Name: 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ((4-5 ounces each)); 1 cup salsa; 1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese

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Tender chicken smothered with salsa and cheese. It doesn’t get much easier than this! You’ll want to add this quick and easy recipe to your weekly or monthly dinner rotation.

You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for quick and easy recipes (that are actually quick and easy)! When preparing dinner, night after night after night, I don’t want to mess around with a long list of ingredients or a bunch of annoying steps. I’m a huge fan of simple cooking.

When it comes to simple, this 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken can’t be beat. Not only are there just 3 basic ingredients… there are also only 3 quick steps. For this reason I tend to make this delicious recipe about once a month. Give it a try and you’ll want to make it a part of your weekly or monthly dinner rotation too!

The Ingredients

As the name implies… you only need 3 ingredients: chicken breasts, a jar of your favorite salsa and shredded cheese!

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts: I love to use Individually Wrapped Boneless Skinless Pre-Portioned Chicken Breasts. They’re especially convenient to use when baking or grilling chicken. This particular brand comes with eight 4-ounce breasts. Find them in the frozen and refrigerated section.
Jar of Salsa: There are so many options to choose from. Look for one with clean ingredients, such as Frontera. Experiment with different salsas to add variety to this recipe every time you make it.
Colby Jack Cheese: I chose to buy a block of cheese and shred it myself. The cheese tends to melt better plus you avoid the cellulose or cornstarch that is added to pre-shredded cheese (which keeps it from clumping). When making this recipe I go back and forth between a block and pre-shredded depending on how busy/lazy I am! Try different types of cheese!

Easy Prep

This recipe is so dang easy… even my hubby could do it (keeping in mind that his specialty is scrambled eggs)! Just 3 steps, about 20 minutes, and dinner is done!

By the way, bake as many chicken breasts as you want! My dish fit 6 (4-ounce) breasts, so that’s what I made (I had leftovers!). You could use 2, 4, 8 breasts… adjust to your needs depending on the size of your chicken breasts and how many people you’re feeding.

1. Place chicken in 13×9 baking dish and pour or spoon salsa over chicken.

It’s helpful to spray the baking pan with non-stick spray or line with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. Use as much salsa as you want. If using a spoon, be sure not to touch the raw chicken with the spoon. You don’t want to contaminate any leftover salsa in the jar (chips and salsa later!).

2. Bake chicken in 375 F Oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and top chicken with shredded cheese.

3. Continue baking for about 5 more minutes until cheese is melted and chicken reaches an internal temp of 165 F.

In a nutshell… pour salsa over chicken, bake at 375 F for 15-20 minutes and sprinkle with cheese during the last 5 minutes. Easy-peasy!

On The Side

While the chicken is baking you have plenty of time to prepare one or two side dishes. To keep it simple and healthy, I went with a frozen bag of microwaveable mixed veggies. Add a little butter plus salt and pepper to taste.

There are plenty of other side dishes that go great with this 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken such as a salad, corn, broccoli, green beans, black beans, rice or even tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

I’ve been making this 3-Ingredient Salsa Chicken for many years because it’s versatile, easy and tasty! The salsa imparts great flavor while keeping the chicken tender and juicy. My whole family loves it and I’m sure you will too!

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