Healthy Butter Chicken - the best low calorie version of this delicious Indian dish, so you can create the perfect fakeaway at home.
Healthy Indian Fakeaways
I love Indian food, it's one of my favourite take-out choices and has been since I was a little girl. I can still remember my first meal at an Indian restaurant. My dad used to a do a lot of work at Indian and Chinese restaurants, so I was accustomed to that kind of food from a very young age.
Below are some of my own versions of those first dishes I tried.
or if you would like more recipe ideas - head on over to the FULL RECIPE INDEX where you will find over 900 delicious recipes with calories and you can search by meal type, ingredients, course, diet and more..
All recipes on Slimming Eats have estimated nutritional information for your convenience.
Lighter Butter Chicken
When creating my own version of the popular Butter Chicken, I really thought hard about the ingredients I was going to use and how I was going to cook it. I wanted to make sure it really had all those amazing flavours you expect in Butter Chicken while still keep the calories low.
You will find an additional ingredient in my Butter Chicken that you won't find in your typical recipe and that is some butternut squash. It may seem like an odd addition, but trust me when I say it works. You only use just a small amount, so it won't overpower the sauce. Instead, it makes the sauce lovely and creamy and gives that subtle sweetness without having to add additional ingredients to get the perfect Butter Chicken.
Do I have to use Butter in Butter Chicken?
You may be tempted to skip the butter in this recipe to try and keep it lower calorie. But honestly? you can't have Butter Chicken without butter, it just takes that sauce to a whole other level and is worth the small amount of calories per serving.
Use real butter though and not low fat spreads or margarines as most low fat spreads are not really able to be heated and melted like real butter and can end up making your sauce look weird.
Using Butternut Squash in Recipes
I use butternut squash often in recipes for adding subtle sweetness without having to use things like sugar etc. It works perfectly in my Chinese Chicken Curry and No Added Sugar Baked Beans as well as this Creamy Butternut Pasta Sauce and Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese.
The best thing of all is that butternut squash is a really low calorie vegetable and is a great choice for bulking out meals. It's one of my favourite vegetables to roast too with just with a little bit of low calorie olive oil spray, salt and paprika - yum!!
Low Carb Sides for Curry
There are of course some vegetables in the sauce to this amazing butter chicken, but if you want to keep your sides low carb too, try serving this with my delicious Roasted Cauliflower Rice instead of regular rice.
I really prefer to roast my cauliflower rice instead of steam or microwaving, it gives it a much nicer flavour.
Sides for Butter Chicken
Wondering what other sides you can have with butter chicken? Well of course any of my Indian Fakeaway recipes are perfect.
But just some simple cooked basmati rice is the best if you are not trying to eat lower carb. If you struggle to cook rice perfectly, there really is a simple fool-proof way and that is the 2-1 method.
This means however much rice you are cooking you always want double the amount of liquid, either water or for some flavour stock.
Rinse your rice until running water until it runs clear, then add to a saucepan. So for example I normally add 1 cup of uncooked rice for 4 people, then add 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer until the liquid is just absorbed, turn off heat, and leave with lid on untouched for 10 minutes. The steam trapped underneath will perfectly cook your rice. So after it has been left for the 10 minutes, remove lid and fluff with a fork.
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Recipe Card
Healthy Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
Healthy Butter Chicken - the best low calorie version of this delicious Indian dish, so you can create the perfect fakeaway at home.
Ingredients
For the Chicken and Marinade:
- 600g (21oz) of uncooked boneless chicken breast, diced
- 130g (½ cup) of fat free plain yoghurt (not Greek)
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 2 teaspoon of ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon of Indian hot chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala
- 2 tablespoon of lemon juice
For the sauce:
- 160g (5.7oz) of onion, diced
- 160g (5.7oz) of butternut, diced small (or grated)
- 2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger root
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon of Indian Hot Chilli powder (add more of less depending on your spice level)
- 1 teaspoon of dried fenugreek leaves
- 1.5 cups (360ml) of chicken stock
- 1 cup (250g) of passata
Additional:
- 2 tablespoons of butter (for cooking the chicken)
- cooking oil spray
- fresh chopped coriander
- salt to season
Instructions
- Mix together the yoghurt and spices and lemon juice for the chicken together in a bowl then add the chicken and marinade in the fridge overnight (or 4 hours at least)
- Spray a deep frying pan over a medium high heat, add the onion and fry until softened, add the garlic, ginger, chilli powder, fenugreek and fry for a further 30 seconds. Add in the butternut squash and stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until butternut squash is soft (approx 12-15 minutes).
- Transfer to a blender with the 250g of passata and blend until smooth
- Melt the butter in the frying pan over a medium high heat, add the chicken in the yoghurt marinade to the pan using tongs in an even layer (if your pan is not big enough) do this in two batches, using 1 tablespoon of the butter at a time.
- As it starts to go golden underneath, flip over and brown the other side of the chicken, being carefully not to move it about the pan too much as you brown.
- Once the chicken is all lightly golden, pour in the blended sauce and simmer for 10 minutes, sauce should look lovely and velvety and chicken cooked.
- Taste sauce and season as needed with salt.
- Sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve with your choice of sides.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 296Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 46mgSodium 421mgCarbohydrates 16gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 37g
Nutritional information and values etc are an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate by the ingredients you use.
Tracey says
Made this tonight and all I can say is WOW! Absolutely delicious. Felt so naughty. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
ahh thank you Tracey, so glad to hear that.
Beryl says
Gorgeous
Claire Browning says
Hiya, I was just wondering if non dairy yoghurt would work in the marinade? I usually use alpro soya simply plain?
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
I don’t see why a dairy free alternative wouldn’t work. Let me know how it goes.
Stuart Peers says
Ace recipe - thank you - the butternut squash sooooo made the sauce. I added even more butternut when I added the chicken and some green pepper too. Delish!
Tania Moore says
This is the 3rd recipe of yours I have cooked all have been a hit with family but this is amazing! Although I did get fed up with grating the butternut squash and thought I wouldn't make it again but oh yes I will. Thank you, you are amazing!! X
Shevy (Slimming Eats) says
so glad you enjoyed it Tania - I use a food processor to grate the butternut squash, so quick, but I realize not everyone has access to one.
Kim Robertson says
OMG, absolutely delicious, one of the better curries I have made.
Hannah says
Cannot believe this was better than any butter chicken from a takeaway. Amazing!
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
ahh thank you so much Hannah, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Charel says
Do you need to cook the butternut squash before grating it?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
no, you add it in grated raw, it cooks in the sauce. Enjoy 🙂
Jodie says
Where exactly is the butter used in this?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
step 8 of the recipe 🙂
Kevan Trotter says
Hi do you double up on the garlic and ginger for the sauce or do you use the marinade from the chicken for the sauce thanks kevan
Ann says
Loved the recipe! How long will this keep in the fridge?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
It should keep in the fridge for about 3 days.
Gurjit says
Hi, Just had quick question on this one. It looks so good i want to try it but i'm pescatarian - do you think it would work with Prawns or Quorn pieces and would they also need marinating the same way as the chicken? Thanks 🙂
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
It's hard to say how well it would work without me testing, I'd be concerned the flavours would not be the same as you definitely wouldn't need to marinate with as much ingredients or for as long.
Milly says
Hi,
May I use natural Skyr yogurt? That’s all I have in my fridge.
Cian says
Unbelievable this is a keeper. I cooked last night for work and had it for dinner. Can't wait to make it again next week. The flavors the next day unreal
Sue says
Do you add marinade into the sauce?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
No, because you want the chicken pieces to take on a nice bit of colour. You can discard any leftover marinade, as you’ll be making a separate sauce for the butter chicken anyway.