Sunday, March 2, 2008

Jalapeno Chicken & Rice

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 pkgs Chicken Flavored Rice (think Lipton/Rice A Roni type)
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
2 TBS diced (pickled) jalapenos
Monterrey Jack or Cheddar cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 400*. Grease an 8x10 casserole dish (I think that's the size of the smaller version of the 9x13). The 9x13 will be way too big ... so find/use something smaller. Place uncooked chicken breasts in dish and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. DO NOT add the rice to the dish ... It might work, but I haven't tried it to know for sure.

In sauce pan, melt butter then blend flour into butter to make a roux. Add chicken broth and cook until mixture thickens and bubbles. Stir in sour cream and jalapenos. Cook until heated through, but DO NOT BOIL.

Pour the white sauce over the chicken, leaving about 1/2 - 3/4 cup remaining in the pan to use for the rice. If you want, sprinkle the top of the chicken with cheese and then bake at 400* for 40 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. I used cheddar cheese ... it was good, but I think I like it better without cheese. And I love cheese. The sauce is just really good by itself. And not too spicy either ... believe me ... I've turned into a spice wimp.

Now, while the chicken is cooking, cook your chicken flavored rice according to the package, leaving out about 1/3 cup of the total amount of water. Once the rice is cooked, stir in the remaining white sauce and let it stand to thicken a bit. I served this with the Jalapeno flavored Ranch Style beans because I was too lazy to make beans. It was wonderful. It's WAY easier to make than it tastes ... please, don't analyze my grammar. lol.

The leftover sauce in the pan makes for some REALLY yummy tortilla chip dip! Enjoy!

4 comments:

Andrea said...

Ooh. I am definately making that for dinner this week.

Oh, and I wanted to tell you I made your Comfortable Chicken Noodle Soup last week and it was awesome. My husband said it was the best chicken noodle soup he had ever had! I loved the fact that it used the Lipton Noodle Soup mix.

Gary Church said...

I'm so thrilled that he liked my 'stupid easy chicken noodle soup' ... lol. That should be the real title. The noodles in that soup mix stay good for so long in the fridge ... maybe it's because they're so small, so it's hard to tell when they're soggy ... I don't know ... but I was in a jam one day and wanted chicken noodle soup ... and those were the only noodles in the house. And it worked. lol. I've never gone back to egg noodles since.

Enjoy the jalapeno chicken this week ... it's a keeper!

Rachel said...

this sounds so delicious and seems so easy! I'm definitely making this one.

Andrea said...

I made this for dinner last night and we LOVED it. You know, it's not the most attractive piece of chicken, but it was so good! It had just the perfect amount of kick. Definately not too hot (I'm a spice wimp) but really good flavor. And I used a little Monterey Jack on top. Yummy. I will definately be making this again.