Servings: 4 generous bowls
Estimated WW Points: 5 Points per serving
Estimated total: 20 Points for the full recipe
Exact WW Points can vary by brand and your current WW plan.
Ingredients
Crispy Chicken
- 1½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast — 0 Points
- 1 large egg — 0 Points
- ½ cup cornflake crumbs or crushed high-fiber cereal — 4 Points
- 2 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs — 2 Points
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika — 0 Points
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder — 0 Points
- ½ teaspoon onion powder — 0 Points
- ½ teaspoon chili powder — 0 Points
- ½ teaspoon salt — 0 Points
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper — 0 Points
- Nonstick cooking spray — 0 Points
Rice Base
- 1½ cups cooked jasmine rice — about 12 Points
- 2 cups cooked cauliflower rice — 0 Points
- Pinch of salt and black pepper — 0 Points
Creamy Spicy Sauce
- ¾ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt — 0 Points
- 1 tablespoon light mayonnaise — 1 Point
- 1 tablespoon sugar-free sweet chili sauce — 0 Points
- 2 teaspoons sriracha — 0 Points
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard — 0 Points
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice — 0 Points
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder — 0 Points
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika — 0 Points
- 1–2 tablespoons water, as needed — 0 Points
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 400°F (200°C). If using an oven, preheat it to 425°F (220°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the chicken into medium bite-size pieces. Try to keep them fairly similar in size so they cook evenly.
- Pat the chicken very dry with paper towels. This is one of the most important steps for getting a crisp coating without deep frying.
- Beat the egg in a shallow bowl.
- In a second bowl, combine the cornflake crumbs, panko, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt, and black pepper.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the egg, allowing any excess to drip off.
- Press the chicken into the crumb mixture until lightly but completely coated.
- Place the pieces in the air fryer basket in a single layer. Don’t stack them.
- Spray the tops generously with nonstick cooking spray.
- Air fry for 10–13 minutes, turning halfway through. Give the chicken another quick mist of cooking spray after flipping if any dry coating remains visible.
- Continue cooking until deeply golden and the center of the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C).
- While the chicken cooks, prepare the rice. Combine the cooked jasmine rice with the cauliflower rice in a saucepan or microwave-safe bowl.
- Season lightly with salt and pepper and heat until warm. Mixing real rice with cauliflower rice keeps the bowl looking and tasting like a proper rice bowl while reducing the Points significantly.
- For the sauce, whisk together the Greek yogurt, light mayo, sugar-free sweet chili sauce, sriracha, Dijon, lime juice, garlic powder, and paprika.
- Add a tablespoon of water and whisk again. Add a little more only if needed. The sauce should be thick and creamy but loose enough to spoon over the chicken.
- Divide the rice mixture among four bowls.
- Chop some of the crispy chicken into smaller pieces after cooking, leaving a few larger chunks for texture.
- Pile the chicken generously over the rice.
- Spoon the creamy spicy sauce over the top. Don’t toss everything together—you want those visible creamy pockets over the crispy chicken.
- Serve immediately while the chicken is still hot and crunchy.
Nutrition Facts
Per serving, approximately:
- Calories: 345
- Protein: 40g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Fiber: 4g
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 620mg
WW Points Breakdown
- Chicken breast: 0
- Egg: 0
- Cornflake/high-fiber crumb coating: 4
- Panko: 2
- Jasmine rice: 12
- Cauliflower rice: 0
- Greek yogurt: 0
- Light mayo: 1
- Remaining sauce ingredients and seasonings: 0
Estimated full recipe: about 20 Points
Estimated per serving: about 5 Points
The trick I’ve learned with this kind of chicken bowl is not trying to make the breading too thick. I used to keep pressing more crumbs onto the chicken because I thought more coating automatically meant more crunch, but the heavier layer would actually soften faster once the sauce hit it. A thinner, really well-seasoned coating gets crispier in the air fryer and stays that way longer.
I also don’t pour the sauce over the chicken until I’m literally ready to eat. If you’re meal prepping these, keep the sauce in a separate little container. The chicken itself reheats really well in the air fryer at 375°F for about 3–4 minutes, but if it has been sitting covered in sauce overnight, there’s no way to bring that crunch back.
Mixing cauliflower rice with real rice has also become one of my favorite tricks for bowls like this. I don’t personally love a bowl made entirely from cauliflower rice because it doesn’t give me that same comforting takeout feel. But mixing the two together means I still get plenty of real rice in every forkful while the portion looks much bigger.
And with the sauce, I always start with less water than I think I need. Once it hits the warm chicken, it naturally loosens a little. If you make it too thin in the bowl, it disappears into the rice instead of sitting thick and creamy over the chicken.
