This super quick salsa inspired chicken dinner comes together in less than 30 minutes, and is mouth-wateringly good! Tasting like a summer sunset in a dish, this dinner is flavorful, vibrant, and simple. Better yet, it requires only a few basic staple ingredients, and you can tweak or change it to provide some variety. It is one that my family does not mind enjoying on repeat especially this time of year!
The process for this recipe is summarized in basically two steps. First, you’ll chop up 3 pounds of chicken breasts, an onion, and a pepper. Cook this all togetheron the stove top. Secondly, you will pour a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes along with a series of spices and add ins over the top and simmer it all together. Yes, that’s it! The diced tomatoes mixed with the onion, pepper, and spices below mimic a salsa flavor which gives a mexican flare to the chicken.
How to serve
Cook this salsa inspired chicken up on the stove top and serve over cabbage or rice. I prefer to serve this meal over cabbage because it goes well with the light and leafy green aspects of that vegetable. The flavor of the cabbage also balances the acidity of the tomatoes well which makes it seem like the two just go together. Consider all that alongside the benefits of the added vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, and fiber contained in this inconspicous green bunch, and it makes itself a great choice all around for both the flavor and nutritional benefit!
However, rice is also a great pairing with this simple dish. Both rice and cabbage cook up fast of the stove top, and are a fairly hassle free base for a quick and easy dinner like this!
An overview of the ingredients
Chicken:
I typically make this with diced up chicken breasts, but you can also use chicken thighs diced or cut into strips.
Onion, pepper, tomatoes, lemon juice and spices:
These ingredients mimic the characteristics of salsa. You technically can replace all of these ingredients with simply the equivalent amount of salsa, but it is just as easy to throw these simple ingredients that many people have on hand in the skillet together. I often don’t keep salsa on hand, and since learning how to make it myself, I prefer to do that anyway!
Now the only ingredients in this list that are really necessary for the flavor to complete this dish are the onion, the diced tomatoes, the chili powder, and the cumin. Everything else is an optional bonus if you have it on hand! The seasonings give the mix a flavor similar to restaurant style salsa, and they are not hot. However, you will not have the same meal with one of them missing.
I have used canned diced tomatoes most commonly for this recipe. However, you can also use fresh tomatoes. If you are like me and enjoy recieving an abundance of tomatoes from your summer garden, save this recipe and enjoy it with fresh garden grown tomatoes. Simply dice up 5-6 tomatoes in place of the canned tomatoes (or more if the tomatoes you are using have a high water content).
The lemon juice gives this meal a zesty tang, but it can be made without it, as well. The pepper is just a fitting, added bonus that seems like it belongs in this dish. However, I have made it many times without peppers, and we did not miss them.
Honey:
A little touch of honey in this dish balances the acidic, mexican flavor with a touch of floral sweetness that really completes this meal.
Honey Mustard:
The combination of sweetness and tanginess in this sauce enhances the flavors that are already combined. This ingredient is optional, as both the sweet and the tangy are already present before adding it, but it serves to enhance and complement the other ingredients in the skillet.
If you have leftovers
One thing I love about this fiesta summer chicken is that you can turn the leftovers into a deliciously unique, mexican style breakfast! That is, if you have any leftovers!
You can do this simply by scrambling up a proportionate number of eggs and cooking some breakfast potatoes. Combine the cooked potatoes with the scrambled eggs, pour the leftovers over the top, and mix it all together, and Viola! You have yourself a salsa inspired chicken and eggs casserole.
As a from scratch mom that is not into meal prepping, a strategy that I have used to keep my house full of food is to make extra of each big dinner to ensure there are leftovers. Leftovers can then either be reserved for lunches or dinners later, or they can be remade into an entirely new meal! (Check out my bisuits and gravy for another example of a recycled dinner.)
The Salsa Inspired Chicken Recipe
Salsa inspired fiesta chicken-A summer family favorite
Difficulty: easy4
servings30
minutesThis super quick dinner comes together in less than 30 minutes, and is mouth-wateringly good! Tasting like a summer sunset in a dish, this dinner is flavorful, vibrant, and simple.
Ingredients
3 pounds of chicken breasts
1 medium onion
1 medium pepper
28 ounce can of tomato sauce (or 5-6 diced fresh tomatoes)
1 tablespoon of cumin
1/2 tablespoon of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2-3 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional)
1 tablespoon of honey mustard (optional)
Directions
- Cook the chicken in the olive oil adding the diced onion and pepper partway through cooking. This should take about 10-15 minutes on medium-high heat.
- Once the chicken is cooked through, pour over the diced tomatoes, and add your seasonings, honey, lemon juice, and honey mustard. Stir to combine well, and allow it to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Finally serve over your choice of shredded sauteed cabbage or rice.
If you gave this a try leave a comment and share your thoughts! Go ahead and share this recipe with other from scratch mommas looking for some inspiration!
Leave a Reply