Cheesy Jalapeño Chicken + Avocado Salsa

We don’t do too much meat in our house, maybe once a week. We mainly make vegetarian or fish. Lately, though, meat has been making a resurgence. I came across this recipe for jalapeño chicken on Pinterest. The recipe called for Panko breadcrumbs and I thought I could upgrade the recipe with ingredients we had in our pantry.

Almond meal is a great alternative to breading (I prefer it), though it’s not a blanket substitution. If breadcrumbs are used in a recipe to coat the meat or fish, almond meal totally works for a substitute. If you are using breadcrumbs as a thickening agent, almond meal isn’t your best option.

This recipe was fun for me because it was a bit out of our norm. It’s spicy, meaty, cheesy, moist, and still has that breading-like crunch. It was delish! Perhaps I’ve been out of the breading game a bit too long, but I swear at certain angles these chicken breasts can be mistaken for KFC…

So here how you make this tasty Cheesy Jalapeño Chicken with Avocado Salsa:

 

You can either buy almond meal, or you can make your own. I used blanched almond flour, but you can definitely pulse up some almonds in your food processor until they’re finely chopped and call it a day.

Heat your almond meal and coconut oil in a pan until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to overdo it and burn your nutty meal.

You’ll need three small bowls for the rest of this recipe. In the first bowl, put your almond meal once it is finished in the pan.

Combine your taco spices. I made my own with the ingredients mentioned below, but store bought works just as well!

Add the taco spices to the almond meal and mix everything together.

In a second bowl, beat an egg.

Next, chop your jalapeño. I obsessively wash my hands at least three times after handling jalapeños because one time I was handling jalapeños, washed my hands, itched (not picked) my nose and my nostrils were ON FIRE. I had to wash the inside of my nostrils several times with dish soap to get the initial burning to go away but no matter what I did, the tingling lasted the rest of the night.

Anyway, not a scenario I care to repeat. Wash your hands multiple times and get under your fingernails!! So where was I?

In the third bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and chopped jalapeño.

Take your chicken breast and place the cream cheese mixture onto one side of the chicken.

 

Fold the other half of the chicken on top of the cream cheese mixture.

Dip this chicken in the egg bowl, flipping to coat both sides.

Then toss it in the almond breading bowl, making sure it is well “breaded.”

 

Then place each chicken on a lined baking sheet. 

Pop them in the oven for 25-30 minutes. While they’re baking, combine the avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl and stir to combine.

When it’s done baking, top the chicken with the avocado salsa and enjoy!

 

Let me know your thoughts and how you like it with the almond meal “breading”!! Enjoy! xo