Big-batch recipe · Low carb
Chicken thigh and broccoli traybake
6 portions, about 44 g of protein in each. 10 minutes of hands-on work and 33 min of cooking.
Where it sits in the week
What this one is for
On the low carb track this is a Sunday cook — the long session, which covers Monday to Wednesday. Cooked once, portioned hot, and eaten across the days that session covers.
Two portions is about 88 g of protein — our own arithmetic on the figure above, not a separate measurement. Protein targets on this site are computed against goal weight or lean mass rather than scale weight, which is the whole of Real Fuel.
Part of the low carb meal plan, cooked in the two-session prep schedule.
What goes in
- 12 boneless chicken thighs
- 3 heads broccoli, cut into large florets
- 2 red onions, 3 peppers
- 1/3 cup olive oil, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp garlic powder, chilli flakes
How
- Marinate the thighs in the oil, soy, honey and spices — twenty minutes is enough, overnight is better.
- Chicken and onions on the tray first, 425F for 15 minutes.
- Broccoli and peppers added, another 15 to 18 minutes, so the broccoli chars rather than steams.
- Two trays if you own two. Everything on this page gets worse crowded.
Keeping it: Fridge 4 days. The broccoli softens by day three; if that bothers you, roast half of it fresh on Wednesday.
Nothing on this page is medical advice. It is a plan written for general strength training in healthy adults, and any condition or medication you are managing outranks it.
Doing it cheaper
Swaps that apply to this one
From the low carb track's budget version, filtered to the ingredients this recipe actually uses.
| Instead of | Use | Why it is worth it |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken thighs and breasts | Whole chickens, jointed at home | Chicken breast was $4.15 a pound in July 2026 against $2.01 for the whole bird. Ten minutes with a knife pays about twenty dollars an hour. |
| Fresh broccoli in winter | Frozen florets | For a traybake it chars fine, and it is roughly half the price. |
The prices behind these swaps, with sources, are in the protein-per-dollar table.
The rest of the low carb week
3 more big-batch recipes on this track, plus the seven-day plan they feed.