Alternatives to Grilled Chicken

lmwags07

Hi!
I just started trying to eat healthy again and am hoping for some ideas for alternatives to grilled chicken to change it up. Last time I lost a lot of weight I stuck to salads for every lunch and grilled chicken for dinner with various sides (rice, sweet potato, broccoli, etc). While effective, I got really sick of grilled chicken. I don’t mind doing that for part of my diet, but don’t want it to be an every day thing. Any ideas as to grilled chicken alternatives for weight loss?

Thanks in advance!

itsbritneybetch91

I've also done grilled chicken a lot so I hear you! I'm not a huge seafood fan other than crab cakes, fish and chips, and small sized shrimp but I found I like blackened fish. I also like to make salmon cakes. If seafood isn't your thing, I've had success making air fried chicken with buffalo dry seasoning and bread crumbs. I also like to make recipes with ground turkey like meatballs, tacos, and egg roll in a bowl. Maybe make chicken lettuce wraps?

lmwags07

Thank you! I actually do like seafood and love all of these suggestions!

Walkywalkerson

I'm into batch cooking at the moment - curries, chilli's, lasagne, fish with veggies, soups, and the odd piece of chicken 😁
Almost anything can be batch cooked, portioned out / frozen and taken to work if you have somewhere to heat it up.

Lietchi

I'd recommend not doing anything for weight loss that you can't do the rest of your life, after you reach your goal weight. So yeah, only grilled chicken for life, that would not sit well with me either
So what exactly are you looking for: low calorie options? Easy options for meal prep?

For easy meal prep, I recently discovered poaching chicken:
- bring water to the boil, having added aromats/spices/salt to the water (you can use stock too)
- add the meat to the water
- wait till the water comes up in temperature and is boiling again before taking it off the fire and putting a lid on the pot. Leave for 20 minutes (up to 45 minutes is fine too) and serve.

For weight loss: whatever you want and fits within your calories? There are lots of healthy options out there, way more than just chicken and salad. Nothing wrong with the lean cuts of pork, beef, turkey,... (Not there's anything inherently wrong with the more fatty cuts either, but obviously those will have more calories and saturated fats)

lemurcat2

Any lean meat is an alternative to chicken unless you are worried about some other aspect of those foods beyond cals. I don't eat grilled chicken much at all (if you mean the skinless, boneless breasts). I very often eat:

fish (many different kinds)
shrimp
various lean cuts of pork
lamb
lean cuts of beef
a dinner revolving around eggs as the main protein
a dinner revolving around beans/lentils as the main protein
chicken thighs
roasted chicken breast with its bones and skin

I also do occasionally eat boneless, skinless chicken in some things, quite often stews or other one-pot meals (like a tagine), and I might make a bunch of it in the instant pot and shred it and use it on salads or in soups or pastas or whatnot (it's easy to turn this into low cal buffalo chicken too, if that is appealing).

Turkey is also a good alternative for chicken if you like it.

cwolfman13

lmwags07 wrote: »

Hi!
I just started trying to eat healthy again and am hoping for some ideas for alternatives to grilled chicken to change it up. Last time I lost a lot of weight I stuck to salads for every lunch and grilled chicken for dinner with various sides (rice, sweet potato, broccoli, etc). While effective, I got really sick of grilled chicken. I don’t mind doing that for part of my diet, but don’t want it to be an every day thing. Any ideas as to grilled chicken alternatives for weight loss?

Thanks in advance!

Literally any other kind of meat or fish.

Thewonderofitall

Boneless Pork Chops, the other White Meat!

I2k4

Won't bring coal to the alternative protein Newcastle above, but I think many get hung up a bit on "grilled" and conflate Chicken in general with boneless, skinless (often dried out too chewy) breast. On the latter, changing up therapeutic chicken to forgiving dark meat thighs or drumsticks tastes different, better to some, and whole chicken (homemade generally better than supermarket incubators) is fun to cut up. I like single-pot chunky homemade chicken soup with vegetables, rice and/or pasta and cooked along on top of spiced rice as "Country Captain", with various tomato sauces over pasta, or Mediterranean style over chick peas. That's not even to mention grilled as stir fry or mixed into curries with foreign spiced sauces commonly in supermarkets these days. Grilled breast is healthy but it's the white bread and baloney version of chicken.

LiveOnceBeHappy

Grilled salmon! Tilapia. 97% lean ground beef. Find seasonings you really like for the chicken. We buy shredded, cooked chicken from Costco and add a little Tikka Masala sauce or Korean Bulgogi sauce and then have it with rice. Adding different flavors to chicken helps a lot to cut down on the monotony of it. And you should consider fish 3 times a week for health.

musicfan68

There are so many different kinds of meats, find one or 3 you like, and have that.

springlering62

I’m lucky. Grilled chicken and boneless skinless never get old for me.

Pork loin is cheap and low cal. I buy pork loin and slice it into “steaks” before freezing. I top it with pepper or vidalia onion jelly, Thai peanut sauce, or a mix of Dijon/orange marmalade and grill it in the air fryer. It’s delicious.

Or throw it in a crockpot with some liquid smoke and a tablespoon of BBQ sauce- enough to scent it. You can add more bbq sauce after shredding. I cook it with Stubbs, but serve it with calorie free Walden Farms bbq sauce.

There’s a cut of steak called tip steak that’s on my 149 calories/4 ounces. I cook a pound and a half of tip steak every Sunday. We each get 8 ounces and the other eight is sliced up for salads later in the week. I also dice it very fine, pan fry it with a wee bit of margarine and garlic salt, tip with a slice of Swiss to melt, and put it in a crusty roll for a delicious sandwich.

Chicken in the crockpot with the seasoning and salsa packet from a taco kit is the bomb shredded and out into taco shells. There’s no easier dinner than that!

tufntender

itsbritneybetch91 wrote: »

I've also done grilled chicken a lot so I hear you! I'm not a huge seafood fan other than crab cakes, fish and chips, and small-sized shrimp but I found I like blackened fish. I also like to make salmon cakes. If seafood isn't your thing, I've had success making air-fried chicken with buffalo dry seasoning and bread crumbs. I also like to make recipes with ground turkey like meatballs, tacos, and egg rolls in a bowl. Maybe make chicken lettuce wraps?

I agree Blackened is great and I also discovered a Mexican version. Mc Cormick has a Fiesta seasoning that is awesome. I panfry/saute the fish and add all that fiesta seasoning and a lot of lime and it is amazing. If you are open to it, I'd suggest chicken thighs, they are a bit higher in calories but there isn't any dryness whatsoever. I recently discovered the air fryer that was gifted to me 3 years ago and I love it!.

ehju0901

Eating the same thing daily is a quick way to burn yourself out. If you'd like some other foods that are high in protein, try red lentil noodles and making a pasta. I also love to have sushi or tuna. Salads can be a good choice, I just like to have a protein bar with it or add hard boiled eggs.

Hopefully this helps, I just hope you aren't completely stuck on eating chicken daily.

Annie42019

I eat Trader Joe’s Grass Fed Sirloin a lot. It’s under 200 calories for the entire individually packaged serving. I usually have with a side of roasted veggies.

MsCzar

I prefer chicken thighs or quarters, but when I buy a whole chicken, the breast meat usually ends up in fajitas, tacos, atop salads, stir-fry, soup, curries, marinaded, flattened and pin-wheeled with spinach, ricotta & mushrooms or pan browned with broth, onions, garlic and mushrooms. I can't remember the last time I had plain ol' grilled chicken.

Safari_Gal_

If you are looking for some variety in protein/meat sources:

Peruse the local butcher shop. There are a lot of Poultry options - turkey, duck, Cornish game hen, pheasant, ostrich, guinea fowl, quail, goose..

I’ve found a variety of herbs also help to create more variety in diet. Lemon chicken, za’atar chicken cutlets, balsamic chicken thighs, Thai chili chicken… all different flavors.. same poulet.
😉