Switch up your chicken dinner with this creamy jalapeño popper chicken recipe–juicy chicken breasts smothered in a creamy topping, cheddar cheese, jalapeños, and crumbled bacon.
Jalapeño popper lovers will go wild for this easy baked chicken breast recipe.
It is simple to prepare and big on flavor.
Pair it with your favorite veggies, macaroni and cheese, or serve on a bed of rice for an easy weeknight dinner.
For another tasty jalapeno-popper-inspired recipe try these creamy jalapeno popper deviled eggs.
Ingredients
- Chicken – Boneless skinless chicken breasts.
- Mayonnaise and Sour Cream – These two ingredients combine to make the creamy sauce that tops the chicken, keeping it moist and juicy as it bakes.
- Jalapeños – Canned or fresh work. Unless you want a whole lot of heat, you will want to remove the seeds and white membrane from inside the pepper before dicing.
- Cheese – Sharp cheddar is our go-to, but mild cheddar works too.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Bacon – A sprinkle of crispy bacon crumbles adds crunch and even more flavor to the dish.
How to Make
First, preheat your oven and grease your baking dish.
Then, season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
Next, stir to combine all of the ingredients of the creamy sauce.
Spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts.
Bake, as directed in the recipe card below, until the chicken is fully cooked. Then turn broil on for just a few minutes to brown the top of your jalapeño popper chicken casserole.
Storage
Refrigerate any leftover jalapeño popper chicken breasts in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Reheat in the microwave or the oven. If you heat in the oven, cover tightly with foil to prevent the chicken from drying out.
Recipe Tips
- Wear gloves and/or wash your hands after working with jalapeños. And whatever you do, do not touch your eyes!
- Slice thick chicken breasts in half for quicker and more even cooking.
- Chicken tenderloins or diced chicen also works well for this recipe. Just remember that depending on the size of your cuts of chicken the cook time may vary. Larger, thick cuts will take more time than a thinner tenderloin.
- The internal temperature of the chicken needs to reach 165° F for the chicken to be fully cooked.
- Swap sour cream and mayonnaise for ½ cup Greek yogurt to lighten up the recipe.
FAQs
Yes, this dish does have a bit of heat. If you want to cut down on the level of heat be sure to fully deseed your jalapeno peppers, remove the membrane, and rinse well. Rinsing helps remove the oil from the pepper, which is rather spicy.
While I prefer using fresh, you can use a 4 ounce can of diced jalapeños for this recipe.
Yes, this bakes jalapeno chicken recipe doubles well. Simply place the chicken in a single layer in a 9 x 13 baking pan and bake as directed.
Need more easy chicken dinner ideas?
- Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole – only 6 ingredients!
- Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Creamy Garlic Chicken – easy one pan recipe
- Cornflake Chicken Tenders
- Spicy Sweet Honey Garlic Chicken Bites – ready in 20 minutes!
- One-Pot Smothered Chicken
- Crockpot Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken Thighs – 5 ingredients!
- One Pot Chicken Pasta
Jalapeño Popper Chicken
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Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 2 lbs
- ¼ cup mayo
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 slices bacon, chopped or crumbled
- 2 jalapeños, seeded and diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Place chicken breasts in the baking dish, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, and seasonings. Add the cheddar cheese, chopped bacon, and jalapeños. Stir together. Spoon evenly on top of chicken breasts.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165° F. Set oven to broil and allow the tops of the chicken to brown slightly before removing from the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by a third party and intended to serve as an estimate only. The accuracy of nutritional information is not guaranteed.
The Japaleno Popper Chicken is very good. Chicken is juicy and not very hot. I did not use the fresh jalapeños. I used pickled jalapeño slices snd took out the seeds and the membranes. It has the taste of jalapeños, but not nearly that hot. Recipe will be a keeper.
One of the best and easiest chicken dishes I’ve found. I highly recommend it!
We love to eat traditional jalapenos poppers we make in the oven so we couldn’t wait to make this recipe. I made the recipe as written, however Our recipe for poppers has cream cheese in it, so when reheating the left overs, I did add cream cheese and two more seeded jalapenos and some butter to make a sauce. It definitely took the recipe to a new level, it was more like I was expecting. I love the flavor of jalapenos so more seeded ones were perfect for us, and just enough zing to keep you digging in for another bite. We served it over Gluten Free egg noodles we purchased from Aldi. Loved it.