An exhausting day? Bake boneless, skinless chicken breasts in tomatillo salsa verde sauce. Topped with melted jack cheese, it’s an easy one-pot dinner.
BE PICTURED IN; CHARACTERIZED IN:
You simply line a casserole dish with chicken breasts, pour copious amounts of salsa verde on top, bake, sprinkle some cheese, bake some more and hey presto, you’re there. Serve over rice to absorb the sauce.
Use jarred or homemade salsa verde
When it’s not fresh tomatillo season, to make the salsa verde from scratch, it’s readily available by the jar (look for it in the salsa section or the Mexican food section of your grocery store). Thankfully, with our gargantuan tomatillo crop this summer, we have plenty of homemade preserves in the pantry.
GET THE RECIPE:
Thank you to my dear friend Bruce for coming up with this recipe and urging me to try it. It’s perfect for a weeknight meal. Enjoy!
Try it with chicken thighs or tenders
Try this with chicken tenders, which bake faster. Or use skinless chicken thighs, which take a little longer to bake but have even more flavor. (Chicken should reach 165ºF on a meat thermometer.)
Salsa Verde chicken in the slow cooker
Try this tip from commentator Nichole: Place the chicken and salsa verde in a slow cooker and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. Shred the chicken, return to the pot, cover with cheese and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. She serves it over rice and says it’s “yummy!”
Use fried chicken for a shortcut
Here’s a shortcut tip from commentator Emily: Use cooked roast chicken breasts. Put some salsa verde in the bottom of a casserole dish, place the chicken breast on top and top with the remaining salsa verde. Top with cheese. Bake at 350ºF for about 20 minutes or the chicken will reach 155ºF, on the middle rack. Set the bowl on the top rack for an additional 10 minutes to brown the cheese and ensure the chicken has reached 165ºF.
Since the chicken is already cooked, we recommend covering the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes of this shortcut to keep it from drying out.
More Easy Southwestern Dinner Recipes!
- Twice Baked Southwestern Sweet Potatoes
- Cheesy Taco Noodles
- Santa Fe pork and black bean stew
- Creamy Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas
- Arizona Cheese Chips
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Chicken Casserole with Salsa Verde
While the chicken is cooking, prepare some rice or quinoa to serve with the chicken. The recipe makes a lot of sauce that goes well with the side dishes.
You could also easily make this with boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You may only need to cook them a few minutes longer than the breasts.
ingredients
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1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
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1 (fifteen–Ounce) glass (1 3/4 cups) Tomato salsa verde
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4 ounces Monterey jack and/or pepper jack cheese, grated (1 1/4 cups)
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1/2 Cup chopped fresh coriander, Optional
method
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Preheat the oven:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Slice the chicken breasts and place them in the bowl:
Halve the chicken breasts.
Line a 1 1/2 to 2 liter casserole dish with the chicken pieces. Try to cover the bottom with the chicken as completely as possible.
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Cover with the salsa verde:
Cover completely. It shouldn’t be an exposed chicken or it will dry out.
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Bake chicken:
Bake the chicken for 25 to 30 minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, use it. The chicken should be removed from the oven when the internal temperature of the breast meat reaches 150°F.
Simple tip!
Worried about taking out the chicken at 150F? No problem – it goes straight back into the oven to finish baking in the next step.
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Increase the heat, cover with cheese and return to the oven:
Increase the oven heat to 400°F. Sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and return to the oven for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, enough time for the cheese to melt and the sauce to bubble.
What is the temperature of cooked chicken?CONTINUE READING:
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Surcharge:
Take out of the oven. Serve immediately. Spoon over cooked rice or quinoa. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander. Serve with tortilla chips for crunch, if you like.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 426 | calories |
| 16g | Fat |
| 7g | carbohydrates |
| 61g | protein |
