Creamy Chipotle Chicken is a simple but super flavorful 30-minute dinner with a delicious smoky chipotle cream sauce – that’s secretly healthy! Serve over rice to soak up the extra sauce!
With spring out in full force and summer knocking at the door, I’m ready to relax into a little less work and a little more play. You know, long afternoons at the pool or playground, lazy weekend mornings in our PJs in the backyard, evenings looking for fireflies and sipping on something delicious. Maybe this Hawaiian stone sour! Or this raspberry champagne cocktail. Mmm… Sorry, distracted by the drinks. Anyway, today I’m bringing you creamy chipotle chicken — a quick and easy dinner that’s big on flavor! It’s ready in 30 minutes so you can spend more time in play mode!
CREAMY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN
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This recipe is based on my chicken breasts with jalapeño cheese sauce recipe – same technique, just a slightly different flavor in the sauce. Can you tell I like some spicy and some smoky flavors?! (Go check that one out if you’re with me – you will LOVE it!) And this one too. This creamy chicken dinner – which doesn’t use any cream, by the way, so it’s still nice and light for spring and summer – is saucy and smoky and rich and all kinds of spoon-licking good!
We love serving this over steamed brown rice with plenty of extra sauce! You could also try it over quinoa or even pasta. As for sides, we love this steamed lemon butter asparagus in the spring or just some steamed or roasted broccoli or broccolini. Whatever’s your favorite veggie! Flavor up your next chicken dinner with this easy creamy chipotle chicken!
A few notes on this creamy chipotle chicken:
- You sear the chicken in the pan and then remove it to make the sauce. The chicken will be returned to the pan to cook the rest of the way through.
- To make things efficient, you can chop your onion, garlic, and chipotle peppers while the chicken is searing.
- I use 1/3 less fat cream cheese here. Full fat would work fine, too. You could substitute fat-free cream cheese if that’s what you prefer, but it’ll lose a little richness.
- I use 3 chipotle peppers and 1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce in this recipe. You can increase or decrease that to your liking.
Want more 30 minute meals?
Want more chipotle flavor?
- Cheesy Chipotle Fries
- Cheesy Bacon Chipotle Ranch Dip
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Ranch Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Ale Chili
Tools used in this Creamy Chipotle Chicken
Large Skillet: This skillet is my go-to kitchen tool. It’s large circumference and high sides make it perfect for cooking anything from one pan meals to soups and sauces.
Tongs: A good pair of tongs is a kitchen essential. I like having a couple sizes – a longer set for grilling and a shorter set for stovetop cooking.
Wooden Spoon: Wooden spoons are a kitchen essential. I keep a bunch of them on hand for every meal from breakfast to dinner.
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo: These spicy peppers give a great smoky flavor to any dish!
Chicken Broth: I like cartons of chicken broth over cans. This way if I don’t use all the broth for one meal, I can pop the rest in the fridge for later use.
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 chipotle peppers minced
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 4 oz. cream cheese I use 1/3 less fat
- 2-3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt I use non-fat
Instructions
- Heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Season chicken breasts with the salt and pepper. Add to pan and sear for 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
- Remove chicken breasts from the skillet to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. (They will finish cooking later.)
- Reduce heat to medium and add remaining two teaspoons olive oil to the pan.
- Add diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and chipotle peppers and saute for 30 more seconds.
- Add adobo sauce, chicken broth, and cream cheese and stir until melted.
- Return the chicken breasts to the skillet, along with any accumulated juices, and turn to coat in the sauce.
- Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 7-9 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. (It will depend on how thick your chicken breasts are.) I like to spoon some of the sauce over the chicken breasts halfway through the cooking time.
- Once the chicken is cooked through, turn off heat and stir in Greek yogurt. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve chicken breasts with extra sauce spooned over the top, and enjoy!
Nutrition
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eddy says
Looks great and looks like the leftovers will microwave nicely.
Kim says
What is Adobe sauce and where do I find it?
Aubrey Cota says
Adobo Sauce: a paste or marinade made from chili peppers, vinegar, herbs, and spices, used in Mexican cooking. You should be able to find it at your local grocery store in the aisle where the Mexican food is housed.
Shelby says
This looks so good! Do you think this could be done in a slow cooker? I work long days. This would be great to come home to, shred, and turn into a burrito.
Aubrey Cota says
Absolutely!
Anastasia Beeler says
This was really good. Next time, I will only use 2 peppers though. It was just a tad too spicy for my ten year old.
Nan says
I wish you would revise your recipe to include how many teaspoons of minced chipotle peppers to use instead of each. The three I selected out of the can were apparently too big because the chicken was inedible, it was so hot.
Aubrey Cota says
I’m sorry it turned out too hot for you. Although I must say everyone has their own tolerance of what they consider spicy/hot, something that makes these recipes so great is the ability to adjust the ingredients to suit what works best for you and your family. Hopefully you try this one again!
Huy Nguyen says
I Wonder if this can be use as pasta sauce?
Aubrey Cota says
Certainly!
Kaela says
I’ve used a very similar recipe as a pasta sauce (cayenne pepper with red bell peppers instead of chipotle peppers in adobo), and it worked great. I’ve done it with cream cheese, but I usually use sour cream. Depends on how thick/rich you want it to be. 🙂
Olivia says
What could i use in place of greek yogurt
Aubrey Cota says
Sour cream would work out just fine.
Ryan Branch says
Amaaxing recipe!!! I changed some things but used this as a base idea for my sauce/dish. I added red and green bell peppers and mushrooms and diced roma tomatoes at the end with the yogurt. Everything else i followed exactly, just addition of veggies to make a “whole dish”. Put it all over basmati rice and it was a big hit. Thank you very much for the recipe!! I will be trying your jalepenos cheesy chicken as well.
Aubrey Cota says
Great additions!! Adding veggies to round out the meal is always a plus especially when you have great flavors that work together. So happy to hear it was a hit. Thank you Ryan.
Karina says
Okay this sounds so good but what to do when you are not able to get the things you need? Could you help by recommend something othere than adobo sauce? When you live in Scandinavia the “Mexican aisle” only consist of the moste basic Santa Maria TexMex stuff. I have found dried and crushed chipotle peppers? Hope you will share some of your ideas. Thanks in advance.
Aubrey Cota says
You can certainly make your own by breaking down the ingredients, here is one I found online that should be easy enough to obtain all of the components especially if you have access to crushed chipotle peppers: Mix 1 tablespoon tomato paste (or if you must – ketchup), 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon chipotle powder (or smoked paprika/cayenne powder mix), 1/2 teaspoon cumin, a pinch of oregano, a pinch of garlic powder, and a pinch of salt. Adjust these proportions to best fit your flavor and spiciness expectations. Hope that helps!
Tia Francis says
Just made this for me and my husband. It was soooo yummy but a bit too spicy for me- I’ll
just use two peppers next time. The sauce with the cream cheese was still amazing, you could really put anything in there!!!
Aubrey Cota says
Thank you so much!
Kristen says
This was absolutely delicious!!! I agree with the other posts I will try two peppers next time so I can enjoy more of the flavor of the sauce but o m g this was so much better than I had expected and soooo easy! Thank you for an amazing recipe!!
Aubrey Cota says
Yay I’m so glad you like it! Thank you.
Nancy says
Why are you adding the yogurt until the end? I work so I prepare dinner before I leave so my husband can just hear it up and eat. I don’t want to mess it up if I add the tougher before it ready to serve.
Aubrey Cota says
Adding yogurt at the end helps to keep the flavor light and fresh. Sometimes when you add a dairy product in too early it can curdle and be an unpleasant flavor.
Brent says
I just made this and it was so good. I live a keto lifestyle and this dish was perfect for it. I did make a few slight modifications. I used sour cream instead of yogurt because thats what i have around. I also had to add anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 more cup of water because it was getting way to thick. I see a lot of people complaining about the heat level. Yes people it has 3 smoked jalapenos in it. Its going to hot!! I myself love hot food so it was perfect for me but i wouldn’t go feed this to a kid without modifying it somewhat. What you have to understand though is the chipotle not only bring heat but also bring a lot of flavor. Cutting down the # of chipotles will cut some of the smoky flavor that it imparts (maybe adding a little bit of liquid smoke would help i don’t know).
Aubrey Cota says
Thank you!
Franciela says
I made this for my boyfriend and I for dinner and wow we loved it I will definitely make this again. Very simple and easy to make I love the flavor and how spicy it was. Also great instructions I knew exactly how to make it thanks for making it easy to follow!
Aubrey Cota says
Awesome! Thank you so much.
Eric says
I live in Thailand and the only chipotles I have are dried as that is what I could bring here. How would I use them in this recipe?
Shani says
I have made this one other time and I absolutely loved every bite!! It was a little spicier that I would have liked personally , but I think i will make it to taste this time. Making this for the family tonight and hope they love it as much as I do.
Aubrey Cota says
Yes, absolutely adjust for your flavor profile! I’m so glad you liked it and I hope everyone else did as well. Thank you, Shani.
Chris says
I made this for my family and it was a real hit! I was nervous about the spiciness, but nobody had a problem with it. We used boneless thighs instead of breasts. This is going in to our rotation.
Aubrey Cota says
Good idea, I should try it this with thighs. Thanks, Chris.