Baked Salsa Chicken

ON SALE: Two new eBooks! Visit the shop!

BAKED SALSA CHICKEN is an easy weeknight dinner that my family requests often. It’s so simple to throw together but there is so much flavor thanks to the salsa and cheese. 

Raise your hand if you could eat Mexican food every single night of the week!

(Picture me over here with both hands in the air, jumping up and down like a maniac.) 

I just love Mexican flavors. The authentic stuff is good, the American-ized stuff is good, the fusion stuff is even good! 

We make a lot of Mexican dishes in our house and tonight I’m sharing an easy one with you. This baked salsa chicken recipe is one of the easiest ways to get dinner on the table and my kids love it too!

Chicken and salsa go together perfectly and there’s just 2 net carbs per serving, too!

How to make salsa chicken: 

This is stupidly simple, so this is going to be quick. 😉 

We prefer boneless, skinless chicken breasts in our house, but you can use thighs if you prefer those. 

Start out by pounding out your chicken to an even thickness. This will ensure that it bakes up nice and evenly.

How to pound out chicken: 

• I lay out a large piece of plastic wrap, place one chicken breast slightly off center, and fold one side of the wrap loosely over the top of the chicken. The plastic wraps keeps the chicken juices from flying all over your kitchen.
• Grab a meat tenderizer/mallet and pound the chicken. You can also use a rolling pin or other heavy object to pound your chicken out. 
• You don’t want to flatten the chicken – just get it an even thickness. 

Season the chicken breasts with some garlic salt, chili powder, and cumin. 

My spice cabinet is bursting at the seams with all kinds of spices, but if you don’t have quite the same collection as me, you could also just use some taco seasoning here. 

Spread a bit of salsa into a 9×13 baking dish and then place the chicken on top. Pour more salsa over the chicken to coat and then pop this in the oven.

This restaurant style salsa is our FAVORITE! It’s good for dipping pork rinds, too. 

Once the chicken is cooked through, sprinkle the top with cheese – and don’t skimp!

We use pepper jack cheese if we have a milder salsa or cheddar cheese if the salsa is on the spicy side. Either work great!

Now that the cheese is melty and the chicken is tender and juicy, it’s time to dig in. Serve this up with a side of cilantro lime cauliflower rice. 

You can even top it off with some sliced avocado or homemade guac, if that’s your style.

Enjoy!

More Mexican-inspired recipes:

Crockpot Chicken Fajitas: Serve them over cauliflower rice or in a low carb tortilla!

Taco Pizza: Made with my favorite low carb pizza crust.

Keto Taco Casserole: We make this one often!

Guacamole Chicken Melt: If you love guac, this is for you.

Keto Enchilada Sauce: So simple and flavorful!