One Skillet Chicken with Fiesta Cream Sauce
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A simple one skillet chicken recipe with fiesta cream sauce. What’s fiesta cream sauce you ask? It’s the most delicious cream sauce made with cilantro, lime, a hint of cumin, garlic, and jalapeños! SO good!
Am I becoming the one skillet chicken lady or what?
We’ll get to that in just a second. How was your weekend friends? Did you do anything special? The hubby and I had a MAJOR sushi craving this week that we finally were able to satisfy, well kinda. If you live in Houston, give Oishii a try. I literally stuffed my face with the yummiest stuff ever for lunch and was still craving sushi for dinner. It’s not that it wasn’t satisfying, it’s that it was sooooo good I wanted more. Kinda like this tasty chicken recipe topped with a fiesta cream sauce.
What the what sauce? FIESTA CREAM SAUCE. A sauce loaded with all the flavors, like cilantro, lime, cumin, garlic, red pepper flakes, and a hint of minced jalapeños. It’s been a while since I’ve cranked out one of my skillet chicken recipes and so here is one with a super tasty, Cinco de Mayo inspired recipe. Yes, I know, the 5th of May was last week. You guys. This recipe is a winner. You know how the saying goes. A simple 30-minute recipes that uses pantry staples and can be served with pasta, rice, quinoa, bread, farro, grilled veggies or even a salad! We’ve got another week of rain here and this is the epitome of good comfort food.
One of my most popular recipes to date on the site, is this one right here. And so I thought, why not do a few different spin on it so we can enjoy it every week with a new flair? You likey?
I am a big, let me say it again, BIG fan of easy chicken dinners that take around 30 minutes to make from start to finish. These recipes are especially handy when you’re like me — suffering from a pre-summer, head spinning cold. I’ve sneezed so many times that i’m surprised my brain hasn’t popped out through my nose yet. ?
There is something to be said about the fiesta cream sauce aka jalapeño cream sauce aka cilantro lime cream sauce. Clearly the inspiration for this recipe was the lemon garlic cream sauce but with a more south of the border feel to the whole recipe. This skillet chicken recipe is perfect for those nights when you finish work late or in my case are as sick as can be and still want a healthy and nutritious meal and NO TAKE OUT.
I can feel the cold meds kicking in now so I’ll leave you with this — this is the simplest one skillet chicken recipe ever.
You want this, you really really do.
One Skillet Chicken with Fiesta Cream Sauce
A simple one skillet chicken recipe with fiesta cream sauce. What's fiesta cream sauce you ask? It's the most delicious cream sauce made with cilantro, lime, a hint of cumin, garlic, and jalapeños! SO good!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup finely diced yellow onions
- 2 tablespoons minced jalapeños
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Using a mallet, pound down the chicken breasts/thighs into ½ inch thickness. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken.
- In a 2 cup measuring cup or a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, lime juice, garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes.
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Heat the olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and allow to brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes per side. Don't worry if the chicken isn't cooked completely, we'll finish it in the oven. Remove the chicken to a plate.
- Reduce the flame to medium, add the diced onions to the skillet along with the chicken broth mixture. Using a whisk, scrape the bottom of the pan so all the brown bits are loosened. Let sauce reduce for about 9-12 minutes or until about ⅓ cup of the sauce remains. Add the minced jalapeños and stir to combine.
- When the sauce has reduced, remove from the flame, add the butter and whisk until it melts completely. With the skillet off the flame, add the heavy cream, whisk to combine. Place the skillet back over the flame for just 30 seconds, DO NOT allow the sauce to boil. Remove from heat, add the chicken back into the pan and drizzle the sauce over the chicken. Place the skillet in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked through. Top with chopped cilantro and serve warm with additional lime wedges.
Notes
- Use boneless skinless chicken breasts/thighs that about the same thickness. I pounded mine down to about ½ inch.
IS THIS A GOOD CHOICE FOR YOU?
*Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. The nutritional facts provided is for ¼ of the recipe, assuming you use a total of 1 1/2lb. boneless, skinless chicken total.
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30 Comments on “One Skillet Chicken with Fiesta Cream Sauce”
Made this tonight…hubby loved it. Next time will double the sauce! Really great! Will be one of my go to recipes because it is easy, fast and delicious!
This recipe is amazing! I made it so I can bring it to work. It was so good, my wife ate some and she is a very picky eater. It was very simple to make with min ingredients. Highly recommend!
I made this recipe after a long day and it made me so happy! Even though I didn’t pound out the chicken, it turned out so good! (It just a but longer in the oven.) Thank you!
Just made this tonight almost exactly following the recipe! I didn’t have enough red pepper flakes so I added a little chili powder, and I used a tiny amount of minced habaneros for the peppers instead of jalapeños.
Only other thing was I was lazy about the oven so once the chicken was in the pan I just left it in the pan throughout the rest of the cooking with the sauce.
I served it with some cilantro lime garlic rice and my husband tried it and said “Can we eat this every night?” Hahaha. It was seriously so good (and so easy to make!!!) Thank you for sharing!!!
I followed this recipe just like it said and I served it with rice. It was AMAZING. So so delicious.
I forgot to add in the butter and it still turned out delicious! The sauce was a little thinner because of my mistake but made it a little healthier!
I did a paleo makeover of this recipe, swapping out the butter for ghee and the heavy cream for coconut cream. Served with sautéed spiralized sweet potato, and lightly seasoned, chopped avocado.
Made this tonight and it was fantastic. I doubled the sauce as we all love sauce here and I used jar jalapenos and minced them in my magic bullet. Really, this was just great. My 6 year old declared it too spicy but the rest of us were happy to have some kick to it. I think it would be great with some monterey jack cheese too. I did have to add some corn starch to thicken it because I wasn’t patient enough to let it reduce. Served with rice and the sauce is great over it. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Do you think you could add full fat coconut milk? As I cannot do dairy. ?
A reader mentioned on another similar recipe that they used FF coconut milk instead of the heavy cream and it worked out fine. So my best guess is that it would work. It’ll probably taste more Thai because of the flavors (lime + coconut + cilantro) but I think it would still be delicious! 🙂
This was tasty!
I don’t care for chicken breast and didn’t have boneless thighs so used bone in. I crisped it abit more than called for and added the chicken back to the broth right away (for more flavor) while the broth thickened.
I have some cream leftover and so will probably make again!
Didn’t care for the lime zing so will leave out next time.
I know sometimes bloggers don’t like when people change their recipes but wanted to mention my changes incase it was helpful to others.
I am making this for dinner tonight. But I am doing it in my slow cooker. I am going to shred the chicken then layer it between corn tortillas, lasagna style with cheese and bake it in the oven.
Love the dish! I did wind up making a few substitutes to work with our family. We used clarified butter and substituted heavy cream for plain greek yogurt. SO delicious. We wound up serving it over cauliflower steaks… it was fantastic. Just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the recipe. Love one-dishers! Keeps me from making a disaster of my kitchen 😉
Did you add 1/4 cup of yogurt? And did you put it back in the oven after the yogurt was added? thanks!
Made this for supper this evening. It was spot on for my family. We loved the sauce. I served over rice, a big hit. So easy to make.
I used chicken thighs and followed the recipe exactly. It was DELICIOUS!!! Definitely a keeper. Thank you!
My husband and I love this chicken dish. We have made it three times and it is delicious and easy to make. Plus it is low in carbs.
Wow, this recipe was so good! I used shallots, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper. Wil make again and again. Seven with green beans and egg noodles!
I’ve made several of your recipes, including the lemon cream chicken that was the inspiration for this one. Always delicious! I’m curious if this recipe supposed to use fresh jalepeno or pickled/jarred? Does it make a difference? Our store was out of fresh so I’m trying pickled.
Glad to hear you enjoyed both versions!:) I used fresh jalapeños for this one. I worry that pickled jalapeños may cause the cream to curdle if it accidentally comes to a boil.. Hope you didn’t run into that problem!
I liked it a lot, substituted plain Greek no fat yogurt for heavy cream & I will add diced tomatoes next time, but was somethings totally outside my normal cooking box, we loved it!
This was so delicious! Made it for dinner tonight and my husband said, and I quote, “This is a Master Chef kind of meal! Gordon Ramsey would like this!” (Can you tell what show we’ve been really into recently?) Seriously, sooo good! I put it on top of cilantro lime garlic rice which made it even better because it was that much more limey and cilantro-y! 🙂 It’s too hot for the oven so I just cooked it entirely in the skillet. Also added a bit less jalepeno because I wasn’t sure how hot it would be, but it was perfect and definitely would have been fine with the amount listed. So far I’ve made both this and the garlic lemon cream chicken, and I’M HOOKED! Your recipes are delicious, easy, and haven’t failed to impress! Thank you! I’ll definitely be back for more! 🙂
That’s awesome! We kinda sorta love Gordon Ramsey and all his sass. Thanks for taking the time to comment Lindsey! Glad you’ve enjoyed the recipes you’ve tried so far 🙂
This was a hit tonight with my family! I added shrimp to it!!!! Yummers… Served over rice and a side of fresh asparagus. Thanks for sharing.
This looks AMAZING!!! I’ve been scouring Pinterest for easy chicken recipes–definitely going to give this one a try. Thanks so much for sharing it 😀
Can you tell me why it curdled? I was careful NOT to boil it.
The recipe calls for heavy cream. For best results, I suggest following the recipe as written. Unfortunately, half and half is not a suitable substitute for this recipe as it has a lower fat content. The higher fat amount in heavy cream is required to help stabilize the sauce and keep it from splitting.
Thank you. I’ll do that next time. It is delicious.
You can still use half and half. You just need to make the sauce in a separete pot and add flour to thicken it. Add half and half slowly and constantly stir it at a simmer. You can find direction anywhere on the Internet for a regular cream sauce with half and half… And just incorporate these ingredients. It still comes out delicious.
I made this tonight. I substituted lemon for lime, and half and half for the heavy cream, because this is what I had. It curdled the cream. Otherwise, it was tasty. Thanks.