Jalapeño Chicken
This jalapeño chicken recipe is a crowd pleaser. Skip the take out and make this easy homemade recipe instead. Ready in 30 minutes.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- one large skillet
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked white rice *or any grain of choice
- 2 lbs chicken breasts boneless/skinless or chicken thighs
- ½ cup corn starch or arrowroot
- ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ cup yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 jalapeño, sliced *green bell peppers will also work.
Sauce Ingredients
- ½ tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- ⅓ cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari if gluten free
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ tbsp cornstarch + ¼ tsp water *mixed together to make a slurry, see notes
Instructions
- Start to cook the rice if using, according to package instructions. Typically it takes about 20 minutes to make rice. Prepare the chicken by patting it dry with a paper towel and cubing into equal 1 inch size cubes.
- In a bowl, add corn starch, salt, and pepper and whisk well. Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Add the chicken to the cornstarch bowl and mix well to ensure even coating. Cook the chicken. Add the chicken to the heated pan, brown on all the sides, about 7-8 minutes. Place chicken in bowl and set aside.
- In the same pan, add ½ tsp of oil if needed. Next, add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeño to the same skillet and sauté for about 3 minutes.Make the sauce. In a medium sized bowl, whisk, water, soy sauce, brown sugar, and cornstarch slurry (mix the corn starch with the water and add it to the sauce - this is called a slurry).
- Add the sauce to the skillet with the onion/garlic mix. Add the browned chicken back into the skillet with the onions, ginger and garlic. Keep it on medium/low heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Simmer the chicken and sauce for about 4-6 minutes or until sauce has thickened, and chicken is fully cooked and reached an internal temperature of 165º. Add optional sesame seeds for garnish and serve over rice and enjoy warm!
Notes
- Use Low Sodium Soy Sauce. Low sodium will help cut down the sodium amount for a better flavor!
- If you Make It Too Spicy; don't worry! Just add more brown sugar to the mix to help equal things out a bit. You can also use green bell peppers in place of the jalapeño for picky eaters.
- Jalapeños Chicken Gets Spicy With Time. If you meal prep this, it will get a little more spicy with leftovers so keep that in mind when measuring jalapeños.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can also freeze this dish for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5 cup | Calories: 573kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 54g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 145mg | Sodium: 1506mg | Potassium: 1006mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 292IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 2mg