Chinese Chicken Curry Noodle Recipe (Is Chinese Chicken Curry Healthy?)

I’m absolutely obsessed with this curry chicken noodle recipe! The aromatic curry sauce paired with the chewy egg noodles and juicy chicken thigh makes such a great combination. While this dish is definitely delicious, is Chinese curry chicken healthy?

Chinese curry chicken can be a very healthy dish, consisting of 334 calories largely from proteins and carbs. In this recipe, it has 29 grams of protein, 7 grams of fat, and 35 grams of carbs, making it a well-balanced meal from a macronutrients standpoint. The curry powder, although very flavorful, is a surprisingly low calorie ingredient, making it perfect for a calorie conscious yet satisfying meal. This makes it a great meal choice for those looking to eat healthy. However, the key to making this dish help rather than hinder progress towards your fitness goals is portioning high calorie ingredients mindfully.

🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is Chinese Curry Chicken Healthy?

To understand the calorie and nutrition content of Chinese Curry Chicken, it’s useful to look at the core ingredients that make up the recipe. Chinese curry chicken is made of four main components: chicken, vegetables, sauce, and the base.

• Protein: Chinese curry chicken is often cooked with bone-in skin on chicken pieces. While very delicious, this is less than ideal from a calorie counting and macros point of view. A 4oz serving of skin-on chicken thigh has 240 calories, 19g of which are from fat while a boneless skinless cut of chicken thigh is only 130 calories.
• Curry Sauce: The sauce is relatively simple here and consists of a mixture of curry powder, chicken stock, oyster sauce, and turmeric, none of which have a significant amount of calories.
• Vegetables: The vegetables in the curry chicken usually consist of onions, mushrooms, and/or carrots. These are a great way to balance out the dish without adding much calories.
• Base: Given the heavy flavor of curry, it is often served with rice or noodles to balance out the meal. Carbs are definitely a necessary part of our diet. However, it’s important to portion this mindfully as carbs can easily add up calorie-wise if not portioned correctly, hindering progress towards your fitness goals.

Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that while Chinese curry chicken is consists of a number of healthy ingredients, it can be made into a high calorie dish if the higher calorie ingredients are not portioned correctly, making it less than ideal for dieting purposes. This Chinese curry chicken recipe will show you some tweaks that will make it low calorie and delicious.

🍏 How to Make It Healthy – The Fitsian Method

While this recipe is comprised of a number of naturally healthy and low calorie ingredients, it's still important to be mindful about the portioning of each ingredient to ensure a low calorie and macro balanced meal. Here’s how I portioned the recipe to make this dish under 400 calories.

• Used ½ portion of Egg noodles
• Mixing the curry w/ chicken broth (as opposed to traditional curry companions like milk) -- a much lower calorie option that is delicious too
• Weighted out 4oz of Chicken (boneless skinless) to amp up the protein content of this dish
• As always, I used cooking spray instead of oil to limit calories from oil

For a detailed breakdown of each ingredients, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this Chinese curry chicken recipe, you may refer to the table below:

💡Tips and Tricks

Which curry brand should I use?

I used S&B Curry powder. You can easily find it in your local Asian grocery store or on Amazon.

The sauce is reducing (or drying up) while I'm cooking it -- what do I do?

To prevent the sauce from reducing too much, make sure you’re cooking on low heat to prevent over reducing. You can add more chicken stock or water if the sauce reduces too much.

What if I don’t have egg noodles?

You can definitely use other types of noodles! Udon noodles, rice stick noodles, or even green tea noodles would be amazing with this recipe. A side of rice would also work well.

What if I don’t have Shao Xing wine or don't want to use alcohol?

For those of you who don't have shao xing wine or prefer not to use alcohol, you can substitute it with a tablespoon of soy sauce.

For more low calorie Chinese recipes, check out my Chinese Take Out recipe collection.

📋 Ingredient Notes

Curry Spice Mixture

• 1 teaspoon S&B Curry powder
• 1 teaspoon Ground turmeric
• 1-2 Thai chilis (Optional: Based on spice tolerance)

Chicken & Marinade

• 4 oz Chicken thigh (Boneless, skinless)
• ½ tablespoon Shao Xing Wine
• Salt & Pepper

Noodles & Stir Fry

• 2 oz Egg noodles
• 1 clove Garlic
• ⅓ Onion (Minced)
• 1-2 Mushrooms
• 1 Carrot (Julienned)
• ½ cup Chicken stock
• 2 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
• Green onion (For Garnish)

• 

• 

• 

🔪 Step by Step Instructions

1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and mix together with the marinade ingredients. Set aside for about 5-15 minutes.
2. In the meantime, begin to prepare the curry mix by assembling and mixing the ingredients in a bowl.
3. Portion your noodles and cook them according to the package directions.
4. Saute minced garlic, onion, mushrooms, and carrots. Once the vegetables have begun to soften, about 3-4 minutes, add in the spice mixture and chicken broth. Bring to a soft simmer.
5. Add in the chicken pieces in a single layer and cook the chicken pieces for about 3-4 minutes on each side.
6. Once the chicken is done, add in the noodles and mix thoroughly.
7. Remove from heat, top with scallions, and enjoy!