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.
I’ve just made this for the third time. We really like this recipe! Today I used a vegan sour cream substitute for a dairy-allergic guest, but non-dairy plain yogurt would work too. We ate it on corn tortillas with cilantro lime rice, avocado, and extra limes and cilantro for garnish. Yum! This dish is crazy simple, so yummy, comforting, and flexible. I really like this method of cooking pounded chicken with the spice crust for other applications, too – really good with a lazy bowl of buttered noodles, too. I also love that this recipe sneaks more beans into my diet, since I’m a little legume shy. Another hit for us.
That’s so wonderful to hear!
Question- I live alone so only feed myself. Could leftovers from this be reheated without the sauce getting all wonky due to the sour cream? Or should I have this recipe for when I have guests over?
*save
Yes you should be just fine!
I was raised having just about the same dinner every night so as an adult I very rarely make the same dinner twice. Enter this recipe!!! I found it, made it once, and with two kids and a husband, I need something quick and easy- this was it! I make it at least once a week. LOVE!!!
That’s a win for sure!
This was so good and ridiculously easy. I used Great Value Organic Smoky Chipotle Salsa. I just had some leftovers and I gotta say it’s even better the next day after the chicken has been sitting in the sauce for a while.
Sooooooo good! Delicious and easy, can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Love this recipe! I’m allergic to chicken so I subbed in beef rib. I didn’t have any salsa so I used marinara. I’m lactose intolerant so I used skim milk, I don’t beans so I used green olives. I have a hard time digesting rice so I used some packaged bacon bits instead. My kids eat this up like crazy!
Trying this tonight with cream cheese instead of sour cream
hi ! only have boneless thighs at the moment – still a good idea ? dying to try this one !
Yes, I definitely think this one would work with boneless thighs. :)
We loved it! Easy and tasty too :)
Could you use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream?
I haven’t tried that to know how it would turn out, but I do know that I wouldn’t try to use a fat-free Greek yogurt. You definitely need the fat in there to balance the acidity of the salsa.
I use 2% Fage greek yogurt and it works great!
Good to know! Thanks for sharing Ashleigh.
Hi, can you use heavy cream instead of sour cream? I have some left from another recipe and trying to avoid buying another ingredient.
Yep, that should work pretty good in this recipe. Just make sure not to add too much because you don’t want it too soupy. :)
Even my teenage son who won’t eat anything will ask for seconds and thirds!!! Thank you Beth!!!
Hi! I’m making this tonight but my husband doesn’t like sour cream. I hate Greek yogurt and coconut milk as an alternative (both full fat). Which of these options do you think would work best??
Probably Greek yogurt, but it will definitely still be different than the sour cream.
Made this tonight in my IP because the pots I needed wasn’t clean…another home run Beth! It came together really quickly and was so easy! I served it with some white rice that I cooked up on the stove, and a toasted tortilla for my husband to fill. I also squeezed a slice of like over the top before eating…so good!
Love this recipe! I’m allergic to chicken so I subbed in beef rib. I didn’t have any salsa so I used marinara. I’m lactose intolerant so I used skim milk, I don’t beans so I used green olives. I have a hard time digesting rice so I used some packaged bacon bits instead. My kids eat this up like crazy!
Yas. This is delicious, stupid easy and makes a ton of food. My grocery store ran out of chicken breasts, culets AND thighs (???) so I pulled some random tenders out of my freezer and they worked perfectly.
Using salsa is a brilliant idea. Your dish looks absolutely delicious! I really love that Southwestern combination of flavors.
Could I freeze some of this? It made a lot and not sure I can eat it all. Quite delicious though!
I haven’t tried freezing this one, but usually sauces that have sour cream don’t hold up well to freezing. :(
This is a great one, I use green mountain gringo salsa because it’s the lowest sodium one I can find. Low fat sour cream which works just as well, and I just cook up some rice or quinoa to serve it on top of. Super easy, tasty and quick recipe that I’ve made several times. Really like this on