Chicken (broiler): nutrition per 100 g

1. 01

   Lean, complete protein

   At 21.8 g per 100 g, chicken breast ranks 2nd of 14 foods in the meat, poultry and egg group and 17th of 257 overall. That one 100 g portion covers about 40 per cent of a sedentary man's daily protein requirement and 48 per cent of a woman's.

2. 02

   Top of its group for niacin

   Chicken breast supplies 8.06 mg of niacin per 100 g, more than any other meat or egg in IFCT 2017. Those 100 g supply 45 per cent of a man's daily niacin and 58 per cent of a woman's. Niacin helps the body release energy from food.

3. 03

   Vitamin B6 and potassium

   The breast gives 0.53 mg of vitamin B6 per 100 g, about 22 per cent of a man's requirement and 28 per cent of a woman's, along with 295 mg of potassium and 18.6 micrograms of selenium.

4. 04

   Not an iron food

   With 0.83 mg of iron per 100 g, chicken breast ranks 14th of 14 in its group for iron and meets only 4 per cent of a man's requirement. For iron, chicken liver, mutton or fish such as tilapia do far more.

Values per 100 g of the edible portion. Source: Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad. Daily-need shares use the ICMR-NIN 2020 recommended dietary allowances for a 65 kg man and a 55 kg woman doing sedentary work (ICMR-NIN brief note). Nutrients IFCT did not analyse for this food are left out rather than shown as zero.

• Butter chicken: tandoori pieces finished in a tomato, butter and cream gravy; the sauce, not the bird, carries most of the fat.
• Chettinad chicken: roasted black pepper, fennel, kalpasi and coconut ground into a dark, fiery masala.
• Hyderabadi dum biryani: marinated chicken layered with par-cooked rice and saffron milk, then sealed and slow-cooked.
• Chicken tikka: boneless breast or thigh in curd and spice marinade, grilled in a tandoor or oven with little added fat.
• Kerala chicken stew: chicken, potato and onion simmered in thin coconut milk with whole spices, eaten with appam.

Handle raw chicken as a food safety risk: keep it apart from salad and cooked food, wash hands and boards after cutting it, and do not rinse it under the tap, which splashes bacteria around the sink. Cook it until no pink remains near the bone. The bird itself is fairly lean; it is the butter, cream, deep frying and skin of restaurant dishes that turn a chicken meal into a heavy one. People cutting fat do better with tikka, tandoori or a thin home curry than with butter chicken or fried pieces.

Food composition is general information, not a diet plan. Anyone managing a medical condition should plan their diet with a doctor or a registered dietitian.

• Country chicken (desi)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Chicken liver and gizzard

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Turkey

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Egg

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Goat meat (mutton)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

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