Meal Prep Butter Chicken Recipe

Butter Chicken is a beloved classic, but its creamy, indulgent reputation often makes it feel like a guilty pleasure. Not anymore! This calorie-counted Butter Chicken recipe delivers all the rich, spiced flavours you love with a lighter, healthier twist. Even better, this recipe is ideal for batch cooking, so you can enjoy delicious, homemade Butter Chicken straight from your freezer whenever you need it. Despite its lighter approach, this recipe doesn’t compromise on taste

This high-protein Butter Chicken is not only great tasting but also easy to prepare in larger quantities for batch cooking. Once cooled, it can be portioned into freezer-safe containers and stored for up to 6 months – even with the chicken included. The rice cannot be frozen.

At just 540 calories, including rice, its a perfect solution for lunch or even dinner!

You can also find this meal on My Fitness Pal by searching ‘Matt Cooper Bites Meal Prep Butter Chicken’

Macronutrients

• 540 calories
• 59g protein
• 52g carbs
• 9g fat

Key Points

• If you are vegetarian, you can swap the chicken out for a vegetarian alternate protein source, such as tofu.
• 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.
• Blending the curry base isn’t required but it will help to achieve a smoother, thicker sauce similar to what you would get in a curry house
• This can be frozen, with the chicken in the sauce for up to 6 months. The rice cannot be frozen.

Meal Prep Butter Chicken

Perfect for a high protein batch cook

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Cook Time 30 mins

Servings 4

Calories 540 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Food processor/blender optional for smoother sauce

Ingredients

  

Rice

• 180 g basmati rice
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 cloves

Butter Chicken

• 800 g chicken breast
• 4 tbsp Matt Cooper Bites Tikka Spice Blend
• 4 tbsp fat free greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp red colouring optional
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 small onions diced
• 2 garlic ginger frozen blocks Taj brand
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 0.5 tbsp paprika
• 400 g passata
• 250 ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 tsp granulate sweetener
• 75 ml single cream
• 1 tsp kasuri methi
• Fresh coriander
• Salt to taste

Instructions

 

Rice

• Wash the basmati rice until the water runs clear. It's really important that you do this until the water runs to clear, to ensure no starch is left in the rice. This may take a little while but it's worth it.
  
• Leave the rice to soak in water for 30 minutes, with enough water just to cover the rice.
  
• Add 0.5 tsp salt, bay leaves, cloves, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick to a saucepan of water and bring to the boil.
  
• Once boiling, add the rice. Wait until the water comes back up to a rolling boil and then cook the rice for 6 minutes.
  
• After 6 minutes, sieve the rice and then blanch the rice in cold water to stop the rice from cooking further. You can the fully drain the rice after about 20 minutes.
  
• Remove the aromatics and garnish with coriander.
  

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.
  

Butter Chicken Sauce

• Add the vegetable oil to a pan on a medium heat and add the onions. Fry until slightly gold and translucent.
  
• Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute.
  
• Add the paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin and garam masala and cook for 30 seconds. Splash in a bit of stock to stop the spices from burning.
  
• Add the passata, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir occasionaly.
  
• Add the stock and cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  
• For a thicker, smoother sauce, you can blend the curry but this is optional.
  
• If you have blended, add the sauce back into the plan with 50ml of water. Add the pre cooked chicken tikka. Cook on a low heat for 4 minutes.
  
• Take off the heat and add the single cream and kasuri methi and stir.
  
• Garnish the curry with freshly chopped coriander.