Air fryer chicken with rice: a 42 g protein meal

Air fryer chicken breast with rice and a yoghurt sauce: exact quantities, 28 minutes start to finish and an estimated 42 g of protein per serving.

Chicken breast in an air fryer does one thing better than a frying pan: the outside browns before the middle dries out. This plate comes to roughly 42 g of protein per serving, takes 28 minutes, and the rice cooks while the meat sits in its marinade. No step asks you to stand over the hob for more than a minute.

Prep time and servings

Prep: 10 minutes. Cooking: 18 minutes. Total: 28 minutes. Servings: 2.

The ten minutes of prep includes the marinating time, and the rice is already on the hob during it, so the two overlap. Cooking for four means doubling everything but air frying in two batches. An overloaded basket steams the chicken instead of roasting it, and then nothing browns.

Ingredients

For 2 servings:

300 g skinless chicken breast (two smaller fillets)
140 g uncooked white rice (basmati or long grain)
280 ml water for the rice
10 ml olive oil (about one tablespoon)
150 g red pepper, cut into strips (one large)
60 g Greek yoghurt, 2% fat
15 ml lemon juice
2 cloves garlic (about 6 g)
3 g sweet paprika
2 g dried oregano
1 g black pepper
4 g salt (split between the meat and the rice water)

Method

Rinse the rice under cold water until it runs clear. Put it in a pan with 280 ml of water and about 2 g of salt, cover, and simmer gently for 12–15 minutes, then take it off the heat and leave it covered.
Cut the chicken into roughly 3 cm pieces, or slice the fillets lengthways down to about 2 cm thick. Even thickness is the one variable that decides whether the meat turns out dry.
Toss the chicken with the 10 ml of oil, paprika, oregano, black pepper, the remaining salt and one crushed garlic clove. Leave it for 10 minutes at room temperature.
Heat the air fryer to 200 °C for three minutes. A preheated basket starts browning straight away; a cold one lets the chicken release its juices and stew in them.
Lay the pieces out in a single layer with no overlap. Cook for 12 minutes at 200 °C, shaking the basket halfway through.
Add the pepper strips for the last 5 minutes. If you prefer them with more bite, leave them raw and add them at the plate instead.
While it cooks, stir together the sauce: 60 g Greek yoghurt, 15 ml lemon juice, the second crushed garlic clove and a pinch of salt.
Check that the thickest piece is white through the middle with clear juices — 74 °C on a thermometer. Rest the chicken for 3 minutes, then divide the rice, chicken and pepper between two plates and spoon the sauce over.

Nutrition per serving

These are an estimate per serving, worked out from the quantities above. Real numbers shift with how lean the breast is and how precisely you weigh the rice.

Calories: about 510 kcal
Protein: about 42 g
Carbohydrates: about 60 g
Fat: about 10 g

Adding it up: 42 g of protein and 60 g of carbs give 408 kcal, and 10 g of fat adds another 90 kcal — around 500 kcal, which lines up with the estimate. The rice carries nearly all the carbohydrate and the chicken nearly all the protein.

Swaps and variations

Skinless thigh instead of breast adds roughly 60 kcal and 5 g of fat per serving and brings protein down to about 38 g. It is more forgiving and harder to overcook, which makes it a sensible swap if your breast keeps coming out tough.

Brown rice gives similar macros with more fibre, but needs 25–30 minutes and more water — start it before you open the chicken. To cut carbs, drop the rice to 100 g: that removes about 30 g of carbohydrate and 145 kcal per serving while protein stays above 40 g.

The sauce works just as well with skyr, which usually carries slightly more protein for the same weight; the differences are set out in the piece on what you actually get per serving from skyr or Greek yoghurt. The same yoghurt base doubles as a marinade for chicken skewers, so one shop can cover two dinners.

For tomorrow's lunch, cool everything within an hour and keep it refrigerated for up to two days. Rice and chicken travel well in a box, but carry the sauce separately — the same rule applies to the bulgur and chicken salad. If you want more protein on one plate, the baked pasta with broccoli and chicken reaches 53 g.

In short

Three things decide the result: even thickness, a preheated basket, and a single layer with no overlap. The rest is weighing.

With 300 g of breast and 140 g of uncooked rice you get two servings of around 510 kcal and 42 g of protein for 28 minutes of work. That fits most daily targets without any adjusting.