If you are crazy about Indian food and you have either some fresh chicken or cooked leftover chicken at hand, you can quickly make some chicken tikka masala. This mouthwatering Indian dish is prepared from a tomato-based sauce that’s additionally flavored with traditional Indian seasonings and spice blends such as coriander, cumin, and garam masala.
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Now, the precise nutrition information of chicken tikka depends on the tandoori chicken tikka recipe that you use to make it. But this is a basic estimate for the nutrient content of a bowl of tandoori chicken tikka masala (a bowl is around 225 grams):
- 270 calories
- 8 grams of fat
- 17 grams of protein
- 31 grams of carbohydrates
- Chicken Tikka Masala Calories
This is a recipe for tandoori chicken tikka with approximately 684 calories in each serving. This recipe contains butter (or ghee), whole milk yogurt, and heavy cream, all of which jack up the calorie content significantly.
And we all know that you’ll gain weight if you consume more calories than you expend.
A moderately active man needs around 2,200 to 2,800 calories per day to maintain his weight, whereas a moderately active woman requires 1,800 to 2,200 calories per day. One serving of Chicken Tikka Masala can supply up to 24 to 38 percent of your daily calorie needs.
High Fat and Cholesterol Content.
One serving of tikka masala contains approximately 53 grams of fat or 81 percent of the daily value (based on a 2,000-calorie diet). Saturated fat can drastically increase your risk for heart disease and raise your cholesterol levels. Each serving of chicken tikka masala contains 28 grams of saturated fat or a stunning 138 percent of the daily value!
Chicken tikka also contains around 230mg of cholesterol per serving. Even though cholesterol in food doesn't directly affect your blood cholesterol, you still need to be extra careful if you have already been identified with high cholesterol levels. For a healthy adult, the maximum recommended daily consumption of cholesterol is 300mg.
Potential for Lots of Sodium
A single serving of chicken tikka masala adds up to around 1,400 milligrams of sodium, or approximately 59 percent of the daily required intake of sodium. Most of us already consume way too much sodium, which increases our risk of several chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
Decreasing sodium intake can help prevent high blood pressure or lower high blood pressure if you already have it. The multiple tablespoons of salt in most of the recipes for chicken tikka masala is a major contributor of sodium to the dish.
Are there healthier Chicken Tikka Masala options?
Chicken tikka masala is quite rich in protein, adding up to around 38 grams per serving. It also gives you around 3 grams of dietary fiber per serving. As we all know, fiber is an excellent cholesterol-lowering nutrient that also helps prevent unwanted spikes in blood sugar levels. You can increase the fiber content in your meals by using more tomatoes and onions and serving chicken tikka masala with brown rice instead of basmati rice.
When it comes to making rich and heavy (and therefore potentially unhealthy) dishes like Chicken Tikka, it’s always advisable to lower the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol content by substituting vegetable oil for ghee and lower the unhealthy calorie content by using low-fat yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt. Decrease the quantity of your sodium intake by using less salt during cooking.
