michael on Extra Soft Banana Bread
  • Simon Andrew on Easy Sausage & Spicy Potato Hash
  • Michael on Vegan Mediterranean Spiced Chickpea Balls
  • Happy Stirring on Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps
  • ExoRank on Cheeseburger Lettuce Wraps

Pages

  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • How To
  • Meal Prep

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Breakfast
  • Dessert
  • Dinners
  • Drinks
  • how to
  • Lunches
  • Meal Prep
  • Pizza
  • Snacks
  • Soups and Stews

Recent Posts

  • Soft and Creamy Baked Feta Dip
  • Egg Boats with Bacon and Brussels Sprouts
  • Pesto Veggie Pizza with Baby Kale and Zucchini Ribbons
  • Tuscan Pasta with Shrimp, Pesto, and Charred Artichokes
  • Easy Sausage and Peppers Sheet Pan Dinner

Archives

  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • Elara by LyraThemes
  • Made by LyraThemes.com
%d