I love that my kids are learning to cook at school because they bring home lots of easy and delicious recipes that they now make for ME, including THIS Healthy Butter Chicken Recipe! This Weight Watchers Butter Chicken has no butter, a creamy tomato sauce, is gluten-free, and is easy to make!
I had never been the biggest fan of butter chicken (when I went out to Indian restaurants for Indian food), but this recipe was a game changer because it's so amazing! However, when I plugged the original recipe into my WW calculator and saw that it had 40 grams of fat and was 20 WW points, I understood why it was sooo good; FAT MADE IT GOOD.So.... I made it my mission to make this traditional recipe into a delicious Healthy Butter Chicken that was Weight Watchers friendly and brought it down to 4 WW points. And it still tastes incredible!
🍒Reader Review
"I just made this for tonight’s dinner:)) Easy Peasy recipe. It smells and looks delicious. No more buying store bought Butter chicken sauce in a jar!"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jump to:
- 🍒Reader Review
- 🐓Weight Watchers Chicken recipes
- 🥘 Ingredient Notes
- 📖 Variations & Substitutions
- 🔪How to Make Healthy Butter Chicken
- Expert Recipe Tips
- 🥗 What to serve with Weight Watchers Butter Chicken
- 🔢 WW Points
- 🌡️Storage
- 👪 Serving Size
- ❔ Recipe FAQ's
- 🍲More Weight Watchers Recipes
- 📋 Healthy Butter Chicken Recipe
🐓Weight Watchers Chicken recipes
Most people on Weight Watchers eat a lot of chicken because it' s healthy and low points, but it can get real boring pretty quick. In light of that, I have created these 40+ Exciting Weight Watchers Chicken Recipes to make your weight loss (or maintenance) journey a little tastier!
🥘 Ingredient Notes
This Easy & Healthy Butter Chicken recipe with Greek yogurt does not disappoint; it still has a super creamy sauce! However, I knew it was a true success when my kids said they liked my Weight Watchers butter chicken better than the original fattening version!
For this low fat butter chicken recipe, you'll need:
- Boneless and Skinless Chicken breast. Chicken breast is ideal for this recipe because it's delicious, lean and 0 WW points.
- Garam masala, Ground Coriander, Cayenne, Tumeric, Paprika, Cumin. The combination of these spices gives this healthy butter chicken its traditional flavor.
- Water. Water adds some calorie-free liquid to the sauce.
- Non-fat Greek yogurt. The yogurt replaces the whipped cream in the original recipe and thickens the sauce @ 0 points!
- Sweetened condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk balances the tartness of the yogurt, and when mixed with yogurt, it mimics the mild sweetness of whipping cream. I use Eagle Brand because it's the least Weight Watchers points.
*Please see recipe card for full list of ingredients and quantities
📖 Variations & Substitutions
- Rice: You can use any type of rice with this recipe (white rice, brown rice, or basmati rice), but jasmine rice is the most flavorful.
- Spice: This recipe is quite spicy, so if it's too spicy for you, simply reduce spice amounts.
- Chicken: You could substitute boneless chicken thighs for chicken breast or use leftover rotisserie chicken (but this will change the ww points).
- Tomatoes: You can use crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce or diced fresh tomatoes instead.
- Garlic: You can use jarred minced garlic, but fresh is best.
- Olive oil: You can use another type of oil like canola, vegetable, or avocado.
🔪How to Make Healthy Butter Chicken
- Step 1: Cook chicken breast on stove top, over medium-high heat until no longer pink and the internal temperature reads 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside diced chicken.
- Step 2: Heat oil in medium pot on medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute for 3-4 minutes.
- Step 3: Add tomatoes and tomato paste, then add spices and saute for 5 minutes.
- Step 4: Stir in water and heat sauce over medium to high heat until sauce is thoroughly warm.
- Step 5: Reduce heat to low ( a gentle simmer ) and whisk in Greek yogurt and condensed milk and heat until warm, whisking constantly.
- Step 6: Once warm, set aside, then add cooked chicken pieces. Serve over jasmine rice, basmati rice, or cauliflower rice.
HINT: When you whisk in the Greek yogurt and condensed milk, you need to reduce the heat to low, whisking constantly and only until it's warm again. Then you immediately remove it from the heat. If you don't do this, it's more likely to separate.
Expert Recipe Tips
- Use Fresh Spices – Spices lose potency over time. For the best flavor, use fresh garam masala, cumin, and coriander.
- Prevent Yogurt from Curdling – Remove the pot from heat before adding Greek yogurt and whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Heating yogurt too quickly can cause it to separate.
- Balance the Sweetness – If you prefer less sweetness, reduce the sweetened condensed milk slightly or substitute it with a small amount of honey or agave syrup.
- Tender Chicken Tip – To keep the chicken juicy and tender, avoid overcooking. Temperature is the very best way to check for doneness. I use this instant-read thermometer- (affiliate link) to ensure it reaches 165°F (74°C).
🥗 What to serve with Weight Watchers Butter Chicken
Besides serving this over rice or with a side of rice, a garden salad, or mixed vegetables, I serve it with some WW friendly side dishes. Some of my go-to's with this low calorie butter chicken (that 0-2 ww pts) are Cucumber Kimchi, WW Cloud Bread, and this Skinny Coleslaw Recipe (shown).
I love to serve this Healthy Butter Chicken recipe with jasmine rice because jasmine rice (shown below) has a subtle floral aroma and a soft, sticky texture when cooked. It makes your house smell amazing! Jasmine rice is originally from Thailand and is commonly used in Southeast Asian cooking and is a longer grain variety of rice.
You can also serve this butter chicken with basmati rice. Even though jasmine and basmati rice are often used interchangeably, there are some differences. One of the differences is that jasmine rice grains are shorter and thicker than basmati rice. You can read more about jasmine rice HERE.
🔢 WW Points
This easy weight watchers butter chicken is only 4 WW points. The WW points calculated in this easy butter chicken recipe do not include rice.
WW friendlier: When I'm trying to really keep my ww points down, I'll use Cauliflower Rice .
🌡️Storage
- This Weight Watchers Butter Chicken can be stored with the sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you make rice to go with this recipe, keep the rice stored in a separate container in the fridge. I simply reheat it in the microwave.
- This low fat butter chicken recipe freezes well for up to 3 months.
👪 Serving Size
This WW friendly Healthy Butter Chicken recipe serves 4 and they are large servings. But trust me, you're going to want to double or triple it - it's really that good and so are leftovers! I always double it for the 4 of us.
You can also cut this recipe in half (if you only need 1 or 2 servings) by adjusting the serving size on the recipe card. Just click on the serving size and select the number of servings you’d like.
❔ Recipe FAQ's
Yes! This butter chicken stores well in the fridge for 2-3 days and actually tastes even better the next day as the flavors meld. Just be sure to store the rice separately.
This can happen if the Greek yogurt is added while the sauce is still too hot. Make sure to reduce the heat to low and whisk constantly. Also, remove the sauce from the heat as soon as it’s warmed through.
This butter chicken has a medium spice level. To make it milder, reduce or omit the cayenne pepper and adjust the garam masala to taste.
So, whether you're looking for low calorie dinner recipes, healthy butter chicken recipes, or Weight Watchers Chicken recipes, this version of butter chicken is a great recipe the whole family will love!
🍲More Weight Watchers Recipes
Did your family❤️this recipe? Did you know that commenting and⭐rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite recipe creators? If you LOVED this recipe, please comment and rate it in the recipe card or share photos on social media using the hashtag #foodmeanderings or tagging @foodmeanderings !
📋 Healthy Butter Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Dutch oven (optional-or use a pot and a skillet)
Ingredients
- 4-5 skinless chicken breasts * can substitute leftover chicken
- 1 teaspoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 6 cloves garlic cloves, minced
- 5 oz - can tomato paste
- ¾ cup -diced/crushed canned tomatoes ( or tomato puree)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon tumeric
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ cups non-fat Greek yogurt
- 4 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk *I use Eagle brand as it's less WW points
Instructions
- Cook chicken breast on stove top., over medium-high heat until no longer pink and internal temperature reads 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Cut into bite sized pieces and set aside diced chicken.
- Heat oil in medium pot on medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato paste, then add spices and saute for 5 minutes.
- Stir in water and heat sauce over medium to high heat until sauce is thoroughly warm.
- Reduce heat to low ( a gentle simmer ) and whisk in Greek yogurt and condensed milk and heat until warm, whisking constantly.
- Once warm, set aside, then add cooked chicken pieces.
- Serve over jasmine rice, basmati rice or cauliflower rice.
Notes
-
- Use Fresh Spices – Spices lose potency over time. For the best flavor, use fresh garam masala, cumin, and coriander.
-
- Prevent Yogurt from Curdling – Remove the pot from heat before adding Greek yogurt and whisk constantly to prevent curdling. Heating yogurt too quickly can cause it to separate.
-
- Balance the Sweetness – If you prefer less sweetness, reduce the sweetened condensed milk slightly or substitute it with a small amount of honey or agave syrup.
-
- Tender Chicken Tip – To keep the chicken juicy and tender, avoid overcooking. Temperature is the very best way to check for doneness. I use this instant-read thermometer- (affiliate link) to ensure it reaches 165°F (74°C).
- This Weight Watchers Butter Chicken can be stored with the sauce in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you make rice to go with this recipe, keep the rice stored in a separate container in the fridge. I simply reheat it in the microwave.
- This low fat butter chicken recipe freezes well for up to 3 months.
Sheila Mcrae
My family loves butter chicken and this lighter version did not disappoint. The sauce is flavourful and still tastes rich without the added fat and calories.
Terri Gilson
So glad to hear your family loved it, Sheila!
Terri
Haleigh
I don't have condensed milk... anything I can substitute for it?
Terri Gilson
Hi Haleigh: Here are some suggestions: https://www.mashed.com/166593/heres-what-you-can-substitute-for-condensed-milk/
You could also use a tiny bit (1/2 tsp of agave or 1 tsp of honey and a little whole milk or cream). It just needs to be sweetened up a bit.
Let me know how it turns out!
Enjoy 🙂
Haleigh
Thank you! We are looking forward to having this tonight!
Terri Gilson
Enjoy!
Curtis Davis
Why is the sodium so high? I am not sure where all that sodium is coming from. Please could you let me know?
Terri Gilson
Hi Curtis: There is 1.5 tsp of salt in the recipe and I figured out that is where it's coming from - that's about 3500 g of sodium, then there's some in the canned tomatoes and condensed milk. If you eliminate the salt and get a no-salt canned tomatoes, it will bring it down a lot! Thanks,
Terri
Claire
All your recipes look so good . I am following wW and would love to try them!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Claire! I hope you enjoy them - they keep me on track!
Chef Markus Mueller
Yum! I make butter chicken regularly as a meal prep item, Looking forward to trying you version!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Marcus-hope you like it!!
Leanne | Crumb Top Baking
It's been a very long time since I had butter chicken! This looks delicious Terri! And I love that you made it a healthier version!
Denise@urbnspice
I love kids in the kitchen. Your kids will probably always enjoy cooking because of your positive influence. I remember my daughter bringing home a homemade pizza dough recipe in Grade five many years ago. It is still one of our go-to recipes. I am looking forward to trying your Butter Chicken recipe, Terri. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Melanie @ Bon Appet'Eat
This looks delicious and well done on the parenting bit! And on making your son a good cook with a great palate!
joyce
I love a good butter chicken recipe! Got to try this!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Joyce - hope you enjoy!!
Sheila
Wonderful recipe!! Thanks for posting
Terri Gilson
Thank you, Sheila! I'm glad you liked it!
Kristen
Made this last night and it was amazing! The only thing is, it looked a little separate? Is that due to the Greek yogurt? It looks gritty especially the next day but regardless I will be making it again and again. Loved it.
Terri Gilson
Glad you loved it, Kristen! It's on our regular dinner rotation. The kids were just telling me to make it again last night! As far as separating goes, it could be the brand of Greek yogurt you're using. Or it could be that it's still on heat when you whisk it? I find that it separates if it's on heat - I have to remove it from heat. Or if the yogurt is a bit older (but not expired)? Hopefully you'll figure out what's causing it!
Terri
Brenda Levesque
I just made this for tonight’s dinner:)) Easy Peasy recipe. It smells and looks delicious. No more buying store bought Butter chicken sauce in a jar.
Terri Gilson
That's great, Brenda- I'm glad you loved it! It's on regular rotation here 🙂
Simra Baakzi
How on made so perfectely. Very Nicely Done. Mouth Watering ..!!1
Terri Gilson
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it!
Terri Gilson
Thanks, Simra!