Get my Cookbooks! Salsa Chicken
This Salsa Chicken has layers of cream cheese, refried beans, salsa, and seasoned chicken topped with melted cheese. It’s baked casserole-style and is easy to make ahead of time and customize with your favorite toppings!
Try this with my homemade salsa and guacamole.
Salsa Chicken
I have a pretty big collection of chicken recipes on my site, but this salsa chicken is one of my husband’s all-time favorites. I’m pretty sure that your family will love it just as much!
What I have here is the most basic version (although don’t be fooled, there are layers of cream cheese and refried beans underneath that delicious salsa)!
It’s fun to top this off with black beans, diced avocado, crunchy Fritos or Doritos, shredded lettuce, black olives, or sour cream!
How to Make It
See recipe card at bottom of post for full ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Slice the chicken into 2-3 thinner slices and pound to 1/2-inch thick. Season with taco seasoning. Sear in olive oil for 3-4 minutes per side, until a golden crust has developed. Set aside.
Spread cream cheese on the bottom of a baking dish.
Spread refried beans over the layer of cream cheese, then spread an even layer of salsa. Add the seared chicken.
Top with cheese. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes, then serve.
What to Add to Salsa Chicken
- Sour Cream, Black Beans, Black Olives, Corn, Diced Avocado, Guacamole, Queso, Cowboy Caviar, Shredded Lettuce, Fritos, Doritos, and be sure to serve with a side of rice!
Make-Ahead Method
- This casserole can be assembled up to 2 days ahead of time. The liquid from the salsa will actually soften up the refried bean layer, making it velvety smooth and even more flavorful.
- Let it sit out for 30 minutes prior to baking, then bake as outlined.
Pro Tips
- Shred the cheese from a block instead of using packaged shredded cheese if possible, it will melt and taste much better. I use a combination of Cracker Barrel Yellow Cheddar and Cabot Monterey Jack Cheese.
- Any kind of salsa works great for this recipe, I actually like this super affordable and easy to find Pace salsa. You can also make my homemade salsa recipe.
- I use Philadelphia cream cheese and Old El Paso Refried Beans for this recipe as well.
Storage
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- This is the Le Creuset skillet I used in this recipe, (and in 90% of my recipes). It’s pricey, but it conducts heat really well and is oven safe. The size is perfect and the quality is great.
- Kitchen Tongs– makes it easy to handle the chicken when searing.
- My Favorite Chef Knife
- Meat Tenderizer
Try These Next
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- Chicken Noodle Stir Fry
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- The Best Meat Sauce
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- Stuffed Shells
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- Tomato Chicken
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- Shrimp Fra Diavolo
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- Cajun Shrimp
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Salsa Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 large boneless/skinless chicken breast, about 1 ¾ lbs.
- 1 oz. packet Taco Seasoning
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 16 oz. Refried Beans
- 16 oz. Salsa, equal to 2 cups
- 3/4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3/4 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- Fresh Parsley or Cilantro, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Slice the chicken in half lengthwise to create 2-3 thinner slices. Place in a gallon freezer bag (or in between saran wrap) and use the textured side of a meat mallet to pound it to ½ inch thick. Pat completely dry.
- Season each side with taco seasoning.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken in batches for 3-4 minutes per side, until a golden crust has developed. Set aside.
- Spread the softened cream cheese in an even layer on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. (You can also use a round 12-inch baking dish.)
- Spread the refried beans on top, then add the salsa, followed by the chicken.
- Add the cheese on top of the chicken. Cover and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve!
Notes
- Shred the cheese from a block instead of using packaged shredded cheese if possible, it will melt and taste much better. I use a combination of Cracker Barrel Yellow Cheddar and Cabot Monterey Jack Cheese.
- Any kind of salsa works great for this recipe, I actually like this super affordable and easy to find Pace salsa. You can also make my homemade salsa recipe.
- I use Philadelphia cream cheese and Old El Paso Refried Beans for this recipe as well.
Storage
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutritional Facts are per serving. There are 4 servings in this recipe. Note that the nutritional information shared is an estimate.
I made this a couple of nights ago. My husband went nuts! He liked it so much he emailed the recipe to all of his friends!! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make. I will definitely be making it again.
I have tried a lot of your recipes and have never been disappointed. You have taught this 70 year old a bunch of cooking tips that I didn’t know! Thank you and keep these yummy recipes c
Hiii Karen!! Well if this didn’t totally make my day! I am thrilled that your husband loved it enough to spread the word far and wide! (Thank him for me!) – and thank YOU for being so supportive, I’m so glad that you’re loving the recipes!! 🙂 I’ll be sure to keep them coming! -Stephanie 🙂
Very good didn’t change anything. I did cook chicken in AF
Nice work Darcie! Thanks so much for the great review!💖
This Salsa Chicken is the bomb dot com! Loved the layers of cream cheese, refried beans, salsa, and cheese with taco seasoned chicken! I served the dish with white rice as suggested. Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe, Miss Stephanie! I will be making this again! 😋
It’s my pleasure Shawnae! Thanks so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review!❤️
This is delicious! I didn’t have refried beans so I substituted a bag of taco rice and did everything else the same…my husband loved it!
Sounds so yummy with the taco rice, nice work Eva! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
Excellent Easy family friendly dinner! Whole consider adding rice but wonderful as is!
Thanks so much for the great comments and review Deborah, I’m so happy the family liked it!💖
It was delish! We have a family member who has issues with cheese, so we did the bottom layer with a corn, red onion and black bean mixture, then topped that with the refried beans. Your salsa is a standard at our house, and the chicken was great. Just left off the cheese from 1 piece of chicken for our “challenged” eater. Mighty tasty!
Hi Cathy!! I’m so happy that you loved this recipe!!! And I LOVE that you love my salsa recipe too!! (It’s such a favorite of mine as well!)- Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review!! -Stephanie ❤️
OMG this recipe was so simple and yummy! I did make a few tweaks by making a jalapeño corn salsa and layering it into the dish and I chopped my chicken into big cubes instead of leaving as full breasts. I enjoyed it so much I made more and had for lunches for work. This is the first recipe I have made from you and I have found SO many more I can’t wait to try.
thank you!
Hey Melanie! I’m soooo happy that you loved this recipe and I love that you put your own spin on it, YUM! This makes a great work lunch, yes! I can’t wait for you to try more recipes! -Stephanie 🙂
This recipe is absolutely delicious. I made it just as you suggested and it is brilliant! Thank you so much. Next time I’ll serve it with tortilla chips just so I can get every little bit of the yummy goodness scooped up! We all loved it!
I am so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Judy! I love that you’ll serve it with tortilla chips next time, definitely a good way to go! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! -Stephanie
This was a home run! My kids argued over the last piece of chicken and everyone cleaned their plates! This is especially miraculous considering the 7 year old swears she hates beans. The chicken was so tender and flavorful! Will definitely be a weeknight staple for us!
I love when my picky daughter swears she hates something and then I catch her loving it! Sounds like it was a huge hit Lindsay, nice work! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💗