Happy Tuesday, friends. I’ve been seeing this Jalapeno Cheddar Chicken Instant Pot recipe make the rounds on social media, so I decided to give it a try. Disclaimer, this one took kind of awhile – and had a lot of ingredients, so it’s not one of my easier meals to make. It takes about an hour from start to finish – and there is lots of clean up involved and you have to be kind of hands up for the beginning portion. But, it was delicious, so it’s something I would make again during a weekend – but not during the week if I’m short on time.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 pounds of chicken breast tenders
- 4 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups of broth (chicken, vegetable, whatever…)
- 6 tablespoons of butter
- 1 can of corn (drained)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2-3 diced jalapeños (I buy the pre-diced jalapeños from the store because I always end up with a jalapeno incident if I chop them myself)
- 1/2 onion chopped
- Cilantro (for garnishing)
- 6 green onions sliced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- dash of salt
- pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3 tablespoons of flour
(I told you it was a lot of ingredients). Don’t worry, though. The recipe was easy once I got going.
Here’s what you’ll do
- Set your instant pot to sauté, and melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Once the butter is melted, sauté your chicken tenders for about 2-3 minutes on each side until cooked through.
- After your chicken is done cooking, add in your onions, garlic and jalapeños and sauté for about two more minutes.
- Add in your broth, corn, green onions, cream, chili powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Don’t stir.
- Just dump all of those ingredient in, seal the lid to your Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
- Once the 6 minutes are up, let your Instant Pot naturally release for 10 more minutes. After the 10 minutes are up, quick release your IP.
- Remove the chicken from the filling and set it aside to rest.
- Add the four cups of cheese to the filling – one cup at a time. Stir to ensure the cheese is melting – the IP will still be hot, so it should melt the cheese slowly.
- Melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Mix the 3 tablespoons of flour in with the melted butter.
- Slowly combine that butter/flour mixture into your Instant Pot with the cheese filling.
- Set the IP to sauté. Stir frequently until the mixture begins to thicken (about 5 minutes).
- Combine the chicken back into the cheese mixture – and you are ready to serve.
Here’s the thing. This recipe makes A LOT of cheese mixture. You can serve this recipe as chicken nachos, serve it with a side of rice or quinoa, shred it and make some enchiladas – or just eat the chicken. It’s delicious, but I had so much cheese left over that I went ahead and stuck it in the freezer to use as a dip for chips at a later date – or even as an enchilada sauce!
Hot take: This was a delicious Instant Pot recipe (you can click here for some other Instant Pot recipes). My husband and I both really liked it. It’s got a lot of ingredients – and it does take a bit longer to make, though. But, I would definitely give it a try if you need something tasty for a Sunday night dinner!
Happy Tuesday, friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with the final Bachelor in Paradise recap.
