This Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad is a flavorful and healthy lunch that you can meal prep and pack all week. Enjoy the flavor of a jalapeño popper in a simple salad for lunch!
Weeknight-easy
Easy cleanup
You’ll Learn: How ot poach chicken breasts for cold salads and sandwiches
Worth It: It’s a satisfying, protein-forward option that actually keeps you full
Bonus: How to turn up the spiciness
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Meal prep hero – The best part is that you can prep it once on Sunday or Monday and enjoy it in your lunchbox all week. It requires little prep time, and this chicken salad has all the flavor and spice of a jalapeño popper in a keto friendly high protein lunch.
- Customizable – You can make so many different styles and varieties of chicken salad and it’s always satisfying. I never get tired of it because we just make so many new recipes!
- Quick and easy high protein snack – Chicken salad makes the perfect snack with some crackers or cut vegetables.
Serving Suggestions
Serve jalapeño popper chicken salad the same way your would any kind of chicken salad. It is delicious on a roll, or you could make overnight bread and toast it with a few pieces of crunchy romaine lettuce.
You can serve this on chopped lettuce with extra veggies like raw celery and cucumber. Or serve it on lettuce cups like little chicken salad tacos or lettuce wraps. Either way I like to make a few extra strips of crispy oven bacon to serve on top of the jalapeno popper chicken.
For another chicken salad with jalapeno, you could try this chopped southwest chicken salad next.
Use rotisserie chicken to simplify this recipe
Make this jalapeño popper chicken salad recipe even easier by using a rotisserie chicken. Take the shredded breast meat from the chicken and mix it into this recipe instead of poaching the chicken at home.
Ingredients
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts – use boneless and skinless breasts to keep this recipe easy
- Bacon – the bacon is so delicious in this chicken salad
- Jalapeños – the jalapenos add the perfect flavor and kick to your chicken salad
- Mayonnaise – use your favorite brand of mayo to make this recipe or make this homemade recipe!
- Green onion – I love adding green onion to garnish the chicken salad
- Onion powder and garlic powder – this simple spice combo is all you will need to give your salad tons of flavor
- Oil – I use olive oil but you can use any neutral oil
- Kosher salt – a bit of salt brings out all of the flavors in your chicken salad
Ingredient Substitutions
There are many ways to change up this jalapeño popper chicken and put your own spin on it. If you do not like mayonnaise, you can use full fat greek yogurt instead. For a bit of tang, substitute some cream cheese. Use any fresh herbs that you like to add to the flavor of this chicken salad. I like to garnish this with lots of fresh green onion. If you want to add a bit of cheese, like a sharp cheddar cheese.
You can saute freshly chopped garlic and onion with the diced jalapeños to add even more flavor to this chicken salad. Red onion would also be delicious. Instead of green onion, you could substitute chives. And feel free to add any other spices you would like. You can add black pepper to taste.
Instead of fresh jalapeno, you could opt for pickled jalapenos in a jar. It will give a more briny flavor. You could even add a bit of the juice from the jar for added flavor.
How spicy are jalapeño peppers?
Want to make this chicken salad a little spicier? Just leave in some or all of the seeds when you slice up your fresh jalapeno. The spice level of jalapeño can vary from pepper to pepper.
The spiciest parts of jalapeño peppers are the seeds and the membrane. They aren’t super spicy, but you can control how much spice you get from each pepper.
How to Make
Step 1: Poach the chicken and cook bacon
First, place chicken breasts in a sauce pan and cover with cold water. Then, bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, reduce to a simmer and simmer for 14 minutes.
After simmering, remove the chicken from the pot, allow to cool slightly and shred with two forks (Image 2).
While the chicken poaches, prep the five slices bacon and jalapeños. Fry the bacon over medium low heat until crispy (Image 1). Then, place the bacon on a towel or rack to let the grease drip off.
Step 2: Prep the Bacon and Jalapeños.
Next, deseed and chop the jalapeños into small strips. If you want a spicier chicken salad, leave some of the seeds attached to the pepper.
Then, heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium heat in a frying pan and add the jalapeños to the pan (Image 3).
Saute for a total time of 10 minutes, add salt to the jalapeños and saute for an additional minute before removing from heat.
Step 3: Mix it all together!
In a large mixing bowl combine mayonnaise, green onion, half teaspoon garlic powder, and onion powder into an even mixture (Image 4).
Then, add shredded chicken, cooked jalapeños, and chopped bacon to a bowl with the mayo mixture (Image 5).
Mix together until each piece of chicken is coated and an even mixture remains (Image 6).
Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Storage
Once prepared, store this chicken salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It should keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Check out these other chicken salad recipes
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 5 strips of bacon
- 3 jalapeños
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup green onion
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Place chicken breasts in a medium sized sauce pan and cover with cold water until both breasts are covered with at least 1″ of water
- Place pot on the stove uncovered and bring water to a boil
- Reduce the water to a simmer and cover with a lid
- Simmer the chicken for 14 minutes then remove from heat
- While the chicken cookes prepare the bacon on the stovetop – fry at medium-low heat until crispy
- Also, prepare the jalapeños by deseeding and slicing into small strips. **If you want a spicier chicken salad, leave some of the seeds attached to the pepper.
- Place 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium heat
- Saute jalapeños until soft, about 10 minutes. Then, add 1/2 tsp salt and saute for an additional minute
- Place cooked bacon on a towel to drain some grease and then chop into bite sized pieces
- In a small bowl combine mayonnaise, green onion, onion powder, and garlic powder
- Once cooked, remove the chicken from the water and shredd on a plate or cutting board with 2 forks
- In a large bowl combine shredded chicken, mayo mixture, sauteed jalapeños, and chopped bacon
- Mix all ingredients until evenly combined
- Enjoy immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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