Jalapeño Popper Chicken
This Jalapeño Popper Chicken has seasoned chicken smothered in a creamy Jalapeño Popper sauce with bacon and green onions. It’s an easy skillet recipe and a fun dinner idea!
Jalapeño Popper Chicken
If you love the creamy pop of flavor when you bite into a juicy Jalapeño Popper, you are absolutely going to love this amazing Jalapeño Popper Chicken! What a way to make chicken exciting- this sauce perfectly replicates Jalapeno Popper flavor. (I even impressed myself with this one!)
The bacon and green onions on top add color, crunch, and even more flavor. Feel free to serve this with tortilla chips, (there is plenty of sauce for dipping!), along with rice, beans, corn salad, guacamole, salsa, and so much more! And don’t miss my pro tips below!
How to Make It
Note: This is an overview. See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Tenderize, season, and sear the chicken and set aside. Soften diced jalapenos with butter and garlic.
Add flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add sauce mixture in small splashes, stirring continuously. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Add cubed cream cheese and sour cream.
Add shredded cheddar cheese and add the chicken back. Heat through, then garnish with bacon and green onions. Serve!
Pro Tips
- Shred the cheese from a block to ensure is tastes and melts the best. I use Cracker Barrel Sharp Yellow Cheese. Cheddar Jack, Pepper Jack, and Monterey Jack are other great varieties to use.
- Spice Level: This sauce has a kick to it but I wouldn’t call it overly spicy. To decrease the spice, be sure to remove the entire white membrane from the jalapeno (that’s where the heat is), as well as the seeds
- Serving Suggestions: Jalapeno Popper Chicken pairs well with with Corn Salad, Rice, Black Beans, Coleslaw, Tortilla Chips, Guacamole, Salsa, Roasted Potatoes, Potato Wedges, Roasted Vegetables, Garlic Bread.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftovers do freeze/reheat well, just be sure to reheat gradually to keep the sauce from breaking.
Tools For This Recipe
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- 3-Quart Stainless Steel Sauté Pan– The same size as pictured in this recipe.
- 1 quart measuring cup with a spout– This is what I use to combine the sauce ingredients at the beginning. The spout makes it easy to add it to the roux in small splashes.
- Meat Tenderizer– I use this almost every time I cook.
- Kitchen Tongs– This is how I turn the chicken while it sears.
- Spice Rack–This is the one I have, it’s a snap to measure out your seasonings quickly and easily. (Big time saver.)
- Box Cheese Grater– Always shred cheese from a block, it melts and tastes much better. Bagged shredded cheese contains cellulose which prevents it from melting as well.
- Measuring Spoons– I have these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized in my utensil drawer.
- Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth/bouillon in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts.
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Jalapeño Popper Chicken
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ chicken bouillon cube
- ¾ teaspoon EACH: oregano, mustard powder, parsley, onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Chicken/Other
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt/pepper, to taste
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter, or bacon drippings
- 3-4 Jalapenos, seeded and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened & cut into cubes
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Toppings:
- 5 strips cooked bacon, roughly chopped
- 3 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Pro Tip: Cook the bacon low and slow in a separate skillet until crispy on each side while you measure out the ingredients/prepare the dish. Consider reserving 2 tbsp. drippings to use instead of butter in the recipe. Roughly chopped once cooled.
- Combine the sauce ingredients in a medium measuring cup with a spout and set aside. Measure out remaining ingredients before beginning.
- Slice the chicken in half lengthwise to create 2-3 thinner slices. Cover with saran wrap and use the textured side of a meat mallet to pound it to ½ inch thick.
- Season each side of the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken in batches for 4-5 minutes per side, until a golden crust has developed. Set aside.
- Turn the heat off and let the pan cool. Add the butter and set the heat to medium. Add the diced jalapenos and garlic and cook for 3 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the raw flour smell is gone.
- Add the sauce mixture from step 2 in small splashes, stirring continuously. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let the sauce cool for 1 minute.
- Stir in the cream cheese and the sour cream. Once melted and combined, sprinkle in the cheddar cheese, stirring continuously.
- Add the chicken back and spoon the sauce on top. Allow it to heat through for 2-3 minutes.
- Top with chopped bacon and green onions. Serving options include rice, black beans, coleslaw, roasted potatoes, garlic bread, tortilla chips, corn salad, and roasted vegetables.
Notes
- Shred the cheese from a block to ensure is tastes and melts the best. I use Cracker Barrel Sharp Yellow Cheese. Cheddar Jack, Pepper Jack, and Monterey Jack are other great varieties to use.
- Spice Level: This sauce has a kick to it but I wouldn't call it overly spicy. To decrease the spice, be sure to remove the entire white membrane from the jalapeno (that's where the heat is), as well as the seeds
- Serving Suggestions: Jalapeno Popper Chicken pairs well with with Corn Salad, Rice, Black Beans, Coleslaw, Tortilla Chips, Guacamole, Salsa, Roasted Potatoes, Potato Wedges, Roasted Vegetables, Garlic Bread.
Storage:
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftovers do freeze/reheat well, just be sure to reheat gradually to keep the sauce from breaking.
Nutritional information is an estimate and is per serving. This recipe makes 4 servings.
This was amazing! My boyfriend and I both said “WOW!” after taking our first bites. Thank you for yet another amazing recipe!
I’m sooo happy that you loved it Matilda!! I also said “WOW!” after I made it for the first time, haha! Thank you so much for the review, I appreciate it so much!!! 🙂 -Stephanie
I made this last night and it was amazing!. We served it with whit rice and everyone loved it. I had the left overs today for lunch and I put it ovet penne pasta. It was just as good reheated as it was fresh. This one is going in my weekly rotation.
I’m so happy it was such a success!!! Serving with white rice is perfect. This is my favorite new recipe so I’m extra happy to get such a great review. Thank you!!!😀
I tried this Jalapeno Popper Chicken recipe. The sauce was absolutely scrumptious over the chicken! I only made a couple of changes. I used chicken boullion instead of chicken broth because I didn’t have any chicken broth on hand. And I used my frozen diced jalapenos from my Fall garden instead of fresh jalapenos. I doubt either of my substitutions made any difference to the deliciousness of the sauce. My husband thought it could be a little more spicy, so maybe next time I will add a pinch of pepper flakes. The sauce would be great over cooked broccoli or even part of a loaded baked potato. Thanks for a great recipe!
You’re very welcome Mary!! Definitely feel free to adjust the heat, my husband likes it with a little more kick too. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review!!!❤️
I bet I would love to try this sometime.
Made your BERF STEW slow cooker recipe from your new cookbook.
It was delicious. We ate it for dinner 2 nights in a row.
A winner!!
AWESOME! I’m so glad that you loved the Beef Stew!!! Thank you Donna!