Is Chicken Biryani Healthy? (3 Tips For Weight Loss) 

When people think of Indian food they usually talk about Tikki Masala or Butter Chicken. However, I feel like there is a neglected dish that reigns supreme which has to be Chicken Biryani.

The best part of this dish, however, is that it uses minimal oil so you can get the same amount of flavor with less saturated fats. 

Although Chicken Biryani is delicious, is it healthy? 

Chicken Biryani is an Indian dish that features chicken thighs or drumsticks that are grilled over charcoal and is marinated in yogurt, garam masala, turmeric, salt, and garlic paste. Unlike many other chicken dishes, Chicken Biryani has much less calories coming from saturated fats so it is the best option for eating healthy while searching for Indian food. 

Although it’s probably your best bet to eat healthy while dining out at your favorite Indian restaurant, it should still be eaten in moderation as there are still many calories in a typical dish.

Here are three steps you can take to eat Chicken Biryani while staying healthy. 

1. What Goes Inside Chicken Biryani? 

2. How Many Calories Are In Chicken Biryani? 

3. How To Eat Chicken Biryani While Staying Fit 

Now that we know the three steps to staying healthy while eating Chicken Biryani, let’s take a deeper look at each individual step. 

Tip 1: What Goes Inside Chicken Biryani? 

Just like many Indian dishes, there are a ton of awesome spices that add layer upon layers of flavor that really elevate each of their dishes.

What makes Chicken Biryani so special, however, is the flavor you get from the spices and the smoke from the charcoals.

It makes for an extremely delicious and fragrant meal that goes beyond your typical chicken and rice dish. 

There are really two components of Chicken Biryani so let’s go over each of them and see the ingredients and what you can expect to find in its nutrition. 

The Chicken 

The chicken is Biryani is usually a form of dark meat which comes from either chicken thighs or drumsticks.

These two are higher in fats and you can expect a lower protein content compared to that of chicken breast or a leaner protein. 

The chicken is prepared in a mixture of different spices such as cumin, cardamom, cinamon, garam masala, green cardamom, garlic, ginger, and nutmeg.

The best part about these spices is that they add no calories and simply act to season the dish.

After the spice mixture is made, the chicken is usually marinated with yogurt and some lime to tenderize and add flavor over time. 

Other than the fat you get from the yogurt, you typically just get the chicken with a few calories coming from the yogurt.

This means that all the ingredients used are great to eat and will provide a wide variety of micronutrients to the meal. 

Let’s take a look at the rice and see what we can find. 

The Rice 

Basmati rice is typically used in Chicken Biryani which is a longer grain rice that has a thicker texture to it.

What makes the rice so special in this dish is the large amount of aromatics added to season this rice.

This is my favorite feature in Indian food as no stone is left unturned. 

The spices used to season the rice as usually star anise, garlic, bay leaves, and cardamom.

These add a lot of fragrance to the rice which really elevates the dish overall.

The bad part about this dish, however, is the addition of ghee or seasoned butter that is poured after the rice is cooked. 

Although very delicious, you can most likely expect around 3-5 tablespoons added which brings a ton of calories from fats.

This is not so much of a bad thing except for the fact that there is already a ton of fat coming from the chicken thighs or drumsticks.

Adding 3-5 tablespoons of butter will most likely make the dish extremely dense with fats so moderation will be required when eating this rice.

If you make this at home, you can definitely exclude the butter and simply stick with the aromatics to season the dish. 

The Toppings 

Chicken Biryani is usually topped with fried onions which add a delicious crunch to every bite of rice you take.

This dish really has it all in terms of flavor and texture; however, with every layer, there seems to be more and more fat added to the dish. 

Onions alone are a very great food to eat as they are packed with micronutrients and are low in calories.

However, when battered and fried, you can add a lot of calories coming from carbs and fats.

This dish is already abundant with these two macronutrients so adding a lot of fried onions are definitely not recommended. 

It’s definitely a sacrifice but I find that the addition of grilled bell peppers really work well with the dish which are low in calorie and offer the same crunch factor to the dish. 

Now that we know what goes inside a typical Chicken Biryani dish, let’s take a look at its calories and see what we can find in its nutrition label. 

Tip 2: Understand How Many Calories Are In Chicken Biryani 

We learned about all the delicious ingredients that flavor Chicken Biryani so let’s take a look at the nutrition label and see what makes up its calories. 

For every cup of Chicken Biryani served, there are 10 grams of fat, 48 grams of carbs, and 16 grams of protein.

This means that most of the calories are coming from carbs and fat so the addition of protein would greatly benefit this meal. 

When most of your calories come from fats and carbs, you’ll tend to find faster weight gain as these are the two macronutrients that are easily converted as excess energy when overly consumed.

Protein is crucial in building and retaining muscle, so it must not be neglected. 

Since there is so much butter and large portions of basmati rice, there are a lot of carbs and fats which means there is high potential to overeat on your daily allotted calories.

This dish could use some lean proteins to balance out the carbs and fats as all three macronutrients should be taken into consideration when aiming to eat healthy. 

A great way to do this is to use chicken breast rather than chicken thigh if you have the option.

This will drop the calories from fat significantly and add way more protein per ounce of chicken served.

What you end up with is a satiating and delicious meal that has a great balance of all three macronutrients. 

Balancing protein in your diet goes a long way with your fitness goals, especially as you consistently workout and stay active.

Now that we know what goes inside Chicken Biryani and what the nutrition label looks like, let’s take a look at the steps we can take to eat our favorite foods while staying healthy. 

Tip 3: How To Eat Chicken Biryani While Staying Fit 

Understanding the importance of looking into the nutrition labels of your favorite foods are the first step in controlling your fitness level.

There is a concept called energy balance that compares the calories you expend to the calories you consume in a day. 

This concept allows us to control our weight and dictates how much fat we want to lose or carry.

So, when you look at your favorite foods such as Chicken Biryani, you can discover how many calories are coming from each macronutrient. 

You simply have to fit those calories into your daily allotted calories and stick with it for a long time.

There’s something called TDEE which stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

This is the amount of calories your body burns within a day. If you eat more than your TDEE, you will be gaining weight. If you eat less than your TDEE, you will lose weight. 

The key is choosing your goal and sticking with those calories until you get to your goal.

By adding your favorite foods with healthy twists to them, you can stay fit and enjoy your favorite dishes.

If you want to learn more about this concept, then make sure to check out this article where we go over the details step by step. 

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/how-to-actually-get-a-six-pack-after-30

The second concept that is necessary to stay fit while eating your favorite foods is resistance training and building muscle.

Muscle is great because it burns calories at rest which means it allows us to eat more as we diet.

I like to think of gaining muscle as leveling up in a video game.

Over time, you get better and better at working out while adding more muscle to your frame which translates to your body utilizing its energy better. It’s a great tool that allows us to enjoy our favorite foods while staying lean and healthy. 

It can be intimidating to start working out, so we came up with a workout plan that will teach you how to build and utilize each muscle group.

You can look up these workouts online and get started right away! 

WOMEN 

Monday (Full Upper):  

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10 

• Knee Push Ups: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

Wednesday (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps) 

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3x10

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12 

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

Friday: (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Squats: 5x5 

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

MEN 

Mon: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) 

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

Wed: Legs & Abs

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Stiff Leg DeadLift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Weighted Sit Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

Fri: Back & Biceps (Pull Day)

• Assisted Pull Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

Now that we know the importance of muscle we need to make sure we stay on track with our workouts.

Consistency and longevity are the two key factors when building muscle so there will be some commitment involved.

You can either go to the gym or build one for yourself.

It really just comes down to 3 pieces of equipment that you need to do most workouts.

These three are the workout bench, dumbbells, and gym flooring.

Check out our recommended gear page to see our best picks for these pieces of equipment here.

https://www.aspirefitnesswalnut.com/home-workout-equipment

If a home gym is not for you then getting a membership somewhere works too.

As long as you are starting your muscle building journey, we’re happy! (1)

Stick with it for the long run and you’ll see how amazing the results can be. 

There It Is!

In this article we talked about what goes inside a typical Chicken Biryani dish and what you can expect to find in the nutrition label.

We learned that Chicken Biryani is a dish that consists of mostly carbs and fats so some protein will be very beneficial when eating the dish. 

If you want to learn more about your favorite foods and stay healthy while eating them, then make sure to check out our other articles where we go over tips and tricks you can quickly implement. 

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