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These Salsa Verde Chicken Bites are one of my absolute favorite chicken recipes! You can’t beat tender chicken and flaky cornbread slathered in salsa verde sauce!Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Salsa Verde Chicken Bites

I am in love with this creamy, saucy, sassy southwestern chicken and perfect fluffy cornbread bites. This is another one of our favorite easy weeknight meals, and it comes to you from one of my favorite cookbooks, Perfect One-Dish Dinners by Pam Anderson. I LOVE one-dish dinners. They are my favorite! I love just making one thing and having everything ready all at the same time. This recipe can easily be halved to be the perfect serving size for just two, or doubled for entertaining friends and family. I always half this recipe for just Kevin and me, and it comes out perfect every single time. We love this one! If you love quick and easy weeknight dinners, I know this will be a favorite in your house too. :)

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Just a few simple ingredients here. We almost always have everything on hand to make this, so I can whip this up on busy nights where I haven’t had a chance to plan for dinner. Salsa Verde is a delicious mild green salsa found next to all the other salsas.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

How to Make Salsa Verde Chicken Bites

First we’ll start with the creamy southwestern sauce for the chicken that gets all bubbly and delicious. Start by melting the butter in a large, oven-safe skillet.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Then sprinkle in the flour. I halved this recipe for just the two of us, so that’s why some of my measurements might be slightly different in the photos. I’ll post the full recipe below, which serves six.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Whisk the flour and butter until fully combined.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Then add the salsa, chicken broth, and half-and-half and whisk vigorously until thick, bubbly and beautiful. There’s your delicious sauce! Pam calls for evaporated milk in her recipe, but the full recipe uses the entire 5-ounce can of evaporated milk. Since I always half the recipe and would end up with a half a can of leftover milk, I started using half-and-half instead so I could use just what I needed. I can’t tell the difference between the two, and it’s delicious both ways! If I were going to be making the full version I would probably just use the evaporated milk, and since it’s shelf-stable it’d be super easy to keep on hand. Or if you only need half, feel free to substitute with half-and-half like me.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Next add your cooked, chopped chicken to the sauce. This recipe is perfect for leftover chicken, boneless skinless chicken breasts, or rotisserie chickens. I’m actually using leftover Thanksgiving turkey here!

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

So creamy and delicious! Turn heat to low and meanwhile, make the cornbread bites.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Take a bunch of scallions, and lop off the roots.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Starting from the white end, thinly slice the scallions most of the way to the end. Stop when the ends get too wilty-looking.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

You can use the whites or the greens or a mixture of both, but this recipe calls for just the greens so that’s what I used here. You’ll only need 1/4th cup for this recipe, but I *love* having scallions on hand, so just throw the rest into Ziploc bag and freeze to save for your next scallion application. Throw them on anything you want to jazz up, like pizza or pasta or this Spicy Sausage Pasta, which I highly recommend you make ASAP. You don’t even have to thaw them out first if you’re going to be baking it. So easy! And I love the mild flavor of scallions.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Anyway! Combine the scallions with flour, cornmeal, salt, and one whole tablespoon of baking powder. This may seem like a lot, but once you take a bite of these impossibly fluffy cornbread bites, you’ll be glad you did!

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Stir together with a fork to combine.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Next heat the some milk and butter in a small saucepan. (Pam calls for whole milk, I always use 2%)

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Until melted and steamy.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Pour into the dry ingredients.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

And stir to form a dough.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Take a small scoop or spoonful of the dough…

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

And drop into the skillet with the chicken and sauce.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Put this whole skillet into a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes and you are DONE! So easy!

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

This is pure heaven.

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

Creamy, saucy chicken…

Salsa Verde Chicken #Recipe from www.kevinandamanda.com

And deliciously fluffy little cornbread bites. This one’s so, so good guys!! Enjoy!

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Salsa Verde Chicken Bites

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

These Salsa Verde Chicken Bites are one of my absolute favorite chicken recipes! You can’t beat tender chicken and flaky cornbread slathered in salsa verde sauce!

Scale

Ingredients

For the Sauce

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 jar (16 ounces) salsa verde (2 cups)
  • 1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk (or 2/3 cup half and half)
  • 18 oz (about 4.5 cups) cooked, chopped chicken

For the cornbread

  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/41/2 cup thinly sliced scallion greens

Instructions

For the Sauce

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large oven-proof skillet. Whisk in the flour to make a paste. Add broth, salsa verde, and evaporated milk (or half and half) and whisk vigorously until thick and bubbly. Stir in chicken and turn heat to low to keep warm.

For the cornbread

  1. Meanwhile, heat milk and butter in a small saucepan until melted and steamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and scallions with a fork. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and stir to form a dough. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the skillet with chicken mixture.
  2. Transfer skillet to oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until cornbread is cooked through, and the edges are crisp and golden brown.

Notes

Adapted from Salsa Verde Chicken with Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings by Pam Anderson.

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44 Responses
  1. Susan G

    I just made this for about the tenth time-I used turkey, added sautéed onion, leeks, elephant garlic and green and red pepper, and a combo of chicken stock and fat free half and half. This is just such a winner of a dish. We love hot food, so I add even more medium chile powder to the sauce, but that is just our taste. What a great dish this is Amanda! I’ve made it with chicken, pheasant and turkey, always with the cornbread and it is just fantastic.

  2. Theresa Wagar

    My family loved this. Even my picky teen who doesn’t like spicy. Thinks for sharing. This goes on our meal rotation

  3. MaryLee

    This recipe sounds delicious. I saw the recipe in one of Pam Anderson’s books. She covers the pan before placing it in the oven. I’m wondering whether or not to cover the pan before baking.

  4. Brenda

    This is the second night in a row making one of your recipes. Last night was the Spicy Sausage Pasta, which was amazing. Tonight I made this Salsa Verde Chicken and I think I am in love. It’s not beautiful to look at, but the taste is out-of-this-world! I’m trying to figure out what veggies to put in it to use it as a pot pie filling. Thanks for great recipes!!

  5. lizb1979

    I used medium salsa verde and my mouth is still burning. However, this was super tasty & we loved it. Next time mild may be in order, but otherwise I thibk we have a winner! Thanks for another great recipe.

  6. Susan G

    Made this tonight, and what a winner THIS is!!!!! Was a little light on chicken, so sauteed about 1/2 c. of chopped leeks, chopped green pepper and chopped red pepper to make up, and used a mixture of 2% milk and light cream for the sauce with a little smoked paprika and ground black pepper to spice things up a little more-the whole thing was just delicious. My husband just loved this-heard him call from the dining room “This is just awesome!!!!”. We can’t wait to make this with our frozen leftover turkey!!!!!!! A keeper for sure (I saw one comment about adding shredded cheese to the top, which sounded awfully tempting but this recipe was pretty great already and WAY filling)

  7. Katie

    Amanda, thanks for sharing this delicious looking recipe! I want to make it but I have cornbread muffin mix and not cornmeal. Do you think I could make the muffin mix as called for on the box and plop that on top of the chicken and sauce and bake? I think that should work but I wanted to make sure! Thanks again!

    1. Amanda

      Before adding the dumplings, transfer everything to an oven safe baking dish, like a 9×13 dish. Top with dumplings and bake! Good luck! :)

  8. Karen Gilmore

    Made this last night and cut the recipe in half since just for my husband and I – we loved it alot! I used cream instead of the evap. milk, and a little more butter in the dumpling mix. Also added cumin, garlic powder, and cilantro to the sauce and the dumpling mix, and added a little grated Monterrey Jack on top right before it was done. It also took alot longer than 15-20 minutes – more like 30-40 for the dumplings to be done. Really really good though!!

  9. teri pozniak // tPoz Photography

    Made this tonight & the hubs loved it.
    I had trouble getting the dumplings to “dough up” and had to add a little bit more milk (admittedly only had skim on hand) I still thought they could be improved upon, but hubs isn’t as picky ;)

  10. Jaclyn

    This looks so amazingly good! Everything you make looks delicious! Thanks for the waffle pin by the way I hope you do have a chance to make them =).

  11. LCSmithSAVED (Leslie)

    Wanted to say that I made this & it was SO TASTY, but any tips on getting my dumplings a little more moist? The dough seemed the right consistency but they were a tad dry… but I almost didn’t care it was so good!

  12. Melanie

    Words cannot describe the amount of love that this dish entails. First of all, putting my skillet in the oven to finish cooking gives me indescribable joy and makes me feel super legit. The fact that the food tastes like heaven is a nice perk too, I guess :) the dish was pretty saucy, so I made some quinoa and served it under the dumplings. This will definitely be a new staple for us!

  13. Anita

    Hi Amanda, I live in New Zealand. We often don’t have access to the same ingredients as you, let alone the same brands. I made this tonight with normal Salsa from a jar. Even Cornbread is a “speciality” item which I had to find in the Health section of the supermarket. I enjoyed making this, and first time ever making dumplings. It was also the first time I’ve put the skillet in the oven. I burnt my arm. I’m not used to it being hot! Everyone enjoyed the meal and it was whipped up pretty quickly. Cheers.

  14. donna t.

    I made this last night and it was a lot more saucy than yours. Very easy and we both enjoyed it very much. I added shredded cheddar to the cornbread… yum.

  15. Nancy Clay

    I saw this post today, and thought I should try it for dinner. Had to run out for the green onions and salsa verde. I didn’t get dinner started until nearly 5:30-this is late for me. Me and my daughter double teamed it though, me on the chicken and sauce, her on the dumplings. We were eating dinner by 6:30 and my husband exclaimed multiple times “Num” which translated means “super delish” and “I love it”. He said I must make this for him again. I thought I had messed up the sauce, it was pretty lumpy by the time I was getting the flour mixed in and adding the liquid. I ran it through my blender, next step would have been a sieve to get out the lumps. The blender worked though and it was smooth and creamy! My oven wasn’t quite up to temp when it went in, so I didn’t get quite the crisy that the picture looks like it was, but still delish none the less. The dumplings were not too cornbready. I like it, but hubs does not. Anyway, just wanted to say “thank you” for adding another winner to our family menu’s!

  16. ryane

    This looks very Yummy and easy . Not like any thing ive ever seen. That has Salsa verde in it. Im gonna try It. Love all the photos. It makes it seem like i can put this together lickity Split. Will see. lol Thanks for posting it.

  17. Lois H

    Yay – a recipe! I’ve been missing them. I love when you post recipes, pictures of the doggies, stuff about your clothes, etc. I miss your updates on favorite things in makeup, clothes, goodies, etc. Thanks for the recipe – definitely making this one!

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Meet Kevin & Amanda

Kevin and Amanda

We love to travel and to eat! Here we share our favorite quick and easy recipes, plus travel tips and guides for our favorite places around the world. If you have any questions about what camera I use or how I edit my photos, check out my photography tutorials.

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