I don’t make sheet pan meals very often, but this Korean baked chicken bites and broccoli combo is an exception. With a 15-minute cook time and minimal prep, it’s an easy meal prep option or quick weeknight dinner option.
And since chicken and broccoli is a little boring, I’ve included tips for making healthy rice bowls with a creamy kimchi sauce, chili crunch cucumbers, and pickled carrots. These bowls are packed with protein, fiber, and gut-friendly goodies.
Korean Chicken and Broccoli Ingredient Notes
The sauce or marinade I went with includes Korean staple gochujang as well as soy sauce, honey, garlic and ginger, and a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil. This provides a sweet, salty, umami, and mildly spicy flavor profile.
Gochujang is a tough ingredient to replicate, but you could always swap it for something like chili garlic sauce or sambal oelek for a slightly different flavor profile (that still works well) if you don’t have gochujang on hand. (See my air fried chili garlic chicken and broccoli for an example.)
The recipe calls for granulated garlic and ginger, but fresh works perfectly fine. And if you’d rather use something like brown sugar or another sticky sweetener instead of honey, you should be good.
You can mix the sauce together with the chicken and go straight in the oven, but I would recommend marinating for an hour or two if you have the time. In my experience, I’ve found marinating for as little as 30 minutes will produce more flavorful and moist chicken bites.
And if you’d like to skip the sauce making, I’d highly suggest checking out the Kevin’s Korean BBQ sauce I used to make my Korean BBQ leftover rotisserie chicken.
Feel free to season the broccoli with more than salt and pepper, but I like to bring a ton of flavors with the additional sides. If you’re going to keep it strictly chicken, broccoli, and rice, I’d recommend getting a bit more creative with your cruciferous veggie.
I also like to top both the baked chicken and broccoli with some toasted sesame seeds or something like furikake to finish the dish.
Now, let’s talk more about building proper Korean chicken and broccoli bowls.
What to Serve with Korean Chicken and Broccoli
I recently made a low calorie kimchi sauce for my ground beef bulgogi rice bowls and have included instructions on how to make it in the recipe card’s notes section below. You’ll also find the cucumber crunch salad and pickled carrots you see in my photos there.
But the possibilities are endless when it comes to banchan (Korean side dishes). Here’s a handful of ideas you might want to make to serve with these chicken bites and other Korean-inspired dishes you come across:
- Soft Boiled Eggs
- Radish Salad (Musaengchae)
- Korean Spinach (Sigeumchi Namul)
- Steamed Korean Eggplant (Gaji Namul)
- Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul)
However you end up serving your baked chicken bites and broccoli, I’d love to hear about it. I always appreciate recipe reviews and feedback!
Korean Baked Chicken Bites and Broccoli
Korean-inspired sheet pan chicken breast bites and broccoli served with a creamy kimchi sauce, rice, and pickled veggies.
Ingredients
For the Chicken Bites
- 2 large (about 10 oz each) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 Tablespoons Gochujang
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Granulated Garlic or Garlic Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
For the Broccoli
- 12 oz Broccoli Florets, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon (24g) Olive Oil
- Pinch of Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450ºF and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the chicken pieces with the remaining ingredients and evenly place on one half of the sheet pan, leaving some space between the pieces. (For best results, cover the chicken and marinate for 1 to 2 hours in the refrigerator before baking.)
- Toss the broccoli in the olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place the broccoli on the other half of the sheet pan.
- Bake for 15 minutes until the chicken bites reach an internal temperature of 165ºF.
- Serve the roasted chicken and broccoli with rice or a cauliflower rice blend and some of the sides from the notes section below.
Notes
Doubling the Recipe
If you double the recipe, I would put all the chicken on one half sheet pan on the top rack of the oven and the broccoli on another sheet pan below. That should prevent the broccoli from browning too quickly while the chicken cooks to temperature.
Creamy Kimchi Sauce
To make a blended kimchi sauce, add 1/2 cup kimchi to a food processor along with 1/4 cup light mayo, 1 tablespoon gochujang, 1 tablespoon honey, and 2 tablespoons of water. Blend until smooth. This makes about 1 cup (240g) and the entire batch has 260 calories, 2 grams of protein, 33 grams of carbs, and 15 grams of fat.
Lower Calorie Rice Blend
You can mix a 12 oz bag of frozen cauliflower rice (microwaved) with 2 cups of cooked sticky or jasmine rice for a high volume rice to make bowls with. This combo makes about 5 cups of rice with a total of 510 calories, 16 grams of protein, 106 grams of carbs, and 0 grams of fat.
Pickled Carrots
Bring 1 cup of white or rice vinegar and 1 cup of water to a simmer before stirring in 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a pinch or two of gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) until dissolved. Pour over 12-16 oz of thinly sliced carrots in a jar. Let the jar cool to room temp before covering and refrigerating. Store for a couple weeks in the refrigerator.
Chili Crunch Cucumber Salad
Salt a pound of quartered or half-moon sliced cucumbers for 10-15 minutes before rinsing. Add 2 tablespoons of chili crunch, 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar, and a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and stir together. Additional add-ins: sliced radishes, gochujang, tahini, scallions, cilantro, lime or lemon juice.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1/4th of the chicken and broccoliAmount Per Serving: Calories: 270Total Fat: 8gCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 36g
Lauren
Saturday 24th of February 2024
This looks so good! My family loves Korean food so I can't wait to make this. Can I ask where you buy all of the Korean spices and condiments? Are they at your normal grocery store? We don't have a Korean store nearby so that isn't an option.
Mason Woodruff
Sunday 25th of February 2024
Whole Foods is usually a safe bet, and I've been able to find a surprising amount of staples in Kroger as well.
KimS
Wednesday 22nd of November 2023
Excellent! I did have everything for the cucumber side (and it was delicious), but none of the other sides. I’d loved to have made the kimchi dip. Next time!! Very good dish.