Cuban Mojo Chicken Bowls + Plantains
Delicious Cuban mojo chicken bowls made with an amazing marinade using orange juice, lime juice, herbs, cumin, chili powder and garlic. I served this mojo chicken with some wild/brown rice, greens, avocado and fried plantains. Great recipe for meal prep and leftovers! This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free.
How to cook the chicken
- You can leave the chicken breast whole and grill on the BBQ.
- You can cut the chicken into cubes and put them on a skewer and grill it on the BBQ or oven at 400 F. Approximately 15 – 20 minutes.
- You can stir-fry the chicken in a skillet. This method won’t get you much crisp because the marinade holds a lot of water, but it’s the healthiest way to cook your chicken.
- I recommend marinating the chicken overnight to really pack the flavour into your chicken. Once cooked, this chicken stores well for 3 – 4 days in the fridge.
Some tips…
- Make sure your plantains are ripe, they will be very yellow with black spots.
- Try to use coconut oil to fry the plantains, it is one of the healthiest and safest oils to cook with and the coconut adds a delicious flavour to the plantains.
- Plantains make a nice side since they are packed with nutrients like vitamin B6, magnesium and potassium.
- I served this chicken on a wild/brown rice mix. I cooked it in chicken broth to add some flavour and garnished the dish with cilantro.
- You can customize your bowl with different options. I added a small green salad to it with some avocado slices. You could also add some black beans which compliments the dish well. You can serve it over whatever grain or low-carb option that suits you.
- This chicken works great in salads and leftovers.
Other chicken dishes you might like
- Thai Chicken Satay
- Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken Skewers
- Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
- Cucumber, Chicken & Kiwi Salad with Tahini Za’atar Dressing
Cuban Mojo Chicken Bowls + Plantains
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 1/3 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
- Zest from half an orange
- 1/3 cup of cilantro leaves
- 2 tbsp o f mint leaves
- 1 clove of garlic
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp of oregano flakes
- 3/4 tsp of cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp of chili powder
- 1/8 tsp of black pepper
- 3/4 tsp of sea salt
- 2 ripe plantains
- 2 tbsp of coconut oil
- 1 avocado sliced
- Serve with greens and brown/wild rice
Instructions
- Cut your chicken into cubes or leave it whole if you are going to grill it on the BBQ.
- Make your marinade. Combine olive oil, orange juice, orange zest, cilantro, mint, garlic, lime, oregano, cumin, chili powder, black pepper and sea salt. Blitz until it’s a smooth marinade. Pour over the chicken and let it marinate for a minimum of 2 hours to overnight.
- Cook your chicken. There are different options. You can cook it on the BBQ as a whole chicken breast or you can put the cubed chicken on skewers and grill until cooked. You can also pan-fry the chicken cubes. Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken breast. Be careful not to overcook.
- While the chicken is cooking, slice your plantains into ¼ inch rounds. Heat some coconut oil on medium heat. Add the plantains and cook. Once one side starts to brown (approximately 2 – 3 minutes) flip and cook the other side for another 2 – 3 minutes. Remove from the pan and lay on a paper towel to absorb the coconut oil. Season with sea salt.
- You can also prepare your grain as per package instructions, I made brown/wild rice.
- To serve, top your rice with the cooked chicken and plantains and add a slice of avocado (add sea salt to this). Garnish with cilantro.
