Heart Healthy Grilled Chicken with Corn Salsa

You may think that grilling chicken without adding lots of sauce or oily marinades may be bland or boring, but it’s not that hard to make low calorie chicken recipes that taste great. The key is to marinate the chicken with flavorful ingredients, even if you don’t use a lot of oil. Then you have to let the chicken marinate long enough for it to absorb flavors before grilling. Topping the chicken with a flavorful but low calorie salsa or sauce adds to the flavor profile and makes a healthy chicken dinner recipe taste like a million bucks.

Grilling chicken is a healthy way to cook it, but before asking yourself the question “is grilled chicken healthy”, you need to think about what ingredients are going into the marinade or sauce you’re adding to the chicken. You also need to consider what part of the chicken you’re cooking. Skinless boneless chicken breasts are a lean and nutritious protein source, providing just 165 calories and 31 grams of protein per 3.5-ounce portion. Dark meat chicken has a bit more fat and calories, but what really ups the fat and calorie count is if you eat the skin.

If you’re following a heart healthy diet, you’ll want to limit your sodium as a way to keep blood pressure in check – and making a low sodium grilled chicken dish is a good place to start. You can lower the sodium in your meal by skipping the salt but upping the flavors of your marinade or sauce with herbs and spices. Keep in mind that much of the chicken sold in stores is injected with solutions that are high in sodium, so read labels and select brands accordingly if you’re looking to make low sodium chicken recipes.