
Meal Prep Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi
Meal Prep Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi
Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users
Category
Calorie Counted
Cuisine
Indian
Servings
4
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
18 minutes
Calories
402
Jalfrezi is a proper British Indian restaurant classic. Fast cooked, full of colour and big on flavour, it’s a curry that’s always been about impact rather than heavy sauces. While its roots trace back to the Indian subcontinent, the jalfrezi most of us know was shaped in UK curry houses, where it became known for its bold tomato base, peppers, onions and a noticeable kick of spice. It’s a drier-style curry, which already makes it a great starting point for a lighter, calorie-counted meal.
The sauce itself keeps things simple and traditional. Onions are softened but not overcooked, garlic and ginger add aroma, and tomatoes bring a fresh acidity that cuts through the spices. Peppers go in towards the end so they stay crisp and colourful, giving that signature jalfrezi texture and bite. A final hit of spice ties everything together without overpowering the dish.
What makes this recipe ideal for meal prep is that it proves great curry doesn’t need to be heavy to be satisfying. By focusing on spices, cooking technique and balance, you get all the flavour you’d expect from a takeaway jalfrezi, but with calories kept firmly in check. It reheats well, holds its texture, and delivers on taste every single time.
I batch cooked this for work, and ate it through the week. I combined it with rice and a naan but also had it loaded on a jacket spud. This is quite a dry curry, so it worked fantastic on a jacket potato.
The macros for this dish, excluding rice:
- Calories 402
- Protein: 49g
- Fat: 14g
- Carbs: 20g
Key Points
- If you don’t want to use tikka, you can replace this with plain cooked chicken. If you need a super simple Chicken Tikka marinade, check out our webstore.
- This can be freezable as long as it used within 6 months of cooking
Matt Cooper Bites
Ingredients
- 800 g chicken breast chopped into chunks
- 4 tbsp Matt Cooper Bites Tikka Spice Blend
- 4 tbsp fat free greek or natural yogurt
- 0.5 tsp red food colouring – mixed with 3 tbsp water
- 2.5 tbsp veg oil
- 3 tbsp garlic/ginger paste. I used 3 of the frozen taj brand blocks
- 2 thinly sliced white onions
- 1 sliced pepper
- 1 vine ripened tomato cut into quarters
- 6 green finger chillis
- 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 0.5 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 2 tbsp Tikka Spice Blend or tandoori masala
- 2 tsp kasuri methi
- 3 tbsp tomato puree – mixed with 9 tbsp of water
- 300 ml chicken or veg stock
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp granulated sweetener
- salt to taste
- freshly chopped coriander garnish
Chicken Tikka
Jalfrezi
Directions
Chicken Tikka
Add the Tikka Spice Blend, greek yoghurt and red food colouring into a bowl. Mix and then add the diced chicken breast pieces and then mix. Leave to sit in the fridge for at least an hour but for best results, leave overnight.
Air fry the chicken at 200℃ for 16-20 minutes. You can oven bake too.
Jalfrezi
In a pan, add 0.5 tbsp oil on a high heat and add the onions and peppers. Fry these until they start to show a bit of colour but you don't want them to go soft. You should be looking around 2 minutes in total. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan, add the veg oil on a medium heat and then add garlic and ginger past. Fry for 30-60 seconds. Careful not to burn the paste.
Add the paprika, cumin, coriander, tikka spice blend/tandoori masala, chilli powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add a splash of stock to stop the spices burning.
Add the tomato puree mix, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the green finger chillies, peppers and onions and 1/4 of the stock and simmer. Wait for the curry to soak up some of the stock and thicken, before adding the rest of the stock in 1/4s. This should take 5-6 minutes.
Add the chicken tikka, tomato quarters, sweetener, kasuri methi, lemon juice and simmer for 3 minutes.
Salt to taste and garnish with fresh coriander
Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 1 serving
- per serving
- Calories
- 402
- Fat
- 14 grams
- Protein
- 20 grams
- Carbs
- 49 grams



1 comment
I made the chicken tikka tonight. Very nice . We will be buying the others to try now
Melanie Savage
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