This Creamy Salsa Chicken is a family favorite for an easy Tex-Mex meal! The tender chicken is covered with a velvety mixture of salsa, sour cream, and two cheeses for a flavor that is through the roof!!
One Dish Salsa Chicken
I have made chicken flavored with salsa in many delicious ways, but this hands down is one of the best!
The way the rich tomato salsa is complimented by the tangy sour cream and made extra creamy with the cream cheese is just next level tasty.
While Creamy Salsa Chicken is delicious regardless of dietary needs, it is extra points that it is also naturally gluten free, low carb, and an easy Keto friendly dinner recipe.
If you are looking for a Salsa Chicken without the cream cheese or sour cream, head over to my very popular Salsa Fresca Chicken!
How to Serve Creamy Salsa Chicken
The Tex-Mex flavors in this dish make it perfectly served with many of your Mexican favorites! Here are a few of our favorite ways to serve Creamy Salsa Chicken:
Tex-Mex Sides
- Mexican Rice and Beans
- Tortillas – flour or corn
- Mexican Corn Casserole
- Tortilla Chips
- Mexican Corn Salad
Low Carb Side Dishes
- Mexican Cauliflower Rice
- Roasted Veggies sprinkled with Taco Seasoning
- Mexican Coleslaw
- Keto Tortillas
You can serve the Salsa Chicken on a plate with one, two, or a few sides, or chop it up and wrap it in tortillas. It also makes a killer burrito bowl, especially the leftovers! (See a whole section below on this!)
My Tips for Making the BEST Creamy Salsa Chicken
This meal is super simple. Just a handful of ingredients and one dish you have a meal that is off the charts in flavor.
I am going to share a few a few tips to help you get the absolute best results with this recipe. For the FULL recipe card, scroll down to the bottom of this post.
The Chicken
This recipe calls for chicken breast. I recommend using thin chicken breasts, or if your chicken breast is normal to large, slicing it in half horizontally so it is half the thickness (butterfly the chicken.) You can also pound the chicken breast if that is your preference.
This will help the dish cook more quickly and evenly and and result in more tender chicken.
If you prefer other cuts of chicken, you can use those to make Creamy Salsa Chicken as well. Boneless chicken thighs or tenderloins would both be a good substitute. I just recommend only using boneless, skinless chicken cuts.
The Salsa
I am usually a homemade salsa kind of girl. You can even see my favorite easy salsa recipe here!
With that said, I really like to use jarred salsa in this recipe. I think the way the salsa has a thicker base works well with the creamy mixture.
You can use whatever your favorite variety of salsa is. The flavors will carry though the whole dish, so pick something you love!
Substitutions
There are a few substitutions that can be made in this recipe and still let you get a great result! Here are some that we use from time to time:
- Chicken- If you prefer other cuts of chicken, you can use those to make Creamy Salsa Chicken as well. Boneless chicken thighs or tenderloins would both be a good substitute. I just recommend only using boneless, skinless chicken cuts.
- Salsa– Most varieties of salsa will work well with this recipe. You can use a traditional red or even a green salsa.
- Sour Cream– Light sour cream can be substituted in place of traditional (full fat) sour cream.
- Cream Cheese– Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese) can be substituted for original cream cheese. I would not recommend using Fat Free cream cheese as it does melt the same way as traditional cheese.
- Shredded Cheese– This recipe recommends cheddar cheese, but you can use mexican blend, monterey jack or colby jack cheese in its place.
Freezing Instructions
Creamy Salsa Chicken can be frozen before or after cooking. Freezing this dish makes an easy meal another night!
To Freeze Before Cooking:
- Prepare recipe in a freezer friendly dish as directed through step 3.
- Freeze.
- When ready to make, thaw completely in the refrigerator.
- Continue at step 4 topping with shredded cheese and baking.
To Freeze After Cooking:
- Let dish cool completely.
- Divide leftovers into meal sized portions and place in an airtight container.
- Freeze.
- When ready to eat, thaw over night in the refrigerator or reheat in the microwave or covered in the oven.
Creamy Salsa Chicken Leftovers
The leftovers of this dish (If you have any!) are just as good as the original and we love to use them to make other easy dinners throughout the week.
To save leftovers, divide into meal sized portions and place in the:
- Refrigerator for 3-4 days
- Freezer for up to a month
Leftover Recipes
- Baked Chicken Nachos– Chop the leftover Creamy Salsa Chicken and proceed with this recipe as directed.
- Burrito Bowls– Layer your choice of rice, beans, lettuce, leftover salsa chicken, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and pico de gallo in a bowl and enjoy!
- Stuffed Peppers– Hollow out a bell pepper and fill with a mixture of leftover salsa chicken and rice. Top with cheese and bake about 30-40 minutes until heated through and pepper is tender.
- Taquitos– Roll leftover chicken tightly in tortillas and bake at 425˚F for 10-15 minutes until the tortilla is crispy. Serve with guacamole, sour cream and more salsa for dipping.
- Salsa Chicken Stuffed Baked Potatoes– Make baked potatoes. Split the potatoes and top them with chopped Creamy Salsa Chicken, corn, cheddar cheese and sour cream.
More Tex-Mex Favorites
If you enjoyed this recipe, we hope you will try more of our easy weeknight dinners. Here are a few of our favorites:
Hungry for more family-friendly recipes? Sign up for my free recipe club to get new family-friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing daily meal-time inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.
Creamy Salsa Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken breast boneless, skinless – thinly sliced
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
Garnish (optional)
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
- Lay the chicken breast flat in a large baking dish.
- Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and salsa together until combined. Then spread over the chicken.
- Top with cheddar cheese. Then bake for 25-35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (165˚F internal temp.)
- Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro if desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Shantel Abbott says
I flattened my chicken but it still wasn’t cooked after 35 min. So I raised heat to 425 and cooked for another 15 minutes and we were good! This is delicious!!! I paired with rice and beans and We put the chicken & the sauce in tortillas for a “chicken burrito” they were seriously so good. The whole family loved them!
Candy says
My husband is very picky and he actually liked it. Taste very good. I made 1lb instead of two and did chicken tenders instead of chicken breast cut thin. Also I did 27min 400 degrees F