Meal prep this Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad recipe for a flavorful and healthy lunch that you can enjoy all week. Combine the flavor of a delicious jalapeño popper with a high protein chicken salad for an irresistible and versatile lunch.
I like to serve this flavorful chicken salad with crackers, in a wrap or in a sandwich. I love serving it on this homemade overnight bread and making a hearty sandwich with some crispy lettuce. To make a low carb lunch, I like to serve it on low carb tortillas or lettuce wraps!
High Protein
Meal Prep Lunch
Quick Look: Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 👩🍳 Cook Time: 30 minutes
- 🕖 Total Time: 40 minutes
- 🥓🫑 Servings: 4 servings
- ⚡️ Calories: 537 calories per serving (based on nutrition panel)
- 🔥 Cooking Method: Poach chicken breast, cook bacon and jalapeños and mix together.
- 🛒 Main Ingredients: chicken breast, bacon, jalapeños and mayonnaise
- ⭐️ Difficulty: Medium. Poaching chicken may be a new skill, but once you figure it out it is very easy.
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Wendy left this 5 star review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“We love this and have made it several times. I used baked seasoned chicken thighs and made the rest of the recipe as written. We eat it on a low carb tortilla. Delish!”
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.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- 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 mayo recipe!
- Green onions – I love adding scallions for subtle onion flavor and to garnish the chicken salad on top
- 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
Use rotisserie chicken to simplify this recipe. You can 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.
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 to make Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad 🥓🫑
Step 1: Start poaching chicken breast. Prepare bacon in oven or on stovetop. Cook bacon until crispy.
Step 2: Deseed and dice jalapeño peppers. Saute in oil in a small skillet until soft. Mix mayonnaise with seasonings and green onion.
Step 3: Once cooked, tear chicken breast into small shreds either with 2 forks, a hand mixer, stand mixer or meat shredding tool.
Step 4: Pour shredded chicken, chopped cooked bacon, cooked jalapeño and mayo mixture into a mixing bowl. Stir all ingredients until evenly combined. Serve immediately or place in the fridge to chill before serving.
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!
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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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