Mango Chicken Bowls

This recipe for Mango Chicken Bowls was inspired by our favorite protein bowl from a local eatery called Modern Market and incorporates juicy grilled chicken, sauteed shredded sweet potato, garlic black beans, a quinoa-brown rice mixture, and bright pineapple mango salsa. This Caribbean-esque bowl is deliciously fresh and bursting with summery flavors.

Modern Market is a chain of restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Texas that believes wholeheartedly in creating clean, wholesome meals, which is what we also strive for here on Stick’s Scratch Kitchen. We love their Blackened Chicken Mango Bowl and used it as our inspiration for our very own Mango Chicken Bowl. We made some modifications to our own bowl, but wanted to give credit where credit is due for the yummy inspiration!

How to Customize Your Mango Chicken Bowl

What we love most about this bowl recipe is how easy it is to customize it. The recipe, as written, is a little more involved since we included two major carb sources (quinoa-rice mix and sweet potatoes) and two protein sources (black beans and chicken). But this recipe is super easy to modify to meet your needs, budget, and time. Here are just a few suggestions.

Modify the Grains/Carbs. If you don’t feel like making the quinoa-rice mixture in this recipe, you can easily pick one or the other. Both are great carb sources with tons of health benefits. You can also choose to eliminate the rice mix or the sweet potatoes if you’re trying to keep things lower carb.

Swap the Proteins. This recipe is high protein thanks to chicken and black beans. If you want to reduce the protein amount, you can cut out the beans or eliminate the chicken (which is a great way to keep this dish 100% plant-based/vegan). You can also swap out either protein with grilled steak, shrimp, tofu, tempeh, chickpeas, or pinto beans.

Change up the Salsa. You can incorporate whatever salsa you want for this dish. You can remove the pineapple or mango to simplify the salsa, make a standard tomato salsa or pico, try salsa verde, whip up some guacamole, or throw on some marinated tomatoes or fresh avocado slices.

Edit the Greens. Not a fan of kale, no worries! Switch it up for crispy butter lettuce, chopped romaine, shredded iceberg, spinach, mixed greens, or omit all together.

How to Make Mango Chicken Bowls

Make the Pineapple Mango Salsa

Peel and chop the mango. Chop the pineapple. Dice the red onion. Mince the cilantro. Combine the mango, pineapple, red onion, and cilantro in a bowl. Juice the lime over the salsa. Mix well to incorporate. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

If you are using fresh mango and pineapple (rather than pre-cubed or pre-sliced fresh fruit), check out our post for Pineapple Mango Salsa for more detailed instructions on preparing the mango and pineapple.

Make the Spicy Pineapple Mango Dressing

Combine the mango, pineapple, vinegar, water, sambal oelek, and lime juice in a blender. Blend for 30 seconds to 1 minute until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside until ready to use.

Make the Mango Chicken Bowl

Pressure Cooker Rice/Quinoa: Prepare the brown rice-quinoa mixture. Combine ⅔ cups brown rice and ½ cup quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse. Transfer the rinsed rice mix to the pressure cooker and add 1¼c water. Pressure cook on high for 22 minutes. Let the pressure cooker vent naturally for 5 minutes, then release the vent valve to vent completely. Fluff with a fork. Cover to keep warm and set aside. It should make about 3½ cups of cooked rice-quinoa mixture.

Pre-cooked Rice/Quinoa: If you have leftover or pre-cooked brown rice and quinoa, simply combine 2 cups of brown rice and 1½ cups quinoa. Set aside.

Season the chicken with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken. Cook on one side 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip the chicken and cook another 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel.

Shred the sweet potatoes with a grater. Combine shredded potatoes, 2 teaspoons of avocado oil, and ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Toss well. Wipe out the frying pan you used to cook the chicken and add the potatoes. Saute 4 to 5 minutes over medium heat, until softened and golden brown in spots. Remove from heat, cover to keep warm and set aside.

Drain and rinse the black beans and transfer to a small bowl. Season with cumin, granulated garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well to coat. Set aside.

Combine the kale, 2 teaspoons avocado oil, ⅛ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Massage the kale by using your fingers to squeeze and crush the kale leaves. Do this for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the kale just begins to wilt and shrink. Set aside.

When you’re ready to put the bowls together, thinly slice the chicken breasts. Assemble the bowls by combining the desired amount of rice-quinoa mixture, shredded sweet potatoes, kale, black beans, chicken, and pineapple-mango salsa. Top with a drizzle of spicy pineapple mango dressing. Enjoy!

Let us know what you think about this recipe for Mango Chicken Bowls by dropping a comment and/or rating below! We love to hear from you! Also, please share this recipe on social media/Pinterest if you were a fan! 🙂

Check out our other yummy bowl recipes:

• Honey Garlic Shrimp Bowls
• Greek Turkey Meatball Bowls
• Herb Chicken and Peach Bowls
• Chipotle Shrimp Bowls
• Black Pepper Tofu Bowls
• Coconut Shrimp Bowls