Jalapeno popper chicken is stuffed with a cream cheese mixture that's then wrapped in bacon and oven-baked. Our chicken poppers recipe is sure to be a hit with your family as it is with ours.
Creamy-filled chicken breasts are packed with just the right amount of heat from the pepper jack cheese and jalapenos. Wrapped in bacon takes these chicken poppers over the top. If you like bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos then you are sure to enjoy this recipe.
How To Make Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Only a few simple steps are needed to make these jalapeño popper stuffed chicken breasts. The first step is with prepping the chicken breasts, I used four whole breasts in this recipe.
With a sharp knife, I will slice the chicken at the thickest part of the breast. Cut the chicken horizontally making sure not to go all the way through to the other side, this is butterflying. I find it easier to stuff the chicken with the chicken butterflied.
With the chicken split open I will place it on a sheet of parchment paper and one on top. Using a meat mallet to pound the chicken to an even thickness. This will help the chicken to cook evenly. Season the inside and outside of the chicken with seasoning salt and black pepper.
The next step for this jalapeno popper chicken recipe would be the filling. The filling is made of cream cheese that is at room temperature, garlic powder, jalapenos, and pepper jack cheese. To tone the spicy down in this dish you could use mozzarella or cheddar cheese.
The amount of jalapenos used is another way to tone down the spice. I used two peppers that I cleaned the insides out of. The heat is in the membrane and the seeds of the peppers. Cleaning the jalapenos out first will help lessen the spiciness of the peppers.
Stuffing Chicken Poppers
Grab that chicken and let's get to stuffing it. Since we butterflied the breast this will help with adding the filling to our jalapeno popper chicken. Take the cream cheese mixture and divide it evenly into four chicken breasts.
Starting at one end of the chicken breast add the cream cheese filling. Leave enough room for the chicken to roll over the top of the filling. Continue rolling the chicken up around the filling.
Wrapping it up here with the bacon. If you don't like bacon that's fine, skip this step. If you are ready for some bacon overload let's wrap each chicken in bacon. I used a whole package of bacon for four chicken breasts when making jalapeno popper chicken. That was four slices of bacon to each chicken breast. Yup bacon overload for sure.
With the chicken breast, all wrapped in bacon place them in a baking dish. I like to try and get the bacon a bit crispy, so I like to have the chicken where there can be airflow around it. Therefore I use my broiler pan that I have sprayed with cooking spray. Additionally using a broiler pan will help keep the chicken breast out of the bacon grease as it cooks.
How Long To Cook
Of course, I'm all about easy clean up and we know bacon can be messy. So I add foil to the bottom of my broiler pan before I add the top broiler piece that I spray with cooking spray. The foil will help catch the grease from the bacon and makes it so easy to remove at clean up.
How long to cook the jalapeno popper chicken for?
Place the chicken into a preheated 400℉ oven and bake for 40 minutes. Or the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165℉. As the chicken cooks the cream cheese mixture melts and may spill out the ends of the chicken.
Take this recipe up one more notch by placing it under the broiler in your oven for 3-5 minutes. I wouldn't go too long with it under the broiler there is a risk of the chicken drying out.
The chicken comes out juicy, the pepper jack cheese binds together with the cream cheese that is packed with a bit of heat from the jalapenos. All these flavors are wrapped together with the maple flavor of the bacon.
I like to serve jalapeno popper chicken with a salad but mashed potatoes or a pasta recipe taste great with the poppers.
My Creative Manner is answering the question "what's there to eat" with simple recipe creations. ~ Jen
Other My Creative Manner recipes you may enjoy are:
- Healthy Tuscan Chicken Pasta - Instant Pot
- Chicken Feta Pasta
- Buttered Noodles
- Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Icing
- Crockpot Chicken And Gravy
- Oven Baked Bacon
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes
- Homestyle Baked Beans
Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Jalapeno Popper Chicken is butterflied chicken breast that are stuffed with a jalapeno and pepper jack cheese. Then wrapped in bacon and baked to a crispy perfection.
Ingredients
- 4 Large Skinless/Boneless Chicken Breast butterflied
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese room temperature
- 1 Cup Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
- ¼ Cup Finely Chopped Jalapenos remove seeds and membrane.
- ¼ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ¼ Teaspoon Seasoning Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Pepper
- 12 Slices Bacon
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400℉
Line the bottom of a broiler pan with foil, spray the top of the broiler pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
For The Chicken
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Butterfly the chicken breast, place on parchment paper and cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Pound the chicken with the meat mallet until chicken breast is even in thickness. Season both sides of the chicken with the seasoning salt and black pepper.
For The Filling
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In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese, Pepper Jack cheese, jalapenos, and garlic powder.
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Split the cream cheese filling up for each of the four chicken breast. Add the cream cheese filling to the end of the chicken breast, leave enough of the chicken to start the rolling up. Roll the chicken breast up around the cream cheese filling.
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Wrap bacon slices around the chicken, place chicken on broiler pan.
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Place the broiler pan into the preheat 400℉ oven for 40 minutes or until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165℉.
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Place under the broiler for 3-5 minutes to get the bacon crispier. Serve and enjoy
Recipe Notes
I used a broiler pan, however you can use a baking dish that is sprayed with cooking spray.
Mozzarella or Cheddar Cheese can be used in replacement of pepper Jack cheese.
¼ Cup of finely chopped Jalapenos equals 2 large peppers that have membrane and seeds removed.
The seasoning salt and black pepper can be seasoned to taste.
I used a whole package (12 slices) of bacon, four slices on each chicken.
The nutritional value may vary depending on the ingredients used.
Thank you for visiting My Creative Manner. We hope that you enjoy this and many more of our recipes. My Creative Manner is not responsible for the outcome of any of our recipes found on our website. Or that may be linked from or to other websites. The desired outcome of these recipes may not be achieved due to several factors, including ingredients, equipment, errors/typos, or the reader's individual cooking skills.
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