Sweet Heat Chicken Fajitas

With it being Cinco De Mayo weekend, Mexican inspired dishes are on the brain!

I love some heat in my meal and when it's paired with something sweet ... I cannot resist! 

This recipe was something that was whipped together while I vacationed in Palm Springs back in March and it is seriously DE-LI-CIOUS! The only thing I did differently when I made this again, was the marinade I used for the Chicken. Which ultimately just ended up enhancing this recipe! 

Taste buds, beware.

Sweet Heat Chicken Fajitas

Let's talk chicken marinade first! You're going to want to let your chicken breast marinade for a good couple hours. The longer the better!

                           

I used equal parts of the items pictures above for the marinade; Sriracha, Franks Red Hot Sauce & Hawaiian Marinade. I had 3 chicken breasts to marinade, so I used approximately 4 Tablespoons of each sauce. Just make sure your chicken breasts (depending on how much you're making) is covered evenly in the marinade.

The primary components to this recipe are the Jalapeño's & Pineapple that you add to the Fajita mixture. The rest is really quite basic.

I prefer to use Red, Yellow or Orange peppers, but feel free to use any color pepper you like. Just don't forget your onion. I strongly recommend Yellow Onion, which has a bit of a sweet flavor. Though, some prefer White Onion (which has a stronger "onion taste") or Red Onion (which can be a bit on the lighter "onion taste" scale, especially once sautéd).

When you start to sauté your veggies, you can start grilling your chicken. I don't have a convenient gas or charcoal grill, so I use my stove top grill. This thing actually works quite great! Obviously you have to have a gas stove and not an electric one, if you want to use one of these. 

I add the Jalapeño and Pineapple after the peppers and onions have softened. Your Jalapeño and Pineapple don't need to soften much, just sauté long enough to combine flavors. I usually let everything sit together on low for about 10 minutes.

                

Time to eat!

I like to use the 10" tortillas, specifically the "super soft" ones. And then I top the my fajitas with Tapatio Hot Sauce and Low Fat Sour Cream. I will also add a little bit of Mexican Rice as a side when I bring this for lunch to work.
       
                                   

                                  


Here's a breakdown of the ingredients and instructions ...


Sweet Heat Chicken Fajitas


Prep Time: 10 Min or Less    Cook Time: 20-25 Min    Servings: 8-10


Ingredients

3                    Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
3-4 Tbsp         Sriracha
3-4 Tbsp         Frank's Red Hot Sauce
3-4 Tbsp         Hawaiian Marinade
2-3                Peppers (color is your choice)
1                    Medium Onion
2                  Whole Jalapeno Peppers
1 1/2 Cups      Diced, Fresh Pineapple
1 Tbsp           Olive Oil (for sauteing)


Instructions

Combining the Srirach, Frank's Red Hot Sauce and Hawaiian Marinade together in a quart size sandwich baggie, along with your chicken breasts. Let this sit overnight or for several hours before cooking.

When you're ready to cook, slice up your peppers and onions. Using 1 Tbsp of Olive Oil in your saute pan, add your peppers and onions and turn your stove on to medium heat.

Start to grill your chicken in what ever manner you've chosen to do so. Each chicken breast should need about 7 min on each side to cook. Time may vary depending on your stove or if you're using an actual charcoal or gas grill, so checking the internal temperature of your chicken is always the best way to ensure it is safe to consume. It is recommended for chicken that the internal temp be at 165 degrees.

Your vegetables should be soft after about 10 minutes. Go ahead and add your pineapple and diced jalapeno peppers (seeds removed - unless you like it REALLY hot), turn your burner down to low and let that sit for no longer than 10 minutes. Stirring every couple of minutes.

Once your chicken is done, let it cool for a couple of minutes before cutting it up in to thin long slices.

Now serve & enjoy!!


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If you're interested in using one of these indoor smokeless grills, you can purchase one online for about $20. The device is just placed right on top of your burner, as pictured below, and then you add al little water to the base! They work great! 

Please let me know if you make these and what you think! Send me a message or post a comment! I would love to hear from you!

And don't forget to subscribe to my blog!


Until next time,


Crista

Cream Cheese, Artichoke & Pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast

*****First things first, this is likely going to be my last post from Minnesota for a few weeks. As of Monday I will be in sunny Palm Springs, CA for a week and a half vacationing with friends. We take this trip annually and every year the deal is that everyone is to choose a meal to make for dinner. So, we're going to be doing A LOT of cooking while there and I'm really excited to share the deliciousness with the rest of you! I have hopes of posting while there, at best, some short and sweet stuff. 

My menu items currently consist of Open Face Steak & Havarti Cheese Sandwiches and making all of the Bloody Mary Bar nosh. I am gonna try making some blue cheese stuffed and bacon wrapped dates, cheese curds, stuffed peperoncini's, meatballs and a few other random things. Some of the other people have already disclosed their menu items and we're going to likely see some Stuffed Peppers, Breakfast Quiche, Baked Ziti, Fish Taco's & much more!*****


Now, on to my blog post ...


I love to get creative with chicken and one of my favorite things to make is stuffed chicken breasts. You can get really wild with this one and combine a multitude of ingredients to make it really tasty! I've tried all sorts of different cheeses ... such as Mozzarella, Blue Cheese & Cheddar ... and a multitude of vegetables like Mushrooms, Tomatoes or even Spinach.

So last week for lunches, I made ...

Cream Cheese, Artichoke & Pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast

I like to marinade my chicken if I have the opportunity. This time around I used some Olive Garden Italian Dressing. I let it sit in the dressing for about an hour before cooking. You can certainly let it marinade longer ... because the longer the better! However, I wouldn't recommend exceeding 24 hours. :) 

Before taking my chicken out, I get my veggies ready. I used frozen artichoke hearts and mixed peppers from Trader Joe's, and then I thawed them by placing them in some water that was brought to a boil for about 5 minutes. And then drained them and let them dry a little bit.



 



Then I mix the dried veggies with the cream cheese. I had on hand some left over Onion & Chive and Garden Vegetable flavored cream cheese. I used about 2/3 cup. You can use more or less, depending on how creamy and cheesy you want it to be.


     


To prepare the chicken for stuffing, you want to cut off all the fat. The more expensive the chicken, the better quality it's going to be. I highly recommend buying the better of brands when you're going to be stuffing chicken breasts.

Lay the chicken breast flat on a cutting board, place your hand/palm on top of the chicken breast and using a sharp knife, slice the chicken breast almost in half. Using your fingers or a meat hammer, pound out the flatter portions of the chicken breast. Ultimately the goal is to make it so that you can stuff more in to the chicken breast and doing this makes the pocket you'll be putting your ingredients into more "roomy", if you will.

Then scoop about 2 Tablespoons worth of mixture in to your chicken breasts and fold two ends together. You can pinch your ends shut or use something like a toothpick to keep the ends together.

*I like use toothpicks to hold the ends together.

After I stuff all of my chicken breasts, I place them on a baking sheet lined with tin foil about 2-3" apart from one another. I then season the chicken with a few different things. This time I went with Kosher Salt, Ground Pepper, Spicy Poultry Seasoning & Red Pepper Flakes.


     


I then bake the chicken breasts at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes or until the juices are running clear.

*I'm personally a little finicky about chicken and like to cut in to the thickest portion of a chicken breast and see if there's no pink left. You can also use a meat thermometer.


This a really easy thing to make! And you can add it with all sorts of different sides. I of course needed a carb and then wanted to make sure to throw a veggie in there. So I went with a potato medley and steamed green beans.

       


Here's the breakdown of ingredients and instructions ...


Prep Time: 15-20 Min  Cook Time:  45 Min  Servings: 5-6 (How many ever Chicken Breasts you make)


Cream Cheese, Artichoke & Pepper Stuffed Chicken Breast


Ingredients

5-6                 Chicken Breasts
8-12oz           Marinade (your choice)
2/3 Cup         Frozen Artichoke Hearts
1/2 Cup         Frozen Roasted Peppers
2/3 Cup         Cream Cheese (Flavor of your choice)
Toothpicks
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Poultry Seasoning


Instructions

Start by marinading your chicken breasts. If this is something you chose to do the night before or earlier in the day, then move on to the next step. Otherwise, add your chicken breasts and marinade to a large freezer/ziploc bag and let sit for 15-30 min.

Now, prepare your vegetables. If you're thawing vegetables, bring a small pot of water to a boil, remove from heat and add the frozen vegetables. Then let them sit for about 5 minutes. If you're chopping up fresh stuff, set off to the side once finished.

In a bowl, mix together your cream cheese and your vegetables really well.

Pull your chicken breasts out of their marinade and discard the remaining marinade and bag. On a clean cutting board, laying the chicken breast flat. placing your hand on top and using a sharp knife, slice the chicken breast almost all the way in half. Leaving about an inch of uncut meat at the far edge of the chicken breast.

Then spoon approximately 2 Tablespoons of your cream cheese mixture in to the center or bottom half of the chicken breast. Fold the top portion over the filling. Then using your toothpicks (approx 4) "pin" together the edges, placing the toothpicks about 1" apart from one another. Place the stuffed chicken breast on your foil lined baking sheet.

Once all of your chicken breasts are stuffed and on your cooking sheet, you can season them as you choose. I just sprinkled lightly a bit of kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, poultry seasoning and red pepper flakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, or until your juices are running clear. Feel free to use a meat thermometer!



Nutrition Information --->  Total Calories: 422  Fat: 14.6g  Protein: 65.8g


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I hope you enjoy this recipe! I would love to hear from you about this. Whether it's what you did differently or how it turned out! Post a comment or shoot me an email!


Until next time,


Crista