My Menu Needs a Fresh Take: Jalapeño Popper Chicken Recipe

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When we had grilled cheese and soup the other night for the fourth time in as many weeks, I knew it was time to rethink our long-term dinner menu. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind grilled cheese and tomato soup, it’s just that I prefer a little more variety in my meals.

The only problem is “variety” and “simplicity” usually don’t go hand in hand, but a recent discovery changed that. While on the hunt for ways to breathe new life into our chicken dishes, I discovered Kraft Fresh Take, a cheese and breadcrumb mix that adds a unique blend of flavor to just about any meal. Oh, and it’s also easy to use.

The mix includes a pouch of cheese and a pouch of seasoned breading that are combined when you’re ready to start cooking and can be used to coat chicken, pork, fish and all sorts of other things. It can be found in the cheese section of your local grocery store (I found mine at Walmart) and is available in nine varieties: Italian Parmesan, Classic Four Cheese, Spicy Chipotle Cheddar, Smokey Mesquite BBQ, Southwest Three Cheese, Rosemary and Roasted Garlic, Cheddar Jack and Bacon, Chili Lime and Panko, and Savory Four Cheese.

jalapeno popper chicken recipe

I chose Cheddar Jack and Bacon to play the starring role in a dish that was brand new to our family menu: Jalapeño Popper Chicken. The dish is essentially chicken breasts stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese and diced jalapeño peppers, and coated in Cheddar Jack and Bacon Kraft Fresh Take. (See recipe at the bottom of this entry.)

jalapeno popper chicken recipe

Don’t underestimate Walmart’s selection of fresh veggies. That’s where I got the jalapeños used in this dish. You can see my whole shopping experience here.

By the way, the seeds are the only spicy part of jalapeños. Use as many or as few seeds as you’d like, depending on how spicy you prefer it. For my little one, I didn’t include any seeds in her portion of the mixture to keep it mild, but added a bunch to mine and the hubby’s.

jalapeno popper chicken recipe

Simply mix the cream cheese, shredded cheddar and diced jalapeños.

jalapeno popper chicken recipe

Butterfly the chicken and stuff it with the mixture. Or if you really want, you can do all that pounding and rolling, but why make it harder than you need to. Just put some toothpicks in to keep the cheese mixture from spilling out.

Then pat the chicken breasts all over with a coating of the Kraft Fresh Take. These will be baked in the oven, but here’s a trick I recently started using for baking breaded meats: Bake them on a metal wire rack which fits on top of your baking sheet. This keeps the bottoms from getting soggy, but it also makes cleaning up your baking sheet a lot easier!

After about 20 minutes in the oven (or a little longer depending upon the size of your chicken breasts), your meal is ready! I served our Jalapeño Popper Chicken with a side of broccoli, which was the perfect vegetable for mopping up the gooey cheesy filling that might spill out of your chicken!

jalapeno popper chicken recipePinItIf you want to learn more about Kraft Fresh Takes, check out their website. You can also watch for the Kraft Fresh Possibilities Tour truck which will be making stops across the country from March through the end of July. To see if they are making a stop in your town you can check out the Fresh Possibilities Tour website.

Check out my other easy dinner recipes while you’re here.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kraft Foods. All opinions are my own. #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric”
4.8 from 13 reviews
Jalapeño Popper Chicken Recipe
 
Author: 
Ingredients
  • 4 Chicken Breasts
  • 1 Pckg of Kraft Fresh Take
  • 4 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese (softened)
  • 4 oz Kraft Shredded Cheddar
  • 3 Jalapeños
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Dice jalapeños - the more seeds you keep, the spicier it will be
  3. Mix jalapeños with cream cheese and shredded cheddar
  4. Butterfly the chicken and stuff with equal portions of jalapeño mixture
  5. Coat with Kraft Fresh Take
  6. Place chicken on a metal rack over a baking sheet
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until thickest part of chicken is no longer pink

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Comments

  1. Sounds super yummy. I am all for cooking with pre-made ingredients. And I love Kraft cheeses.

  2. OMG That looks delicious! Where do you find a metal baking rack? I’ve been looking for one for like 2 years but the ones I find are for cooling cookies and have wooden handles and stuff. I’m clearly looking for the wrong thing.

    I’m getting bored of what we eat too. My daughter has a milk protein allergy so we don’t often eat cheese (which sucks because I’m a mouse), but we do let her have it for a special treat sometimes because it is also one of her favorite foods. I’m going to have to grab one of these for quick meals.

    • Momma on the Rocks Momma on the Rocks says:

      Your poor daughter! Hopefully she’ll grow out of it.

      You can find them on Amazon and I’ve seen them at Walmart, too. Just make sure they’re metal not coated! lol

  3. we actually tried one of these the other night…we loved it!

  4. That looks so good! I’m going to have to try those!

  5. I just LOVE the Kraft Fresh Takes…so does my son! lol. I will have to give this recipe a shot!!

  6. This looks amazing. I rarely rate recipes Splurgeworthy, but this is a viable candidate. I’m trying it this week. My kids will be all over this. Thanks for sharing your creativity!

  7. Amen to the ‘variety and simple don’t always go together’! I’m the same way, I want some amazing flavor every night but get so carried away (oh THANK YOU Pinterest!) I end up going to the store 4 times a week because I need another ingredient. So next time I am there, I will pick up one of these – great suggestion!

  8. I HAVE to make this!!!! Oh my goodness! The husband and my taste buds will be singing praises for HOURS after this. I am already in love and I can already taste it! Oh my goodness! Thank you! thank you! thankyou!!!!

  9. I’ve been wondering if those Kraft Fresh Take things are any good. Your recipe looks great so I may try them depending on what’s inside.

  10. Love this recipe, thanks for sharing

  11. this looks yummy, thanks for sharing some great ideas 😀 i will try this since my husband loves cheese and jalapenos

  12. That looks so good! I would probably use fresh broccoli instead of jalapeños based on the spice level, but yum!

    • Momma on the Rocks Momma on the Rocks says:

      That does sound good. The Jalapenos aren’t really spicy though if you take all the seeds out before dicing them up. They taste just like jalapeno poppers! So good!

  13. That looks soo yummy and easy to do. I’ll have to try it this weekend.

  14. Wow looks delish

  15. I’ll have to try this, I am always looking for new but easy recipes, and this seems like a great meal that is quick to make!

  16. Sounds like adding a little spice to my life:)

  17. Spicy AND cheesy? This is my kind of meal! Thanks for sharing!

  18. Yummy! The hubs would love this. I’m not big on “hot” foods.. maybe I could tone it down some to try 🙂

    • Momma on the Rocks Momma on the Rocks says:

      Dawn – The seeds are the only part of the jalapeno that are spicy. You can take out all the seeds before you dice up the peppers, then it won’t be spicy at all. 🙂

  19. Jenna Wood says:

    This looks so gooey and yummy!

  20. looks great. Thanks for the recipe

  21. I need to try this with my family!

  22. This looks soooo yummy!! I’ve never cooked with jalapenos before – but I would try this for sure!

  23. That looks REALLY good. I’ll have to check that out! Thank you!

  24. This sounds and looks super good. Something that I must try.

  25. YUM! I love the fresh takes! I use them in my meat loaf 🙂

  26. Your recipe looks so delicious! I love jalapeno poppers to I love that you included it in the chicken!

  27. Made this tonight and it was delicious, the whole family loved it. Thank you!

  28. Do you think you could use frozen chicken breast? I’ve already got some in the freezer 🙂

  29. Claudia says:

    Great recipe! I used Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese, and frozen chicken breasts only because that is what I had available. We loved it!

  30. I wanted make this but I hate touching raw chicken so stuffing it was out of the question. So I put the chicken in a casserole dish, then covered with the cream cheese filling then topped it with the breading mixture. It was awesome & I never had to touch the raw chicken.

  31. I made this today using the Southwest Three cheese flavor, and it was so awesome! I did season my chicken lightly(seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder) on the inside after it was butterflied. I used my Southwest mix only on the outside. I found the Fresh Takes at Kroger.

  32. I made this last night and my husband loved it! I used two pickled jalapenos instead of fresh because I like that taste better. It was just the right spice kick for him but next time I’ll add more jalapenos to my portion. I served with broccoli and a boxed potato casserole because that is what I had on hand and rolls. Very yum.

  33. jennifer says:

    This looks yummy but I’ve never seen that Kraft product. Is it an American thing? Is there a substitution?

  34. I made this recipe last night it was soooooooo good my family absolutely loved it and are asking me when I’m make it again already lol. So thanks so for the wonderful recipe

  35. Stephanie Cartwright says:

    I didn’t use the Bacon Cheese Fresh Takes, just dipped in egg and seasoned Pablo bread crumbs, but this is my new favorite chicken! Thanks for the recipe! Everyone loved it!

  36. Stephanie Cartwright says:

    Ooops, panko, not Pablo.

  37. Was excited to make this, however, The Kraft Fresh Takes are discontinued. I tried 3 different stores.
    Suggestions? This sounds so yummy….

    • Yes I was bummed to find they don’t make the fresh tales. I figured I would just use panko crumbs seasoning and some cheese. Hopefully it taste as good.

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