It used to really irk me when recipes called for “pre-cooked chicken.” I was like, “What the huh, who has pre-cooked chicken lying around?” But then I kind of warmed up to the idea of grocery store rotisserie chickens, okay maybe “became addicted” would be more accurate than “warmed up to.” So, if you’re a rotisserie chicken fan or otherwise have some pre-cooked chicken around, you definitely have to try this Monterey Chicken Skillet.
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What is Monterey Chicken?
This quick skillet pasta is a take on a recipe that I’ve seen floating around the web for years, Monterey Chicken. It’s a unique combo of tomatoes, green chiles, BBQ sauce, cheese, and bacon. Sounds strange, but there are so many good things going on in this dish that you really never get a dull bite. There’s just a LOT of flavor. As usual, I turned it into a pasta dish to help stretch out the cost… Because chicken, bacon, and cheese aren’t exactly cheap.
Substitutions:
I used a little rotisserie chicken, went light on the cheese, and only included the bacon because I happened to have some left over in my freezer. Honestly, I think the BBQ sauce and cheese carry the flavor here, so if you don’t want to spend on the bacon you could skip it and still get a great meal. The Rotel tomatoes (diced tomatoes with green chiles) can be kind of spicy, so if that’s not your ticket, you can use plain diced tomatoes instead (a 15 oz. can is okay).
So, ready to see how easy this is? Let’s go…
Monterey Chicken Skillet
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded pre-cooked chicken (1/2 rotisserie chicken) ($3.50)
- 1 10 oz. can Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles) ($0.99)
- 1/2 lb. fusili pasta ($0.63)
- 2 cups chicken broth ($0.30)
- 1/3 cup BBQ sauce ($0.36)
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese ($1.24)
- 3 slices bacon ($0.92)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.17)
Instructions
- Place the chicken, pasta, and Rotel tomatoes (undrained) in a large skillet. Add two cups of chicken broth and stir to combine. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid, turn the heat on to high, and let it come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes, giving it a quick stir every 5 minutes or so.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet until brown and crispy. Drain the cooked bacon on a paper towel, then crumble into pieces.
- After simmering for 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed. If the pasta is still firm, let the skillet simmer for 5 more minutes. If the pasta is tender, but there is still a lot of liquid in the skillet, let it simmer without a lid for 5 more minutes.
- Once the pasta is cooked and most of the liquid is absorbed, drizzle the BBQ sauce over top. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the BBQ sauce and cover the skillet with the lid. Leave the heat set on low and let the skillet sit for five minutes to melt the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, top with the crumbled bacon and sliced green onions, then serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Monterey Chicken Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Before we begin, let’s take a second to talk about Rotel. Rotel is a brand of canned diced tomatoes with green chiles that is available in most U.S. supermarkets (usually 10-oz. cans). If you can’t find Rotel, you can use a can of plain diced tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes plus a can of diced green chiles. Original Rotel is spicy, so consider that, although I’ve seen other brands that use mild green chiles so you get the flavor of the chile without the heat.
Anywho, put that can of Rotel in a skillet (undrained) along with two loosely packed cups of pre-cooked chicken and 1/2 lb. of pasta.
Add two cups of chicken broth then stir everything together well. Place a tight fitting lid on the skillet, turn the heat on to high, and let it come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure that it is still simmering on your lowest setting and if it isn’t turn the heat up just a smidge. Also, make sure to stir it once every five minutes or so just to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom.
While the skillet is simmering, cook the bacon. I happened to have a half package of bacon left over in my freezer, so I cut that in half and froze the remaining 1/4. So, the portion I used is roughly equivalent to 3 slices. If I hadn’t had the bacon, I probably would have skipped it and still been happy with the dish.
Brown the bacon in the skillet, then drain it on some paper towels. Once it’s cooled, crumble it into pieces.
After the skillet has simmered for 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed off the bottom. If the pasta is not yet tender, let it simmer for another 5 minutes (with the lid). If it’s tender but there’s still quite a bit of liquid, just let it simmer for a few minutes more WITHOUT the lid, to help the moisture evaporate. Once the pasta is tender, drizzle about 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce over top. It’s easy to go overboard here, so keep it kind of light (I went a little too far I think).
Then sprinkle one cup of shredded Monterey jack over the BBQ sauce. Replace the lid and let it sit for a few minutes, or until the cheese is melted (I still have the heat on low).
Once the cheese is melted, you can turn off the heat and top the skillet with sliced green onion and the crumbled bacon. Hellloooooooo!
Yeah, I was in the mood for indulgent today. :P
Not bad but probably won’t make it again. I’ll definitely finish this batch but it wasn’t a favorite. Not sure why exactly.
Didn’t care for this one, not sure what it needed.
This was a big hit! The second time I made it, I instead of adding the BBQ sauce at the end, I cooked the pasta in the broth and Rotel, tossed the chicken in the BBQ, then mixed that into the cooked pasta, and topped it with the bacon and cheese.
I made this for the first time and it was so good! 😋 Super easy and it didn’t require any weird ingredients that I couldn’t find. I will definitely make this again!
First time I made it, I found that the boiling with the chicken in the mix was too much for it, and it broke down and became very stringy. The second time I made this, I cooked the pasta together with the rotel and broth (I also added a few handfuls of spinach for extra veggies), and tossed the chicken in during the last two minutes of cooking (I even used Costco’s canned chicken just for simplicity). It came out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe. I found it was even better with a few dashes of tabasco.
Followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious! My husband ate the leftovers (which never happens) for lunch the next day and says it was even better once reheated.
This was really good! My family enjoyed it very much. My son hates chopped tomatoes, so I used an immersion blender to purée them before adding to the pot. Tasted great!
We loved this recipe. I didn’t have cooked chicken so I used my instant pot and poached some frozen boneless skinless thighs then used the poaching water to cook the pasta. Delicious!
This recipe is so good – I didn’t have any rotisserie chicken so I poached a couple chicken breasts instead. If you can’t get your hands on any pre-cooked chicken, poaching is probably the easiest, most hands off way to make your own. You can do it earlier in the day or even the day before while you’re cooking something else, it doesn’t need much babysitting. If you have an instant pot it’s even easier. This is such an easy weekday dinner and it tastes even better the next day for lunch if you have any leftovers.
I made this tonight, and thought it was amazing!!! I love the BBQ flavour- reminds me of BBQ chicken pizza. I’m GF, so I subbed GF fussili. And I used 1 can of diced tomatoes. I used Diana BBQ sauce with a dash of worcheschire sauce. And I used Monterey Jack cheese on top. I had some mild Italian sausage in the freezer, which I used instead of the bacon. Next time, I’d probably use a little more bbq sauce than in the recipe. Love this recipe!!! Definitely going to make again.
looks banging! cant wait to make this
We love this meal! Thank you! I can get PASTA for under $1.00/lb and when I can I stock up so this easily meets my $2/person threshold.
We love this meal! Thank you! I can get last for under $1.00/lb and when I can I stock up so this easily meets my $2/person threshold.
I followed the recipe but threw in half a leftover anaheim pepper at the beginning. It was SO GOOD, one of those recipes where I had no idea what the final flavor would be, and was really pleasantly surprised. I have the cheap Aldi BBQ sauce and stirred it in a little at a time, ended up using 5 tablespoons (just under 1/3 cup). Boyfriend loved it, will make again.
This is a really good base recipe where you can make changes based on your preferences and what you have on hand in the fridge. I used Banza chickpea pasta which was excellent because my biggest complaint with this type of pasta is that if falls apart or becomes mushy easily. With a skillet recipe, it can cook undisturbed and you can control the liquid. next time I plan to use much less BBQ sauce. I love barbeque sauce but it really overpowers the dish. I plan to use about 2 tbs. next time. I also added a can of black beans (because there isn’t a recipe I can’t sneak more protein into).