If you’re craving bold, aromatic flavor without the fuss, this Chicken Rogan Josh hits the spot. A lighter take on the traditional Kashmiri lamb stew, it swaps in tender chicken but keeps all the rich spices and signature red color of the chili-tomato sauce.
It’s a fan favorite—easy, flavorful, and Weight Watchers–friendly at just 2 Points. Explore our full collection of easy, wholesome Weight Watchers dinner recipes for more healthy meal inspiration!
Recipe Overview
- Serving Size: 270 g.
- Number of Servings: 4
- Time to Cook: 45 minutes
- 2 WW Points Per Serving. You can view the recipe on the WW App here. (WW login required.)
Ingredients in Chicken Rogan Josh
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds (6 g)
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon salt (5 g), or to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (2 g)
- 1 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter (14 g)
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 500 g), cut into large cubes
- 1 cup chopped onion, white or red (150 g)
- 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped (or 1 cup / 240 g canned diced tomatoes)
- 4 Kashmiri dried chilies, seeds removed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (30 g)
- 1 cup low-fat yogurt (240 g)
- ½ cup water or as needed (120 ml)
Instructions for making Chicken Rogan Josh
- Soak the Kashmiri dried chilies in hot water for 10–15 minutes until soft. While they soak, heat a large nonstick skillet or sauté pan over medium heat and toast the cumin seeds and cardamom pods for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add the ghee and allow it to melt, then add the chicken pieces and cook for 5–6 minutes until golden on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the chopped onions and cook over medium heat for 7–8 minutes until soft and lightly browned, adding a splash of water if they start to stick. While the onions cook, blend the soaked chilies with the chopped tomatoes until smooth. Once the onions are ready, pour in the chili-tomato mixture and add the tomato paste. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Return the seared chicken to the pan, season with salt and garam masala, and add about ½ cup of water. Stir, cover, and let it simmer on low heat for 10–12 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and wait 1–2 minutes before stirring in the yogurt gently, to avoid curdling.
- Taste and adjust salt or spices if needed. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice, a side of fresh vegetables, or light naan if you wish.
Tips and Tricks for Chicken Rogan Josh
Even though this dish belongs to high Hindu cuisine, it’s quite easy to make. Just keep these things in mind:
- We Westerners are used to using ground spices, and since they’re ground, they obviously never get toasted; in Hindu and Middle Eastern cooking, spices are toasted at the beginning of preparation to extract the most flavor from them, so don’t hesitate to do this as your first step. In fact, if you want to add less ghee, toast them first over low heat, stirring constantly in a dry pan (without any oil or fat).
- Ghee can be substituted with butter, or even if you don’t have butter or ghee, you can use olive oil. What you definitely shouldn’t substitute are the spices, because they really make all the difference in Rogan Josh.
- If you want to give it a redder touch, add a little more tomato paste. Along the same lines, you can remove some chilies if you don’t like spicy food.
- Finally, the traditional accompaniments for Rogan Josh are basmati rice and naan bread. I suggest fresh vegetables and a little rice, which you can afford because chicken Rogan Josh has only 3 Weight Watchers points per serving. If you add less oil, you’d have only 1.
- Can you store it? The answer is a super yes. All those spices in sauce taste better the next day, and you only need to add a splash of water or chicken broth to reheat.
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Chicken Rogan Josh
A rich and flavorful Indian-inspired dinner recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, 6 g
- 3 green cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon salt, 5 g, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon garam masala, 2 g
- 1 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter, 14 g
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 500 g), cut into large cubes
- 1 cup chopped onion, white or red (150 g)
- 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped (or 1 cup / 240 g canned diced tomatoes)
- 4 Kashmiri dried chilies, seeds removed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 30 g
- 1 cup low-fat yogurt, 240 g
- ½ cup water or as needed, 120 ml
Instructions
- Soak the Kashmiri dried chilies in hot water for 10–15 minutes until soft. While they soak, heat a large nonstick skillet or sauté pan over medium heat and toast the cumin seeds and cardamom pods for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add the ghee and allow it to melt, then add the chicken pieces and cook for 5–6 minutes until golden on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the chopped onions and cook over medium heat for 7–8 minutes until soft and lightly browned, adding a splash of water if they start to stick. While the onions cook, blend the soaked chilies with the chopped tomatoes until smooth. Once the onions are ready, pour in the chili-tomato mixture and add the tomato paste. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Return the seared chicken to the pan, season with salt and garam masala, and add about ½ cup of water. Stir, cover, and let it simmer on low heat for 10–12 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and wait 1–2 minutes before stirring in the yogurt gently, to avoid curdling.
- Taste and adjust salt or spices if needed. Serve hot with steamed basmati rice, a side of fresh vegetables, or light naan if you wish.
Notes
2 WW Points per serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 269gCalories: 250kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 32gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3.5gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 686mgPotassium: 729mgFiber: 1.7gSugar: 6.4gCalcium: 133mgIron: 1.1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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