Chicken tenders, or thin pieces of chicken breast, cook up very fast and are low in fat. They are a bit more expensive than chicken dark meat, but otherwise are perfect for bentos.

This marinated and grilled chicken really just takes minutes to prep and to cook in a grill pan. They go well in a rice-based bento, in salad, sandwiches and more.

There's a bonus just-mix yogurt dressing or sauce recipe below too!

Recipe: Grilled Garlic Chicken Tenders

For 1 bento serving:

• 100g / about 3 oz. chicken tenders or chicken breast strips, cut up if necessary
• About 1/3 tsp. salt
• a squirt of lemon juice
• black pepper
• 1/2 Tbs. garlic infused olive oil, or regular olive oil and about 1/2 finely grated garlic clove

(double/triple etc. for more meat)

Mix all the ingredients together. Marinate overnight.

Heat up a grill pan, or a regular non-stick frying pan. Drain off any excess marinade. Grill the chicken pieces for about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip over, and turn off the heat. The chicken will finish cooking from the heat of the pan. Cool before packing into your bento.

Contains about 100-130 calories per 100g / about 3 oz (raw weight) serving, depending on how much of the oil you drain off.

Note: Vary this by adding some dried or chopped fresh herbs etc. to the marinade. Thyme, rosemary, fresh tarragon, oregano, etc. are all nice.

Bonus: Yogurt dressing or sauce

This is not really a recipe, but it's a great low-fat dressing for salads and things.

Just mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of thick or Greek yogurt with this stuff called Chutney Podina Masala, which is available at Indian grocery stores:

It's a powdered mix, which has (reading off the back of the box) salt, mint, dry mango, pomegranate seeds, chilli, coriander, black pepper, musk melon, caraway, nutmeg and maleic acid (a commonly used acidulant). It's spicy, minty, salty and a bit sour. I add about 1/2 tsp. per tablespoon of yogurt. I have also been known to put spoonfuls directly in my mouth.

Alternatively, you could use any kind of 'spice mix' plus salt. I have tried things like leftover taco seasoning, those Emeril's mixes, Montreal Steak Rub, garlic salt, and so on. Experiment!