This Creamy Green Chili Chicken Bake requires just 3 main ingredients, plus a few spices, and results in shredded chicken with a velvety smooth sauce. Serve this family friendly dish over rice or other side of your choice, or even spoon it into tortillas. It makes a 9×13 pan and serves 6. It can also be made in the pressure cooker or slow cooker, making it a versatile meal for busy days!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Garlic powder
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Green salsa – The main flavor component here is green salsa. It’s a great shortcut ingredient because it has things like tomatillo, lime, cilantro, onion and garlic already in the jar. However, not all green salsas are NOT created equal. One of the biggest factors is the heat level. Even different bottles of the same salsa can sometimes taste different and have different heat levels. If you like spicy food, feel free to use a spicy green salsa. For my family, I always make sure to buy something labeled mild. As an example, Herdez is a common grocery store brand that’s easily found in grocery stores that my family loves (pictured below). Green enchilada sauce can also work in a pinch!
- Cream cheese – Regular or low-fat (Neufchatel) will work. Avoid fat-free.
- Kosher salt
- Hot steamed rice – For serving.
How to Make Creamy Chili Chicken Bake
- This really couldn’t be easier. You’ll sprinkle a handful of spices over some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a 9×13 pan. If you don’t have all of these, don’t sweat it. It’s totally fine to even eyeball! Then pour the jar of green salsa right over everything. That’s it! Pop it in the oven.
- Bake until your chicken reaches 165°F. For thin cut breasts this may only be 30 minutes. Regular breasts will be around 35-40 minutes, and thick ones may take closer to an hour. Even frozen thin-cut breasts will work.
- After the dish comes out of the oven, remove the chicken pieces to a cutting board and shred. You’ll also combine a block of cream cheese to the remaining sauce in the baking dish. I’ve outlined a couple different ways to do this is the printable recipe.
- Add the chicken back to the sauce, and serve as desired. We love it over hot steamed rice.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
Alternate Cooking Methods
See Notes section on recipe card for further information.
- PRESSURE COOKER: Place everything except cream cheese into your pot. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. Remove chicken. Add cream cheese to sauce, I would suggest an immersion blender to make sure it gets smooth. Return chicken to pot.
- SLOW COOKER: Place everything except cream cheese in slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours or until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 185°F. Remove chicken and shred and add softened cream cheese to sauce and whisk until smooth. I would suggest an immersion blender.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just mix up the sauce ingredients and add pre-cooked chicken?
You could definitely do that in a pinch, but part of the sauce is the juice that results from the chicken cooking, so your finished dish will lack the depth of the original recipe. If you do go that route, I’d add a little chicken stock or even a bit of chicken bouillon base to help.
What’s the best way to blend in the cream cheese?
I’ve found that some brands of cream cheese just don’t melt in smoothly. I cut mine into chunks so I don’t have to dirty another dish, but you may find that softening the cream cheese briefly in the microwave helps. You can also remove a ladle full of sauce and blend the cream cheese with that in the blender, or with an immersion blender, and then add it back in. Full-fat cream cheese is more likely to blend smoothly.
What can I serve this with other than rice?
Pasta, quinoa, cauliflower rice, or tortillas would all be great. It’s also tasty with a side of black beans.
Creamy Green Chili Chicken Bake
A quick and easy recipe with minimal ingredients! A creamy green chili sauce coats shredded chicken- perfect for serving over rice. See notes for alternate cooking methods.
Servings servings
Equipment
- Slow Cooker optional
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts 4-6 breasts
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika optional, if you don’t have it don’t stress
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 16 ounce jar green salsa I prefer mild
- 8 ounce cream cheese
- kosher salt to taste
- cooked rice for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Place chicken in a 9×13 pan, sprinkle with spices (except salt). Pour entire jar of green salsa over everything. Bake until an instant-read digital thermometer reads 165℉ in the thickest part of the meat. You can start checking at the 30 minute mark.
- Remove pan from oven, gently scrape off any salsa off top of each chicken breast and place chicken on a cutting board.
- (Note: Basically the only other step is adding cream cheese to the sauce in the baking dish. The following instructions are how I found the most consistent results for a smooth sauce, but read the notes section below for some other options.)
- Place cream cheese in a heat-safe bowl and microwave for 20-30 seconds or more, until it is soft and easy to stir smoothly. Ladle some of the green chili sauce from your baking pan into the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Add more and keep whisking. This little process with ensure you don't end up with lumps in your sauce! Scrape out all the cream cheese mixture back into your baking pan and whisk everything until smooth.
- Shred chicken and add back to pan, tossing in sauce. Season with kosher salt, if needed. Serve over rice.
Notes
I tested all of these options to find the easiest method for you.
- I’ve cut room temperature cream cheese into small squares and tossed them in the hot sauce in the pan and then whisked it together (I like the ease of not having to use another bowl to warm the cream cheese first) but some brands of cream cheese will never get smooth and you’ll end up with chunks. You can always pop the sauce in the blender if this happens to you.
- I tested placing all the ingredients into a blender first (cream cheese, salsa, spices) and then pouring over the chicken and baking. It totally works, but compared to the method outlined in this recipe, the sauce is not as smooth. The cream cheese tends to “break” just a bit. But it definitely still tastes great and some of you might find this method easiest for you.
- I tested cooking this with *thin cut* frozen chicken breast straight from the freezer and it worked great. It just takes a bit longer to cook.
- If you want this dish to cook faster, cut your chicken breasts in half horizontally, or dice into smaller pieces. It should come to temperature in about 30 minutes.
Alternate Cooking Methods
Pressure Cooker
Place everything except cream cheese into your pot. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. Remove chicken. Add cream cheese to sauce, I would suggest an immersion blender to make sure it gets smooth. Return chicken to pot.Slow Cooker
Place everything except cream cheese in slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours or until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 185°F. Remove chicken and shred and add softened cream cheese to sauce and whisk until smooth. I would suggest an immersion blender.Nutrition
Calories: 252kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 35g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 117mg, Sodium: 315mg, Potassium: 673mg, Fiber: 0.2g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 390IU, Vitamin C: 2mg, Calcium: 68mg, Iron: 1mg
Calories: 252kcal
Cost: $8
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Questions & Reviews
Dumped this in the crockpot for a few hours. I added only 4 Oz of reduced fat cream cheese and stirred it in with a fork and no one cared about the lumps. Entire family loved it.
When cooking in a pressure cooker, do you let it natural release or quick release? Thank you!
If you have time for a natural release, feel free. Otherwise quick is just fine.
My husband and I loved it! Super simple recipe with great flavor. I served it over rice with some homemade pico de gallo on top. Delicious!
This recipe looks delicious. Do you think 1/3 less fat cream cheese would work? I’m going to put it on the menu for next week and try the reduced fat cream cheese.
Yes absolutely! I avoid fat free, but the reduced fat works great
Sound yummy!! Would you adjust the cooking time for chicken thighs?
Shouldn’t be too different, I’d just use an instant-read thermometer and cook to 165 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken.
This was excellent. Made it in the instant pot and it was so easy. Excellent flavor. Everyone ate it. Will definitely be making this again.
This was AMAZING. The flavor was so good. I didn’t have the paprika and used chicken thighs but kept everything else the same. Made in the instant pot. Fooled my boyfriend by mixing half cauliflower half rice to serve it on. Didn’t know the difference. Another OBB winner!
Made this tonight using my Instant Pot and frozen chicken breasts. Also used your Instant Pot white rice recipe! Turned out great – family loved it! Thanks for all the great recipes 🙂
I throw in black beans as well. Tastes great!