My husband has a prayer lunch with a few other guys every Tuesday at noon. Sometimes he takes his full lunch with him, and some days he takes just a light snack, then eats more when he gets home. One day recently, he had plans to eat light at his prayer lunch, then come home and eat this Simple Green Chile Chicken.
If only I’d told the boys of his plans.
I’d eaten my share of this lunch right after I pulled it out of the oven, but in the hubbub of finishing school assignments throughout the morning, the boys trickled into the table later, little by little. Just a few minutes before Matt was to arrive home, I heard one of the boys say, “Glad Dad already ate since I just had the last of this chicken.”
Oops. Sorry, Matt.
The good news: This chicken is so good, the whole family will eat it without complaint (and not leave enough for Dad).
The other good news: This recipe is so easy I can actually find time to make it even on a busy school/work morning! Of course, that means it’s quick to make in the evening for dinner too. (Often during soccer season we have our bigger meal at lunchtime – but who am I kidding? We have big meals three times a day.)
Simple Green Chile Chicken
- 2-3 pounds boneless chicken thighs or breasts
- 8-ounces softened cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheese (any variety)
- 4-ounces green chilies (no need to drain)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Place chicken in a 9x13 inch dish.
- Mix remaining ingredients (I do this quickly in my Blendtec), and spread the mixture over the chicken evenly.
- Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
What you might notice about this recipe is the simplicity of blending all the cheese sauce ingredients together before spreading it over your chicken. This is great for a couple of reasons:
- Making it this way saves time and effort. (Toss ingredients into a blender, mix, then pour over chicken. Easy!)
- Blending the peppers into the sauce makes picky eaters enjoy this without complaint.
Note to self: Always double this recipe so there is enough for everyone in my family to eat some. (Why I hadn’t already thought of that I do not know.)
And with that, I will present you with our ever-growing list of Simple Recipes that will provide your family with real food that is super delicious, but will make your kitchen efforts minimal!
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I’m wondering if this could be done in the crock pot? I don’t really see why not unless the cheeses would burn.
I think it should work, maybe on low for 4-6 hours? :)
Does this work best with thawed chicken beasts or would frozen work? What did you use?
Frozen would work if you make it in the crock pot. But for the oven, I start with thawed for this. :)
Do you think doubling the sauce ingredients would make more sauce to put over rice or quinoa to go with the chicken?
Sounds like a great idea!
This is delicious!! I made it last night (with a few crushed corn chips on top) with some grilled peppers, roasted broccoli, and your butterscotch bars for dessert. My family treated me like a rock star! Thank you for another wonderful and easy recipe, Laura!
Wow, fast feedback! Awesome!
Hi Laura :) Are you still avoiding starch? I notice your meals are usually veggie/salad, fruit and protein.
I am, because I really don’t feel well when I eat many/any carbs. (I can have a little bit here and there.) But also, I’m finding it important to focus on these nutrient-packed foods and I like to take pictures to share that shows people how easy it is to eat nourishing food like this!
We made this tonight and it was SO good! Thanks for the recipe!
My uber-picky children gobbled this up – you are so right about the blending hiding the green chiles. Excellent idea! After the usual “this smells yucky” routine, my three-year old took a bite and said, “Wow, this tastes YUM!”
We used to love a recipe called Chicken & Chips in our more-processed food days that used Velveeta and canned soup, and this reminded me a lot of that (I put some crushed tortilla chips on this one, too). I used two boneless chicken breasts cut into small pieces and put it over rice, which allowed it to stretch to feed more people (4 adults – but not hungry teenage boys – and 2 preschoolers). This is going into the regular rotation. Thank you, Laura!
If anyone is wondering, this recipe works in the Instant Pot, too! I used thawed chicken because I also wanted to make brown rice. I just added the rice and water and then laid the chicken on top and poured this sauce on top of that. I think I did it for 22 minutes with slow release. Yum!
Thanks Deb, I was wondering if anyone had tried this in the Instant Pot :)