This post was written in a paid partnership with Manitoba Chicken Producers. As always, all opinions are my own and I only promote products and services that I use and love.
Summer is fast-approaching and that means dining outside, weekends at the cottage and maybe a few camping excursions. I love the simplicity of this Moroccan Chicken Kofta recipe for all those activities. It’s easy to prep in advance and batch cook plus, you can cook it and serve it in a few different ways.
How to prep chicken kofta in advance
This recipe comes together in two steps: Mix and shape. Since the assembly is so quick, I would double, triple, or even quadruple this recipe since it’s easy to freeze.
The seasonings are like those used in falafel: garlic, onion, parsley, cumin and coriander. Other spices you will need are likely already in your pantry: cinnamon, allspice, cayenne, salt & pepper. The addition of a bit of fresh mint really adds a punch of flavor.
Once you have mixed and shaped the ingredients you can freeze the kofta individually on a sheet pan. It will be a lot easier to store the kofta if they aren’t on the skewers, so you might want to consider freezing the logs without skewers or shaping the kofta mixture into patties or meatballs.
Once the kofta is frozen, transfer it to a freezer bag to use at your convenience.
How to cook chicken kofta
Depending on how you decide to shape the kofta, you can make it on the grill, bake it in the oven or cook it in a skillet on the stove. You can also cook it over a campfire!
Food safety tip: To ensure that chicken is cooked to a safe temperature, use a meat thermometer. Cook ground chicken to 165°F (74°C). It’s important to note that cooking times will vary depending on the cooking method and the size of the pieces.
Depending on how you shape the Moroccan Chicken Kofta, you have a few options for serving it:
Serve patties in mini naan rounds, topped with hummus, pickled banana peppers, lettuce, tomato and onions.
Serve meatballs with tzatziki and grilled vegetables or on a mezze platter with a few dips, crudités and tabouleh. You’ll likely have some fresh mint, parsley and garlic leftover from making the kofta, so tabouleh is the perfect side to maximize those ingredients.
Stuff logs into pita pockets with hummus or tahini sauce, lettuce, tomatoes and olives and cilantro.
Meal prep tips for Moroccan Chicken Kofta
Let’s recap some of the great meal prep tips you can apply to this recipe:
Low prep, in two easy steps
Double, triple or quadruple the batch.
Freeze prepped kofta raw or cooked
Cook it in a skillet, in the oven, on the grill or over a campfire.
Make it in advance.
Use the same ingredients in your side dishes and/or condiments.
The vegetables I chose to include in this recipe are easy to chop quickly and have varying textures. Mushrooms can be halved, while red peppers are sliced in 8ths and eggplant is chopped into 1-inch chunks. Keeping the skin on the eggplant allows the chunks to hold up while roasting. You can use any vegetables you prefer. Broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash and grape tomatoes are also excellent options.
Meal Prep Tips
All of the veggies for this recipe can be prepped a day or two before you need them. Chopped vegetables will last a lot longer when stored separately from other veggies, so if you’re planning on prepping them more than a day ahead of time, store them in separate containers or bags. Additionally, to prevent the peppers from getting slimy, place a folded paper towel in the bottom of the container before storing them. For a complete list of how to prep and store vegetables, see pages 43 and 44 of your Ultimate Guide.
Sheet Pan Secrets
Sheet Pan Meals are flexible. Depending on the texture you want for your vegetables, you can choose to spread the ingredients out over one or two sheet pans. Crowding makes the vegetables soft and steamy, whereas spreading them out over two pans lets them crisp up.
For this recipe, I like to use one pan so that the steam created by the vegetables softens the gnocchi. Spreading the gnocchi out on top of the vegetables, allows the gnocchi to both steam on the bottom, and crisp up on the top.
Simple Seasonings
For this Sheet Pan Gnocchi recipe, all the ingredients are seasoned simply with olive oil, Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper. The flavor boost comes once it has been cooked, with a drizzle of three-herb pesto and balsamic reduction, like Nonna Pia’s. You can of course use store-bought pesto if you want.
Breakfast burritos are an easy meal to prep and freeze for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I like to make these assembly-line style to save time. Use your favorite fillings to customize them to your taste and follow the same process to make burritos for lunch or dinner.
Breakfast burrito basics
You can use almost any vegetable or protein in your breakfast burritos. You will absolutely need:
large flour tortillas
eggs
seasonings
protein and veggies
cheese
How much do I need of each ingredient?
The guideline I typically use is 2 eggs for each large tortilla. The rest of the ingredients, you can adjust according to how big you want your burritos to be. This recipe is extremely flexible. If you don’t have quite enough eggs, add more protein and veggies to compensate for that.
Seasoning the eggs
Seasoning the eggs is an important step to adding flavor to your breakfast burritos. I like to use Epicure dip mixes, like French Onion, CCB or Garden Vegetable to add flavor. Onion powder or flakes and garlic powder are also great additions to use. If you’re using dip mixes, you’ll want to scramble the eggs and let the seasoning rehydrate in the eggs before cooking.
Prepping the toppings
You want to cook the toppings, before adding the eggs. This allows the vegetables to release their water, preventing a soggy breakfast burrito. Here are some combinations I like:
Broccoli and cheese
Sausage & peppers
Mushroom, peppers and real bacon bits
I also like to add pickled banana peppers to all of these combinations for an extra kick. Basically, any topping you would put in an omelet would work well in a breakfast burrito.
Assembling the breakfast burritos
Using an assembly line to prep these breakfast burritos is quick and helps ensure all your burritos are the same size. Spread out all the tortillas on the counter. You don’t need to warm them, unless your tortillas are really dry. The heat from the filling will warm them slightly, making them easier to roll.
Start by sprinkling a small layer of shredded cheese on the tortilla. You will do this again on top of the filling. Adding the cheese on the top and bottom helps seal the tortillas while they bake and holds everything in.
Then add a large scoop of filling to each tortilla. You are aiming for about one cup of filling/burrito.
Once you have distributed the filling to all of the tortillas, ensure they are approximately all the same size and make any adjustments if necessary.
Next, add the pickled banana peppers if using, then top with another layer of cheese.
Folding the breakfast burritos
When you are folding, move the filling to the middle third of the tortilla. Fold in the sides first, then, fold up the bottom and roll the rest.
Freezing the burritos
Once you have rolled all of the burritos, line them up on a parchment covered baking sheet, seam side down, and freeze them before storing in a freezer bag. Alternatively, you can wrap them individually in plastic wrap or foil, then place them in a freezer bag, if you don’t have the freezer space to freeze them on a baking sheet first. Use this same process to roll up leftover burrito bowl fillings to have for a quick lunch or dinner.
Reheating the burritos
You can reheat these burritos a few ways, depending on how much time you have. I like to defrost them slightly in the microwave for about four minutes, before either broiling on each side until browned, or baking for approximately 20 minutes. If you don’t defrost them in the microwave, you can simply bake them for about an hour. You can also place foil wrapped burritos on a campfire or BBQ if you are taking them camping. Check out my tips for packing for camping here.
Serving your breakfast burritos
The burritos will be hot when you take them out of the oven, so let them rest for 5-10 minutes before digging in. Add your favorite hot sauce, guacamole or salsa while you eat or try my favorite, chili crisp as a spicy topping.
If you still have some toppings left after making your burritos, try this breakfast pizza for another easy breakfast option.
Breakfast burritos are an easy meal to prep and freeze for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Make these assembly-line style to save time and use your favorite fillings to customize them to your liking.
Course
Breakfast
Keyword
breakfast, burrito, double-batch, eggs
Prep Time15minutes
Cook Time20minutes
Total Time35minutes
Servings10burritos
Ingredients
10large flour tortillas
20 eggs
2tbspseasonings of your choiceEpicure dip mixes, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, onion flakes
5cupsfillingpeppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, bacon bits, ham, sausage
2 1/2cupsshredded cheese Use 1/4 cup per burrito. 2 Tbsp. on the bottom, 2 Tbsp. on top of the filling.
pickled banana peppers (optional)
salsa, hot sauce, guacamole, chili crisp (optional)
Instructions
Chop vegetables and protein you will use for the filling. If using sausage, remove from casing before cooking.
Scramble and season the eggs.
Cook the protein and vegetables until the water has evaporated.
Add the eggs and continue stirring until cooked through and the filling is dry.
Lay out the tortillas and add 2 Tbsp. shredded cheese to each one.
Top each tortilla with approximately 1 cup of filling. Once you have topped all the tortillas, adjust to ensure they are roughly all the same size.
Top with pickled banana peppers if using.
Add 2 Tbsp shredded cheese to the top.
Place the filling on the bottom third of the tortilla. Fold in the sides, then roll from the bottom.
Place seam-side down on a parchment covered baking sheet and freeze.
Store frozen burritos in a freezer bag.
Reheating burritos from frozen (long and lazy method)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the burritos in the oven while it is preheating and continue baking for approximately one hour, or until burritos are browned.
Reheating burritos from frozen (standard method)
Place burritos in the microwave for 4 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the burritos in the oven while it is preheating and continue baking for approximately twently minutes, or until burritos are browned.
Reheating burritos from frozen (quick method)
Place burritos in the microwave for 4 minutes.
Broil burritos for about 5 minutes on each side, or until browned.
Recipe Notes
The filling recipe is flexible! If you don’t have 20 eggs, add more protein and veggies to compensate for that and vice versa.
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