Bag Meal Recipe: Lemon Garlic Chicken

My wonderful sister-in-law Jennifer gave me a crock-pot version of this recipe a few years ago. It has been one of our family favorites ever since, it is so easy and so yummy. My husband requests it at least once a week. It is one of those foods that actually makes really great leftovers. The rice soaks up the sauce and it is so delicious. I adjusted a few things to make it bag-meal friendly, and fast!

Lemon Garlic Chicken

3 cups water for rice
2 cups water for sauce*

1 can chicken breast, or 1 qt home-canned chicken**

Resealable bag:
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chicken bouillon

Pantry items***:
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp canned butter

Cook rice: Combine 3 cups water and 2 cups rice in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Boil on high heat for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes with the lid on, then fluff with a fork.. OR, alternately, cook the rice in a rice cooker.

Sauce: Combine 2 cups remaining water, chicken, contents of resealable bag, and pantry items. Heat over medium high heat about 10 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice.

Along with the items for the main recipe, it would be nice to include a can of veggies (my choice would be green beans), a can of fruit (I'd go with pears), and a bottle of juice.

Here's what it would look like:

Sorry no pretty pictures of the actual meal. I should have planned ahead and actually made these meals this week, that way you could see what they look like. Sorry!

*This amounts to three bottles of 16.9 fl oz Western Family premium drinking water, which is what I bought :)


** I have yet to actually can any meat, but I did try the stuff Michelle had canned and brought to the demo and it was tasty. I buy canned chicken and canned beef at Costco. The chicken works out to 2.22/lb and the beef works out to 3.33/lb, so definitely not the cheapest. I'm sure you could eventually save a lot of money by canning your own meats, but I just haven't been brave/committed enough to go shopping for a canner.


***Pantry items are things that are a little more practical to store in larger increments in a pantry or cupboard, rather than placing into the actual bag. The lemon juice is a bit of a cheater item, since it really should be refrigerated. BUT you could but the tiny little lemon-shaped lemon juice and have this meal be completely bag-able, it would just be more expensive. And you could omit the butter, if you wanted to. It just wouldn't be as nummy.

I created a little recipe card for you, which you could print, cut out, and just slide into your cd sleeve or plastic bag. Ready Freddy.


To print the recipe card, just click on the image. This will take you to a full size image you can then save to your computer and print. If your computer gives you the option, I'd print it as a 4 x 6, with two on a page.