How to make your favourite chicken recipes healthier .
Discover the nutritional guidelines considered for our healthier recipes
In developing meals that are healthier – and easier – for your family, we’ve created a set of guidelines to consider in order to include more nutritious food on your plate. The Australian Health Survey shows that most of us fall short of the minimum recommended number of serves of foods from the five food groups. In fact, fewer than 4 per cent of Aussies consumed the minimum recommended amount of vegetables and less than a third met the recommended number of serves for grain foods, dairy (and alternatives) and lean meats (and alternatives) 1.
Informed by these recommendations, the Woolworths team of nutritionists has created a guide, for all Woolworths Fresh Ideas nutritionally approved recipes.
Read on to discover how we develop our delicious and easy recipes, with a focus on promoting healthier balanced meals that incorporate foods from the five food groups – vegetables, fruit, grains, protein and dairy and alternatives.
Chocolate & pumpkin mug cakes sweetened with pumpkin, apple and a small amount of maple syrup
Sugar and salt
While sugar and salt are commonly associated with making food taste better, they’re not essential to create delicious meals. All our nutritionally approved recipes have a sodium limit that we stick to. So instead of seasoning with salt, we’ll opt to feature herbs, spices and citrus, which is a great and healthier way to add richness and flavour to savoury dishes. Wherever possible, we use salt-reduced versions of stocks, sauces and canned vegetables and beans.
We are also mindful of the amount of added sugar included in our healthier recipes, which we keep to a minimum. Where possible, we use fruits and even some vegetables – think pumpkin and sweet potato – to add natural sweetness when needed.
Generous vegetable serves made easy in this rainbow minestrone recipe.
Vegetables
To help Australians reach their five serves of vegetables a day, all our healthier lunch and dinner meals contain a minimum of two serves of vegetables. If a meal falls short of two serves of vegetables, we will add a side recommendation in the form of a salad or hero vegetable. For breakfast, the rules are slightly different as we don’t think porridge goes too well with broccoli!
This stack of wholesome blueberry pancakes is sweetened with fresh blueberries and is topped with reduced-fat ricotta and a drizzle of honey.
Fruit
In our healthier recipes, we often incorporate fruit at breakfast time, so you are well on your way to reaching the recommended two serves of fruit before the day has even really begun! Fruit also makes an appearance in snacks and healthier dessert options. Pureed apple or banana are a great healthier way to boost the sweetness of desserts.
Protein-rich eggs and chicken breast feature in this healthier ramen recipe.
Protein foods
Our main meals will strive for one to two serves of protein-based foods. Protein serves in main meals can come from many sources, the most obvious being meat, dairy, fish or eggs. Plant-based protein can be found in beans, legumes, tofu, nuts and seeds.
Greek yoghurt is used in place of sour cream in these Mexican-style loaded sweet potato fries.
Dairy
Dairy serves can be found in milk or calcium-fortified milk alternatives, hard and soft cheeses, or yoghurt. Our nutritionally approved recipes don’t include cream, ice-cream or overly processed cheeses.
Brown rice complements this easy butter chicken recipe.
Grains
Wherever possible, we will aim to use whole grains, such as brown rice, whole grain bread, rather than refined grains, with around one to two grain serves per person in a main meal. Whole grains are a healthier option as they contain all three parts of the grain (the bran, endosperm and germ), which combined boast vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein2. On the flip side, we do not use sweet pastries or cereals with added confectionery in our healthier recipes. If a recipe is lacking grains, you may find we’ve catered for carbohydrate intake through using potato, sweet potato or corn.
Find healthy fats in avocado - try it in these chilli con carne pita nachos.
Fats
Woolworths healthier recipes opt for fats and oils that contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil and avocado.
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