You can never have enough Chicken recipes in my opinion! And chicken doesn’t have to be boring! This Macro Friendly Chicken Recipes round up contains 50 of my favorite healthy chicken recipe ideas the whole family will love!
I try to include a variety of protein sources in my diet, but I can’t deny that chicken is my FAVORITE. This lean protein is so versatile! Save this list for next time you are making your meal plan for the week. I promise you will not get bored with these flavorful picks!
I’ve highlighted some of my favorite macro-friendly chicken recipes I have created and enjoyed to make meal time a breeze! I have separated them a little by category but they are in no particular order as far as favorites go. So let’s get into it!
MACRO FRIENDLY CHICKEN RECIPES
JUST THE CHICKEN
Air Fryer Grilled Chicken Nuggets
A pickle brine results in the most moist, delicious and tasty grilled chicken! The acid in the pickle juice works to brine the outside of the chicken– keeping the moisture locked inside. The slight tang given off from the pickle juice hits just perfect! These Air Fryer Grilled Chicken Nuggets are AWESOME for meal prep! They are also a good option when you need to cook your chicken QUICK!
Basic Shredded Chicken
This Basic Shredded Chicken recipe is one everyone should have! Skip buying expensive pre-grilled or rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and make this extremely simple, minimal ingredient, juiciest, most tender, shredded chicken ever!
Panko Baked Chicken Nuggets
Panko Baked Chicken Nuggets are deliciously juicy, tender, and crisp! They’re a FAVORITE around here and they’ll become your new go-to, too. The perfect cozy healthier meal both kids and adults will eat right up!!
Meal Prep Balsamic Chicken
Meal prep chicken never tasted so good than with this delicious Balsamic Chicken Marinade! It makes chicken so tender, juicy and flavorful and is great for the stovetop, oven, and grill.
Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken
This Crock Pot shredded chicken makes meal prep a breeze! It is sweet and tangy, juicy, and packed full of flavor. Easy to prep in bulk so you can have protein ready to eat all week long. Use it for sandwiches, enchiladas, tacos or just eat it straight up – the possibilities are endless!
Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders (Made in the Air Fryer!)
Tender and juicy, these crispy Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders are a meal you’ll have on repeat!! The crispy coating and mix of sweet and savory with the honey drizzled makes this a family favorite recipe that is a seriously a winner every time!
MACRO-FRIENDLY CHICKEN SALADS
Winter Pecan and Cranberry Chicken Salad
Dress your typical chicken salad recipe up for the holidays with this delicious Winter Pecan and Cranberry Chicken Salad. Made with sweet cranberries, crunchy pecans, creamy Greek yogurt and cottage cheese, it’s a great healthy, protein-packed meal for easy throw-together meals all week!
This is a GREAT recipe to prep in advance and eat all week. I find that allowing this tasty chicken salad recipe to sit in the refrigerator helps the flavors develop more and really enhances the taste! Put this chicken salad in a sandwich, put it in a salad, or use tortillas. You certainly don’t have to eat it the same way every day!
Avocado Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad
This Easy Avocado Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad is packed with protein, healthy fats and so much FLAVOR!! It only takes 5 minutes to whip up so it’s perfect for a grab-and-go lunch or quick lunch at home!
Chicken salad is one of my favorite go-to healthy choices for lunch because it’s so easy and it’s a great way to ensure you are getting a protein packed lunch in without needing to overcomplicate it. Plus, there’s so many different ways to enjoy it. One of my favorite ways is stuffed in a tortilla, like my Avocado Chicken Salad Cool Wrap.
Easy Apple Pecan Chicken Salad
This Easy Apple Pecan Chicken Salad recipe features tender chicken, sweet apples, crunchy pecans, and tart cranberries in a creamy, light sauce! It is the best of ALL the combos, an easy one to whip up and guaranteed to be one of your new favorite recipes!!
Healthy Buffalo Chicken Salad
This lightened-up Healthy Buffalo Chicken Salad is going to be your new go-to lunch. It’s packed with so much protein, veggies, and FLAVOR that you’ll want to eat it again and again!
Rainbow Chicken Salad
This Rainbow Chicken Salad is packed with vegetables, lean protein, and fiber to keep you satisfyingly full and focused all day long. Plus, it’s low in fat and a great nutritious meal prep option to enjoy in so many ways all week!
MACRO-FRIENDLY SALADS WITH CHICKEN
Balsamic Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad
Looking for a fresh and flavorful low carb salad? You’ll love this Balsamic Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad. It’s filled with juicy, tender chicken over greens, creamy goat cheese, red onion and more all topped with a light balsamic dressing. If strawberries and goat cheese doesn’t sound good to you, feel free to add what YOU like. There’s plenty of fruit, veggie, and cheese combos that would be just as delicious!
Fall Harvest Salad w/ Pecan Crusted Chicken
Rich, festive, and full of fresh fall flavors!! This Fall Harvest Salad with Pecan Crusted Chicken and Sweet Potatoes checks all the boxes! It features a bed of greens with apples, sweet potatoes and goat cheese topped with juicy Pecan Crusted Chicken and sweet Honey Mustard Dressing! The combination of flavors in this delicious salad just screams FALL!! It features a base of greens (you can pick you favorite) topped with sweet apples, roasted sweet potatoes, creamy goat cheese and crunchy, tender pecan-crusted chicken. It’s savory, sweet, light, hearty, crunchy, and creamy. All our favorite fall flavors and truly just a dream come true!!
MACRO-FRIENDLY CHICKEN SOUPS
Chicken Gnocchi Soup
This healthier Chicken Gnocchi Soup is a total Olive Garden copycat. It’s much lighter but still so creamy, hearty, and incredibly delicious. The whole family will LOVE it! To lighten up this Chicken Gnocchi Soup, I used low-fat evaporated milk instead of half and half. This helps cut back on some of the fat. I also snuck in some extra vegetables to make each serving more voluminous while keeping calories down. One of my favorite macro-friendly recipes!
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
This Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup is the ultimate guilt-free comfort food. Filled with hearty chicken, tender vegetables and warm broth, it’s the perfect way to get cozy on a chilly night! Made with almond milk instead of heavy cream, this easy Chicken Pot Pie Soup is much lower in calories and fat than a traditional chicken pot pie. So you can skip the pie crust and grab a spoon instead because this delicious soup does not disappoint!
Eat this when you make it or prep and freeze it for a busy night when you need something quick. No matter when you enjoy it, it’ll taste amazing and make you feel so good.
Buffalo Chicken Soup
Make this Healthy Low Carb Buffalo Chicken Soup for a delicious and easy weeknight dinner! It’s low calorie, protein packed, and super quick to come together! You can top it with cheese and sour cream and enjoy with a grilled cheese sandwich, cheesy toast, or your favorite bread. Not only is it super creamy and flavorful, but it’s just as comforting and absolutely perfect to help you warm up as the nights get chillier!
Italian Chicken Cabbage Soup
Whip up this easy-to-make Italian Chicken Cabbage Soup in a jiff on a busy weeknight. It’s hearty and bursting with delicious Italian flavors! Plus, it’s low carb, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
MACRO-FRIENDLY CHICKEN CASSEROLES
Chicken Broccoli Casserole
This low calorie and lower carb Chicken Broccoli Casserole dish is so delicious and baked to creamy, cheesy perfection in just 30 minutes. One serving is huge and it’s comfort food x 10000. It will quickly become part of your dinner rotation! This one only takes 30 minutes in the oven and is a great recipe for the whole family!
Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
This Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole is low-carb, high-protein and bursting with spicy buffalo flavor! Your taste buds and your tummy with be satisfied with this mouth-watering, voluminous dish. You’ll keep going back for more!
Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac and Cheese
Ranch chicken, crisp bacon, and pasta meet cheesy goodness in this easy dish the whole family will love! Low in fat and high protein; great for meal prep as well! You can omit cauliflower if you wish, or replace with more pasta.
Creamy Green Chili Chicken Enchilada Stack
Everything you love about your favorite enchiladas but lightened up and made easy with this fun stack variation! Sweet, juicy chicken paired with creamy green chili sauce, tortillas, and cheese – this is a dinner the whole family will love!
Chicken Alfredo Bubble-Up Bake from Haley Nicole Fit
This super macro friendly chicken Alfredo bubble up comes together super quickly and with just 5 ingredients! It lighter and lower calorie and tastes like major comfort food. It’s one that will definitely make your taste buds go dancing!
MACRO FRIENDLY CHICKEN RECIPES MADE IN A SKILLET
Chicken Cheesesteak
This Chicken Cheesesteak Skillet is an easy one pan meal that’s packed with delicious flavors from tender chicken, sautéed onions and peppers and perfectly melty white cheddar cheese. Enjoy this healthier version of the popular Philadelphia street food stuffed in a hoagie roll, wrap, or paired with some veggies or rice. There’s a way for everyone to enjoy it!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
If you love PF Chang’s, you’re going to love these copycat Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps! They’re packed with delicious flavor and so easy to make for meal prep, making them the perfect low carb lunch option. Not only are they so incredibly easy to make, but they pack so much flavor thanks to some deliciously sweet hoisin sauce. You will be craving to eat them come lunch time!
Cheesy Mexican Chicken Skillet from A Paige of Positivity
All your favorite Mexican flavors made into a delicious entree in just one pan! Packed with flavor and so much deliciousness, this is one you will for sure want to keep in your back pocket!
One Pan Caprese Chicken
This One Pan Caprese Chicken is fresh, flavorful, and makes my kitchen smell incredibly delicious. Warm, melty mozzarella cheese slices, soft, smokey tomatoes, fresh basil, juicy, tender chicken all topped with a beautiful and shiny balsamic glaze…you might not even believe this came out of your oven! And it’s all done with just one pan! Enjoy this recipe on its own or pair with your favorite sides like pasta, green beans or other roasted veggies. It’s guaranteed to impress!
MACRO FRIENDLY CHICKEN APPETIZERS AND LIGHT BITES
Easy Chicken Parmesan Stromboli
Get ready to fall in LOVE with this cheesy Chicken Parmesan Stromboli. It’s the easiest thing ever to make and tastes straight up like comfort food! Perfect for weeknight dinner or to serve as an appetizer. Everyone is going to love it!!
Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring (Quick Meal Idea Lightened up!)
This Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring is guaranteed to be a crowd favorite! I’ve lightened this classic recipe up a bit, but don’t let that scare you, it absolutely does not taste it for a second! Hearty chicken, bold buffalo flavors and creamy cheese all baked in a buttery crescent ring, you are gonna melt!!
Jalapeno Popper Chicken Dip with Bacon and Pretzel Nuggets
This Jalapeno Popper Chicken Dip with Pretzel Nuggets is the ultimate appetizer and game day dip! Savory, indulgent, delicious, and lightened up, it’s really everything you’ve ever wanted and more. And you don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying it!
The BEST Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe (Just 5 Ingredients!)
This Lightened up Healthy Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe is my go-to appetizer for football season, and quite frankly for any occasion! Made with a few simple ingredients, this delicious dip is creamy, mouthwatering, and full of so much flavor. There is a reason it is a reader favorite!!
Bang Bang Chicken Minis
These Bang Bang Chicken Minis make the BEST appetizer, game day food or light meal idea. They feature breaded chicken and creamy bang bang sauce sandwiched in little yeast rolls. My version of bang bang sauce is not spicy but you can easily make it as spicy as you want by adding a touch more Sriracha.
MORE FAVORITE MACRO FRIENDLY CHICKEN RECIPES
Chicken Caprese Pasta from Jordo’s World
All your favorite flavors in one easy-to-make pasta salad! This Caprese pasta is packed with protein and made in just 30 minutes!
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
Delicious and healthy chicken curry made easy by using a few staple ingredients in the slow cooker! It’s flavorful, creamy, warm, and has just the right amount of spices. This delicious dish works perfect to meal prep as well. Serve along side some brown rice or cauliflower rice for a complete meal!
Honey Garlic Baked Chicken & Cauliflower
This Honey Garlic Baked Chicken and Cauliflower recipe is one of the easiest and tastiest meal prep recipes! It’s also perfect to whip up on a busy weeknight – the whole meal only takes 35 minutes! I love a good sheet pan chicken recipe! Honey and garlic are an absolute match made in heaven, and chicken and cauliflower are a close second! Top this recipe with some fresh herbs to take this dish next level! It also makes a perfect high protein meal prep recipe!
EXCLUSIVE FIT COOKIE CLUB MACRO FRIENDLY CHICKEN RECIPES
For more chicken recipes, check out these 15 bonus macro friendly chicken recipes exclusive recipes to our Fit Cookie Club Members! Not a Fit Cookie Club Member? Click here to learn more or to join!
Skinny Chicken Enchiladas
One of my all time, favorite, go-to meals for busy weeknights! These Skinny Enchiladas are so good and are ready from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. Lightened up and packed with protein, these enchiladas are simply TOO good! Top with some fresh cilantro, sour cream and avocado and these will quickly become a weeknight staple for you too!
Chicken Bacon Apple Burgers
Juicy chicken burgers with a fun fall twist!! These Chicken Bacon Apple Burgers are crazy easy recipe to make and could not be more perfect for FALL! They’re a little savory, a little sweet with a whole lot of deliciousness!
These burgers are so delicious and unbelievably easy to make. They have the perfect combination of salty and sweet and are so flavorful they’re going to be a new favorite for sure! Plus, they only take ten minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook. It doesn’t get better than that!
Crock-Pot Teriyaki Chicken
This Crock-Pot Teriyaki Chicken is seriously so good! It’s high in protein and even higher in flavor. The best part is the Crock-Pot does all the work for you. Just dump it all in and let is cook for a couple hours. Then you’ll have a delicious, perfect for meal-prep protein for the whole week!
Greek Chicken Bowls
These Greek Chicken Bowls are one of the absolute best meal prep/lunch options! They’re filled with fresh flavor, loaded with tender protein and the perfect macro-balance. Easily customize these bowls to fit you needs and you have lunch all week!!
Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
You’re about to fall in love with this chicken cauliflower fried rice!! There are so many reasons to love this recipe. One for, it’s seriously DELICIOUS. There are so many flavors and textures going on. The chicken is moist and juicy and the garlic, garam masala and coconut aminos give so much flavor! It’s packed with protein, significantly lower in carbs and fat than traditional chicken fried rice and made with nutritious, quality ingredients.
And if all that wasn’t enough to win you over, it’s all made in one skillet and takes just 30 minutes to all come together! PERFECT for busy weeknights or if you want to meal prep and eat for lunches/dinners through the week!
Ritzy Chicken Casserole
This Ritzy Chicken Casserole is the exact definition of lightened-up comfort food. It is a reader favorite for a reason! It packs ALL the flavors you expect in comfort food but uses spaghetti squash instead of pasta. The spaghetti squash is so wonderfully hidden by all the creamy, cheesy, buttery cracker deliciousness, you barely know it’s there! This dish is low carb, low fat and has almost 30g of protein!
Buffalo Chicken Egg Roll Bowl
I love all things buffalo and this recipe is such a fun twist on a go-to weeknight dish! This Buffalo Chicken Egg Roll Bowl can be made in just 15 minutes and is so great for lunches or dinners. Throw it in an egg roll wrapper to make it kid and husband approved and everyone’s happy! This dish is low calories, low carb, low fat and high in fiber! It’s an awesome recipe to have in your back pocket if you’re currently in a dieting phase because it is so voluminous!
Smoky Grilled Chicken Fillets
These Smoky Grilled Chicken Fillets are so tender, juicy, smoky and so delicious!! Switch up your normal chicken for the delicious, easy-to-make fillets. They make for the perfect meal prep protein for salads, sandwiches, wraps and so much more! The best part is, they only require 5 ingredients!
Sweet Apple Chicken & Gouda Skillet Pasta
You’re gonna love how fast this Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage and Gouda Skillet Pasta comes together! It’s easy, cheesy, and comfort food to the max! This yummy fall recipe is super quick and easy to make and has the most delicious combinations of flavors. It has the best cheesy, salty, sweet, creamy flavors all mixed into a yummy pasta dish.Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and freshly cracked black pepper to serve! It comes together in just 25-minutes and pairs great with a simple salad or side of garlic bread.
Green Chili Chicken Tacos
These Green Chili Chicken Tacos are so good and super easy to make. Ready to go in less than 30 minutes these tacos are packed with flavor and protein.
They’re healthy, delicious and the whole family will love them. Lower in fats and carbs, these tacos still punch an impressive protein punch and will leave you feeling full and satisfied!
Buffalo Chicken Tacos
These Buffalo Chicken Tacos are so so good! They’re easy to make and the kids and husband will love them. Make them for a busy weeknight dinner or take them to your next game day party. These tacos are macro-friendly and just so delicious you’ll wish you had made more!
Greek Chicken Bites (with Greek Yogurt Marinade)
If you know me, you know I LOVE Greek food. I love it so much that’s one of the reasons why we chose Santorini for our honeymoon. They’re nothing better than the fresh and delicious flavors Greek food offers and this grilled Chicken Chicken is no exception. This chicken is so delicious on it’s on but also perfect in all my Greek-inspired recipes. It’s easy to make and the perfect meal-prep protein!
Cozy Healthier Chicken Pot Pie
There is nothing more cozy than this Cozy Healthier Chicken Pot Pie!! Simple ingredients, all made in one skillet, comfort food to a tee… you are gonna love!!
It has all of your favorite, traditional flavors but has less carbs and fats than traditional chicken pot pie. It also packs over 22 grams of protein per serving so you can feel good knowing you’re eating a macro-balanced, delicious meal! Seriously one of my favorite favorite healthy recipes!
Sheet Pan Smoky Paprika Chicken + Sweet Potatoes
Sheet pan dinners are great because they’re so simple but have so much flavor Perfect for a busy night or great for weekly meal prep, I promise this will be one you keep on rotation for a while!This Sheet Pan Smoky Paprika Chicken and Sweet Potatoes is smokey, perfectly spiced (but not spicy) and ridiculously easy to prepare. The chicken thighs are juicy and delicious but feel free to sub out for chicken breasts if you wish!
