Salsa is my secret weapon on busy nights. It’s a one stop shop for adding tons of flavor, without having to dice, chop, and measure out a million ingredients. Everything you need is inside that one jar. It just makes weeknight dinners so easy. Give this Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet a try, and you’ll be a believer.
If you’re a fan of my Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls, you’ll probably love this Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet as well. It’s the same flavors, but faster and a little creamier. ;) If you didn’t remember to get the slow cooker going before you left for work in the morning, you can still whip up an almost identical dish in a skillet, in under 30 minutes.
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What Kind of Salsa is Best?
You can use pretty much any type of store bought salsa for this recipe, but I’d aim for a thick and chunky variety to keep the sauce thick and give it some texture. Opt for a saucy-type of salsa, rather than a fresh, uncooked, juicy style salsa, which are usually sold in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Chipotle flavored salsa would be awesome, but I’d probably skip fruit flavored salsa (like peach or pineapple).
Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast ($3.99)
- 1 tsp chili powder ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.02)
- 1 16oz. jar salsa ($1.79)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.59)
- 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels ($0.19)
- 1/3 cup sour cream ($0.56)
- 2 oz. queso fresco* ($0.40)
- 1 handful fresh cilantro or sliced green onions ($0.12)
- 4 cups cooked rice for serving ($0.70)
Instructions
- Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. Place the chicken on a cutting board and cover it with a piece of plastic wrap. Use a mallet or rolling pin to gently pound the chicken to an even thickness (about 1/2-inch thick). This step is very important to make sure the chicken cooks quickly and evenly, without drying out.
- Combine the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spices over both sides of the chicken, and then rub it over the surface to make sure it’s evenly coated.
- Heat a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat the surface. Once the skillet is very hot, add the chicken and cook on both sides until browned and cooked through (about 5 minutes each side. Cooking time will vary with the size of your chicken pieces and type of cookware).
- While the chicken is cooking, rinse and drain the black beans. Roughly chop the cilantro or slice the green onions, depending on which you prefer to use.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a clean cutting board and let it rest while you prepare the creamy salsa. Turn the burner down to medium low. Pour the salsa into the skillet and stir to dissolve the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the black beans and frozen corn kernels and allow the sauce to heat through.
- To prevent the sour cream from curdling when added to the salsa, first add a few spoonfuls, one at a time, to the sour cream to slowly increase it’s temperature and acidity. Once the sour cream is slightly warm, add it back to the rest of the salsa in the skillet and stir to combine. Turn the heat off.
- Slice the chicken breast into strips, then place it on top of the creamy salsa sauce in the skillet. Top the skillet with crumbled cheese and cilantro or green onion. Serve over a bed of cooked rice.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Pat 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast dry with paper towel. This is going to help it brown up in the skillet and helps keep it from splattering when you pound it out. Place the chicken on a cutting board, cover it in plastic (again to prevent splatter) and gently pound it out to an even thickness. This step is super important because it helps the chicken cook a LOT faster and more evenly. This is especially important for chicken breast, which dries out if cooked too long.
In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Sprinkle the spices over both sides of the chicken, then rub it in to make sure it’s evenly coated.
Heat a large, deep skillet over medium. Add 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil to the skillet and swirl to coat. Once the skillet is nice and hot, add the chicken and cook on both sides until well browned and cooked through (about 5 minutes each side, depending on the size of your chicken and the cookware you’re using). Transfer the chicken to a clean cutting board to rest. While the chicken is cooking, rinse and drain one 15 oz. can of black beans and roughly chop some cilantro or slice some green onions.
Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add one 16 oz. jar of salsa and stir to dissolve the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
Add your black beans and 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels to the salsa, and heat through (you can turn the heat up slightly, to speed up this process, if needed). Don’t mind my photos, I actually forgot the corn on the day that I photographed this. OOPS.
Now it’s time to add the sour cream to the salsa mixture, but if you add cold sour cream to a hot acidic mixture, it will curdle, so we’ll slowly bring it up to temp. Add about three spoonfuls of the hot salsa mixture to 1/3 cup sour cream, one spoonful at a time, until the sour cream has warmed up some.
Then stir the warmed sour cream into the rest of the salsa mixture in the skillet. Turn the heat off. And just a reminder, if it DOES seize up and curdle, that doesn’t mean it has “gone bad.” It simply means the proteins have clumped. It’s still perfectly safe to eat.
Now go back to your chicken that was resting while you made your creamy salsa and slice it into strips.
Add your chicken strips to the skillet with the creamy salsa, then top with 2 oz. crumbled queso fresco and some cilantro or green onions.
Serve this creamy salsa chicken goodness over a bed of warm rice and love the fact that you can create a delicious dinner so quickly! THANK YOU SALSA.
Hi Beth,
Can you make this meal in the slow cooker? If so, should I still brown the chicken and add the dairy at the very end of cooking? Thank you!
I don’t think there would be any advantage to doing this in a slow cooker, since the only cooking you do after the chicken takes about five minutes (you’re really just heating the salsa up and stirring in the sour cream). I have something similar that is more specifically designed for the slow cooker, that would probably work better: Slow Cooker Taco Chicken Bowls. You can add sour cream at the end to make it more like this. :)
My boyfriend said this was “amazeballs.” Nuff said.
Haha! :D
Would you be able to use greek yogurt instead of sour cream? Just something I often have at home anyways?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure how yogurt will work with this without testing it out. Some things are just hard to predict. :)
I used Greek yogurt, and it turned out fine! I’m pretty sure that the taste is slightly different (a little tangier probably than what it would be with sour cream), but I don’t mind it!
This was so good! It’s was really easy to make, and my husband practically ate the whole pan himself. Will definitely make again!
This was so easy and yummy! I found a double fire roasted salsa at Aldi that ended up being delicious :)
What if you don’t like sour cream? Is the taste strong? Could I use cream cheese instead to give it that “creamy” look?
I think cream cheese would also work, yes. :) I’ve used cream cheese to make sauces creamy before, and almost used it for this recipe as well. I ended up going with sour cream here because I feel like it has a slightly more mild flavor, but if you prefer cream cheese I think that’s a suitable swap.
This was so delicious!! I made it for myself and my boyfriend, and it was a big hit. I followed the recipe exactly, and it was super easy. I also threw my salsa into the blender for a few pulses before I put it in the pan, because I don’t like chunks. I used green onion because the BF doesn’t like cilantro, and we both added Cholula hot sauce at the end because we like a little bit of spice :) Will definitely be adding this one to the regular rotation.
I need to know the carbs and fibre in each recipe. Could you add this to the recipes?
Unfortunately I do not have a reliable source for this information.
Hey Beth, can you think of anything I could substitute the sour cream with? I’m lactose intolerant. Bummer for me. This looks so yummy.
I would say cream cheese is the closest, but that doesn’t help the lactose issue. Hmmm, maybe you can find a non-dairy sour cream substitute in the store? Even then, I’m not sure how those products blend with sauces like this. The only other creamy ingredient I can think of that is not dairy based is coconut milk, but I don’t think that flavor would pair well with the salsa.
Have you tried making vegan cashew sour cream? Pretty simple ingredient list and I think the taste would work in this one.
Oh. My. Goodness. That was good! So easy, quick and flavorful. I used chicken thighs that I had. I happened to notice earlier in the day today that I had saved your Creamy Black Bean Taquitos from January in my Inbox. Since some of the ingredients overlapped I made both for a Beth Two-For! I ended up using one can of black beans between the two and added corn to the taquitos to use up a partial bag. Even added some of the diced green chilis to the chicken skillet. It was all so delicious! Thank you!
Nice!
This was easy and delicious – will go into the regular rotation for sure!
Wow – this looks amazing! I love chicken but it gets a bum wrap with drying out quickly. This solves the flavor and drying problem. My husband loves salsa and flavors so we’ll definitely be making this tonight!
Made this for dinner tonight. It was a hit! Thanks for the great recipes!
Made a vegan version with homemade tofu based sour cream and Gardein chicken strips. It was a huge hit. Thanks!
This is was a huge hit with my family. I did add a diced zucchini that I happened to have sitting around. I didn’t have black beans so I swapped in some great northerns instead. We served it up with a side of blue tortilla chips because I didn’t feel like rice tonight. I’m sure this would be awesome rolled up in some tortillas too.