Caribbean Jerk Chicken Bowls

Spicy Caribbean Jerk Chicken is paired with quinoa, peppers, pineapple & honey lime dressing to create a flavorful, healthy & tropical bowl recipe! Lean chicken breasts are tossed in an authentic jerk marinade, grilled and added to bowls with cilantro lime quinoa, fruit and veggies.

The bowl is finished off with a sweet & tangy honey lime dressing that perfectly balances out the spice of the jerk chicken! You're going to crave a taste of the Caribbean every week after trying this Jamaican inspired recipe!

Hello flavor-town! This bowl is literally packed with flavors! From sweet to spicy, they all come together to create a healthy bowl that's also fun, exciting and totally different from than traditional quinoa bowl!

I've long loved jerk chicken, but became obsessed with it after visiting Jamaica. I asked the locals to tell me what makes jerk chicken so special and their answer was always, the scotch bonnet pepper.

This spicy pepper is included in the authentic jerk seasoning that I used to make the marinade for this recipe. You probably won't be able to find it at your local supermarket in America, but you can order ground scotch bonnet peppers online (which is what I did!) or you can use cayenne pepper instead.

The key is to get that perfect combination of herbs, spices and ground peppers in the jerk seasoning, then to marinade the chicken to infuse it with all of that delicious flavor! Grilling the chicken is the traditional way to cook jerk chicken, but if you don't have a grill available, no worries, you can use your oven instead.

This recipe is so incredibly delicious, but also healthy! Shhh I won't tell, if you won't! This bowl is naturally gluten free, dairy free and packed with fiber and protein.

Jump to:

• Ingredients you'll need
• Step by step instructions
• Why I marinate diced chicken instead of whole chicken breasts
• How spicy is jerk chicken?
• Easy bowl modifications
• How to make the bowls vegan
• How to make the bowls low-carb
• How to meal prep the bowls
• More chicken bowls to try
• Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients you'll need

• Jerk seasoning - this can be purchased at the grocery store or online, but I highly recommend using my tested and perfected homemade Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. It's so easy to toss together in 5 minutes and it's authentic to the jerk seasoning that I tasted when I was in Jamaica.
• Lime juice - I always recommend fresh-squeezed whenever possible as it has the best flavor!
• Olive oil - you could also use another vegetable oil if you prefer. But you will want to use one that can hold up to high temperatures, as you'll be grilling the marinated chicken over high heat. Avocado, peanut, canola or sunflower oil will all work well for this recipe.
• Tamari - also known as gluten free soy sauce, tamari helps enhance the flavor of the jerk seasoning used in the marinade. It also helps tenderize the chicken before grilling.
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts - in Jamaica, you'll usually find the entire chicken is seasoned, marinated and grilled for jerk chicken. Since we're going for a healthy bowl here, I'm using boneless, skinless chicken breasts. But you can also use this marinade for chicken thighs or wings.
• Diced pineapple - I love the sweet and tangy addition of pineapple in these bowls. If you're grilling the chicken, you could also cut the pineapple in larger chunks and grill them right along with the chicken. Have you ever tried grilled pineapple? Oh my gosh, it's so good!
• Mandarin orange slices - this sweet, fruity addition is totally optional, but I love the burst of color and flavor that it adds to these bowls.
• Bell pepper - feel free to use green, red, yellow or orange bell peppers in this bowl. Pick your favorite pepper, dice it up and add it to these bowls for a pop or crunch, color and flavor! I added both red and green bell peppers to these bowls.
• Cilantro lime quinoa - this fresh and zesty spin on quinoa is the perfect base for these bowls. Click the link to grab the recipe that's easily made on the stove or in an Instant Pot. For even more tropical flavor, you could also try Coconut Rice as the base of these bowls!
• Fresh cilantro - this bright, lemony flavored herb is the perfect garnish for these bowls, adding both color and flavor to finish the dish.
• Honey lime dressing - jerk chicken is spicy, so to cool it down, I paired it with this sweet and tangy salad dressing. It's a match made in heaven if I do say so myself!

Step by step instructions

1. Prepare the marinade. Combine jerk seasoning, lime juice, olive oil and soy sauce in a large bowl.
2. Marinate the chicken. Add cubed pieces of chicken breasts to the marinade and toss until they're completely coated. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, up to 24 hours.
3. Grill the chicken. If using an outdoor grill, you'll either want to skewer the pieces of chicken before grilling, or put down a piece of grill-safe foil so that the chicken pieces don't fall through the grill grates. The chicken should be grilled over high heat for 3-4 minutes per side, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
   • I do not recommend using an indoor grill pan to grill the chicken, unless you're using it outside on a grill or portable stove (which is what I did for the photo you see above). The jerk chicken is spicy and you'll be cooking the chicken over high heat, so it will get smoky. This can cause coughing and eye irritation if cooking it inside.
   • Alternatively, to cook the chicken inside, you can use an indoor electric grill, as they close and will contain the smoke coming from the chicken as it cooks. You can also roast the chicken in the oven at 425°F for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.
4. Add the chicken to bowls. Divide the cilantro lime quinoa between four bowls, top with the grilled chicken, pineapple, mandarin oranges, bell peppers and avocado. Finish with fresh chopped cilantro and a drizzle of honey lime dressing, or serve the dressing on the side for dipping.

Why I marinate diced chicken instead of whole chicken breasts

I like to marinate cubed pieces of chicken instead of a whole chicken breast for 3 reasons.

1. Each piece of chicken gets fully coated in the marinade for maximum flavor!
2. The cubed pieces of chicken cook faster than a whole chicken breast.
3. After you've cooked the chicken, there's no more work to be done slicing or dicing the cooked chicken. The chicken pieces can go straight into the bowl.

How spicy is jerk chicken?

On a level of 1-10, with 10 being the spiciest, I would say that this jerk chicken is a 7 or 8. But don't let that scare you away if you don't like a lot of spice. There are a couple of different ways that you can make jerk chicken less spicy!

1. Reduce the amount of jerk seasoning in the marinade. This recipe calls for ¼ cup jerk seasoning, reduce this down to 2 tablespoons to lighten up the heat in the marinade.
2. You can also reduce the amount of ground scotch bonnet peppers in the jerk seasoning. This is my preferred way to lighten the spice, because it still allows you to maximize the flavor from the rest of the seasoning in the marinade.

Easy bowl modifications

Use these modifications to make these bowls vegan or low carb.

How to make the bowls vegan

• Replace the chicken with firm tofu. You'll want to marinate the tofu in the same jerk marinade as you would the chicken. The tofu can marinate for just 15 minutes, or up to 8 hours. Then follow this post for how to grill tofu.
• Replace the honey in the honey lime dressing with agave nectar.

How to make the bowls low-carb

• Replace the quinoa with greens. Omitting the quinoa and replacing it with one cup of mixed baby greens will reduce the carbs from 61 grams per bowl, down to 23 grams per bowl. It will also reduce the net carbs down to 15 grams per bowl.

How to meal prep the bowls

• For storage:
  • Prepare the marinated and grilled chicken according to the recipe instructions.
  • Divide the prepared cilantro lime quinoa and grilled chicken between 4 separate storage containers.
  • Divide the bell peppers, pineapple and mandarin oranges between 4 small zipper bags. Place a bag in each of the large storage containers.
  • Wrap ¼ avocado with plastic wrap and add one ¼ avocado to each of the 4 large containers.
  • Divide the honey lime dressing between 4 small containers and add a container to each of the large containers.
• To reheat and eat:
  • Remove the avocado, honey lime dressing and small bag of peppers, pineapple and oranges from the large storage container.
  • Reheat the chicken and quinoa in the microwave for 2 minutes.
  • Unwrap the avocado and add it to the container with the chicken, along with the peppers, pineapple and oranges.
  • Drizzle the honey lime dressing from the small container over the chicken.

More chicken bowls to try

1. Chicken Shawarma Salad
2. Keto Buffalo Chicken Bowl
3. Whole30 Grilled BBQ Chicken Bowl
4. Chipotle Chicken Bowl
5. Greek Chicken Quinoa Bowl
6. Chicken Shawarma Bowl

Recipe