Healthy Butter Chicken

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 easy Healthy Butter Chicken!

I had never been the biggest fan of butter chicken, but this recipe was a game changer! I was able to make it Weight Watchers friendly! But not every recipe they've brought home has been such a success.....

🥘 Ingredients

However, when I plugged the original recipe into my WW calculator and saw that it had 40 grams of fat and was 20 WW fsp points, I understood why it was sooo good; FAT MADE IT GOOD.

So.... I made it my mission to make it into a delicious Healthy Butter Chicken that was Weight Watchers friendly and brought it down to 5 WW points on the blue plan!! And this Easy & Healthy Butter Chicken recipe with Greek yogurt does not disappoint. 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! Whipping cream has a sweet taste, so I've compensated for that by using a little sweetened condensed milk. For this recipe, you'll need:

• Chicken breast (or leftover rotisserie chicken)
• olive oil
• garlic, minced
• tomato paste
• crushed or diced canned tomatoes
• Paprika
• Ground cumin
• tumeric
• Salt
• Garam masala
• Ground corinader
• cayenne
• water
• non-fat Greek yogurt
• sweetened condensed milk

I love to serve this recipe with jasmine rice because jasmine rice 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.

🥗 Side dishes

Here are some WW friendly side dishes to go with this healthy butter chicken:

• Quick Cucumber Kimchi -1 WW point on blue
• Skinny Coleslaw Recipe - 0 WW points on blue
• Healthy Artichoke & Roasted Red Pepper Coleslaw - 2 WW points on blue
• garden salad
• mixed frozen veggies (sprinkled with Everything bagel seasoning)

When my son had been bringing home recipes from school for a few years and making them with my close supervision, one day I decided to give him a bit more freedom in the kitchen and backed off a bit. He seemed to like not being micromanaged. But when it came time to taste the cookies he made, he carefully watched my reaction as I took that first bite, yearning for my “expert baker” (as he calls me) approval. And as those cookie morsels met my taste buds in that very first split second, I really wasn't sure what to do...

Being a parent is hard. And every parent's very real struggle is balancing being supportive with honesty, helping them to learn, grow, and navigate disappointment, while keeping their confidence intact and not inadvertently crushing their little spirits. Because honestly, you can never really predict how they'll react. And just then you think you have them figured out, they go and change. And then they are teenagers....

So, as my son sat there waiting for my 'expert baker' cookie endorsement, I managed to muster a “Mmmm... can I see the recipe?”

Then I got him to taste it and asked if that was how it was supposed to taste (as they made it in school). He concurred that it was a bit too salty and we soon discovered that he had doubled the salt by not reading the instructions carefully enough. Although he was clearly disappointed, luckily he is pretty easy-going, even as a teenager, and took it as a lesson learned. And fortunately, many subsequent successful recipes, like this healthy butter chicken, served to boost his culinary confidence!

💭 Top tip

When you whisk in the Greek yogurt and condensed milk, you need to reduce heat to low, whisking constantly and only until it's until warm again. Then you immediately remove it from the heat. If you don't do this, it's more likely to separate. 

📖 Variations

• WW friendlier: When I'm trying to really keep my WW points down,  I'll use Cauliflower Rice (and skip the oil in this recipe).
• Rice: You can use any type of rice with this recipe, but jasmine rice is most flavorful.
• Spice: This recipe is quite spicy, so if it's too spicy, simply reduce spice amounts

🌡️Storage

• The 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 recipe freezes well for up to 3 months.

👪 SERVING SIZE

This recipe serves 4. 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 (it's highlighted in blue) and select the number of servings you’d like.

🦺FOOD SAFETY

• Cook chicken to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C) . Temperature is the very best way to check for doneness. I use this instant read thermometer- (affiliate link) it's great for everything food related!
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched the raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

I love that my kids are learning to cook with others, in addition to me. I think it takes a village to raise a cook. Whether it's the Foods Teacher at school, their Dad, their Grandma or Aunties, cooking with others gives them a different perspective, which expands their culinary horizons. But like I said, my favorite part is that they can cook and that means not only will they be able to survive without me one day, in the meantime, they cook for me!

So, if you're looking for a healthy butter chicken recipe, that's also WW friendly, you'll love this one!

🐓Weight Watchers Chicken recipes

If you are looking for additional Weight Watchers friendly recipes give my Baked Hoisin Chicken a try!

And these Cornish Hens with Rosemary Wine Sauce are only 2 WW blue plan points per ½ a hen. And yes, Cornish game hens are chickens (just little ones!)

⭐ Reviews

Did you make this recipe? Please RATE THE RECIPE below!

Here's what others are saying about this recipe:

"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!"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Please SUBSCRIBE  (get my FREE E-cookbook) and be sure to FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST!

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5 from 9 votes

📋 Healthy Butter Chicken Recipe

This easy Healthy Butter Chicken does not contain butter, is gluten-free and is Weight Watchers Friendly @ only 5 Weight Watchers blue plan points! 

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword butter chicken, healthy, weight watchers

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Calories 288kcal

Author Terri Gilson

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breast * can substitute leftover chicken
• 2-3 teaspoon olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 oz - can tomato paste
• ¾ cup -diced/crushed canned tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 ½ cups non-fat Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Cook chicken breast on stove top until no longer pink. Cut into bite sized pieces and set aside.
• 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 and whisk in Greek yogurt and condensed milk and heat until warm, whisking constantly.
• Once warm, set aside, then add chicken. 
• Serve over jasmine rice, basmati rice or cauliflower rice.

Notes

*Note: The WW points calculated do not include rice

**Note: This recipe is 5 WW points on blue. However, I originally calculated this recipe as 8 WW points on blue, based on the nutritional information in my blog's nutritional calculator. However, I have recently learned that it's not as accurate as creating the recipe in the WW app, as the app accounts for 0 (ZERO) points and my blog's calculator does not. 

My Amazon Recommendations (affiliate links)

⭐ REVIEWS

Did you make this recipe? Please RATE THE RECIPE below!

Here's what others are saying: "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!"⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Please SUBSCRIBE  (get my FREE E-cookbook) and be sure to FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST!

 

Nutrition Facts

📋 Healthy Butter Chicken Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 288 Calories from Fat 72

% Daily Value*

Fat 8g12%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 83mg28%

Sodium 1130mg49%

Potassium 773mg22%

Carbohydrates 19g6%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 15g17%

Protein 35g70%

Vitamin A 1165IU23%

Vitamin C 7.8mg9%

Calcium 182mg18%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition

Calories: 288kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 1130mg | Potassium: 773mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 1165IU | Vitamin C: 7.8mg | Calcium: 182mg | Iron: 2mg

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