Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad

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!

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.