Salsa Verde Chicken

This one-skillet Salsa Verde Chicken is packed with flavor and perfect for a weeknight meal. Simmering chicken breasts are cooked in a salsa verde sauce, then topped with Monterey jack cheese.

While you can use my Salsa Verde recipe, you can also just grab a jar of salsa verde from the store to make it even simpler!

Salsa Verde Chicken Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need to make this recipe:

Chicken breast: Can also opt for chicken thighs.

Salsa Verde: Store-bought or homemade works.

Monterey jack cheese: Make sure you shred this yourself. The pre-shredded stuff struggles with melting properly due to caking agents.

Veggies: We’ll be using poblano peppers, white onion, and garlic.

Chicken stock: For the sauce. Use as much as you’d like for the consisency.

Spices: Salt, pepper, chicken bouillon powder, paprika, chili powder, cumin, and coriander

How to Make Salsa Verde Chicken

Here’s how to make this dish.

Step 1: Prep your ingredients.

If you’re making my salsa verde, do this first and set it aside.

Cut the chicken into pieces add add to a clean bowl.

Next, mix all of the spices together in one bowl. Sprinkle about ⅔ of the mixture over the chicken (we’ll use the rest on the peppers and onions later). Massage the chicken to make sure everything is covered in the spice mixture. Let sit on the counter for ~20 minutes.

In the meantime, slice your poblanos and white onion, and mince your garlic. You can also shred your cheese at this time (or do it a bit later on while the chicken is in the oven).

Step 2: Brown the chicken.

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees. Add a touch of oil to an oven-safe skillet oven medium-high heat. Brown the chicken (in batches if necessary) and set aside.

Step 3: Cook the veggies.

Add the peppers and onions to the same skillet you cooked the chicken in. Sprinkle the rest of the spice mixture over them. Lower the heat a bit so you don’t totally burn the bottom bits that are stuck on the pan.

Let cook until a bit softened, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about one minute).

Step 4: Add the salsa verde and chicken stock.

Now, pour the jar of salsa verde into the skillet. Add ½ cup – 1.5 cups of water, depending on how saucy you like your sauce. Stir everything together.

Step 5: Add the chicken back in.

Add the chicken back to the pot, spooning some of the sauce over the chicken. Bake in the preheated oven for ~20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and shut off the heat.

Step 6: Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake a little more.

Now sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and add back to the now off oven (we’ll just be using the residual heat so that we can melt the cheese without over-cooking the chicken). Let sit in the oven until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.