Tender and juicy, flavorful Asian Barbecue Chicken Bake goes from freezer to table in less than one hour! Can be made in the slow cooker too!
Have you heard the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? That is how I feel about dinnertime. No matter how the times change, most of us are still faced with the daily question of “what’s for dinner?”.
To make preparing dinner a lot easier, and save a heck of a lot of time, I started making Freezer Prep Meals. Making meals in bulk and freezing them saves so much time not only on cooking, but cleanup too! This tasty Asian Barbecue Chicken Bake is one of our favorites. My family loves it when I make Easy Fried Rice to go with!
HOW TO MAKE ASIAN BARBECUE CHICKEN FREEZER MEALS
This chicken dump recipes is completely simple. One of the great things about this recipe is that the sauce acts like a marinade as it soaks into the chicken, infusing it with flavor.
- Start by labeling your freezer bags or containers. I use a Sharpie to write the date, contents and basic cooking instructions right on the bag. I didn’t follow my own advise on these bags, but writing the weight or number of servings on the bag is a good idea too.
- If the breasts you are using are thick, cut them in half lengthwise to make 2 thinner breast pieces. You will need a very sharp knife for this, trust me.
- Put the chicken breasts in the freezer bags, Make sure your freezer bag or container is large enough to hold the amount of servings you are freezing. I usually use a gallon size freezer storage bag for each, then store each gallon bag in a re-usable 2 gallon plastic bag. I want to make sure that if there’s a leak while the chicken is freezing, it doesn’t drip all over the freezer creating a huge mess.
- This freezer recipe is for one family-size meal, so double or triple (or more) the recipe for as many family meals as you want to freeze.
- In a medium bow, stir all of the ingredients, except the tapioca, together. Pour the mix over the chicken. Add the tapioca on top of the chicken.
- You will want to force out as much of the air as you can before sealing. To do this, I stand the bag upright so that all of the ingredients are toward the bottom. Then fold the bag over right on top of the chicken. That gets the air out of the space with the chicken. Seal the bag while it is folded over. Then lay the bag down and spread out the chicken to flatten the bag. Store in the freezer laying down for up to 3 months.
One of the great things about this chicken freezer prep meal is that it can be cooked in either the oven or the slow cooker.
The photos above show this meal after oven baking. The photos below, show the before and after of the slow cooking method. *BONUS – for the slow cooker method, NO THAWING is needed. Just take the bag out of the freezer and dump the lump of frozen meal ingredients into the slow cooker.
The oven method will take less than an hour and the slow cooker 3 – 4 hours using the High setting. Both methods will result in amazing tasting chicken.
TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST FREEZER PREP MEALS
- Use the freshest ingredients possible when making freezer meals.
- Cut or slice meat and vegetables into uniform sizes for each to insure even cooking.
- Air is your enemy when storing food in the freezer. Squeeze out as much as possible before sealing your freezer bags. If you are using containers, fill the container to almost full to minimize the amount of room left for air in the container. Just leave a little room for expansion at the top.
Freezer Meal Asian Barbecue Chicken Bake
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 pounds chicken breasts boneless, skinless
- 1 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1-1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp jalapeno pepper minced
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger or 1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp fresh lemon zest
- 2 tbsp Minute Tapioca optional for thickening
Instructions
- FREEZER PREP:
- Prepare plastic freezer or storage bags. Label with name, date and servings.
- Cut whole chicken breasts in half lengthwise. Place in the bottom of the freezer bag.
- In a medium bowl, mix together all remaining ingredients except the Minute Tapioca. Pour mixture over the chicken.
- Sprinkle Minute Tapioca over the top of the chicken.
- Push out as much air as possible and seal bags. Lay on side and flatten for freezer storage. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw for up to 24 hours before cooking.
- BAKING INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease or spray 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Pour thawed contents of freezer storage bag into pan. Separate breasts into single layer in pan.
- Place pan on center rack of oven and bake for 45 – 55 minutes, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F on a meat thermometer. During baking, occasionally spoon pan liquid over the chicken to keep moist. Serve with pan sauce.
- SLOW COOKER INSTRUCTIONS:
- Pour contents of frozen or thawed bag into bottom of slow cooker.
- Cover and set slow cooker to Low for 6 – 8 hours or High for 3 – 4 hours.
- Remove from slow cooker to serving plate and spoon over sauce.
Nutrition Facts
© Copyright Christine Mello for Must Love Home. We would love for you to share a link to this recipe but please do not copy/paste the recipe instructions to websites or social media. We are happy for you to share a photo with a link back to this website instead.
If you made this recipe, please leave a comment and rating. I would appreciate the chance to troubleshoot any issues you might have had before you leave the rating!
