This sheet pan stuffed chicken is marinated in a mixture of spicy jalapenos, fresh cilantro, and succulent limes, then stuffed with salsa, topped with melty cheese, and baked to perfection.
Happy Manic Monday friends! How was your weekend? Ours consisted of a wonderful Mexican dinner followed by some major spring cleaning. I finally went through all my college notes and got rid of about 60% of them, which I was really proud of.
I mean, you work so hard in those damn classes it feels like you need to keep what you worked so hard on. Then again, when am I going to dig through a stack of old notes when I could most likely google the answer.
I let go of sentimental items like my great grandmother’s quilt that REEKED of cigarette smoke despite how many times I tried to air it out. I finally let myself just get rid of stuff like that. What’s the point of it sitting in the top of our closet? We wouldn’t use it unless there was an apocalypse, which, whatever let’s not go there.
Let’s just say, I don’t plan or care to be a survivor of one. So then, we went through two of our closets and before you know it we had an entire trunk-load of stuff to giveaway. I couldn’t believe we still had that much to give away!
I’m not going to lie; the decluttering was a welcome distraction from all the work I have to do pretty much until May. I picked up two jobs to help cover my income that disappears over the summer when I’m not teaching.
I’m going to be sharing more about these soon, but it means that April is going to be crazy busy. I had to sit down and realize that I can’t do it all. No way can I work on my business (blog, clients, and freelance stuff), and teach, and two additional jobs at 5 hours each or so a week AND do all the cooking from scratch. It’s not even a sweet dream or even close to realistic.
Mr. Hungry already does a ton of the cleaning, but he barely cares now that I’m getting so good at keeping the house decluttered and straightened up. Yesterday, after a failed batch of would have been wonderful raspberry muffins in which I put three teaspoons of baking powder in, instead of 1.5 teaspoons, I hit the brink.
Crying over the sink about muffins is, in reality, just pathetic. I took a step back and realized, ain’t no way everything was going to happen that I think should and I needed to do two imperative things. One, ask for help. Two, prioritize the most important stuff.
So, instead of meal prepping all of Mr. Hungry’s breakfast and lunches, I asked him to eat out at the cafeteria. He doesn’t like to eat out at the cafeteria because while there are healthy options, he also gets tempted by cookies and other fun food there. Can anyone relate?
Most of the time I feel guilty if he gets unhealthy food because I didn’t make him a lunch to take with him. Then I realized, he is a grown ass man. It is not my responsibility to ensure that healthy is his only option at all times.
Which was exactly what he said when I asked him to eat at his work’s cafeteria this week. He started complaining about the cookies, but he could see how stressed I was and quickly said it was no problem, he could eat at the cafeteria. He said if he couldn’t keep the cookies off his tray this week then he will make his lunches next week. Then, my wonderful husband helped me clean up the failed muffin experiment, so I could get to work.
As for me, I did my April planning/scheduling, pronto after the muffin incident. I learned in Eat that Frog the value of planning to increase productivity, so I got to it. I use co-schedule (referral link) to make daily tasks list for every day at the beginning of the month.
When I wake up there is never a question of what needs to get done that day, which is awesome! Last month, though, some days had like ten things in them, and I realized it wasn’t reasonable to think I would get all that done in one day.
So, this month, I limited each day to the five most important tasks that needed to get done. Hopefully, that will keep me from crying about muffins or any other plan stupid ridiculousness.
Salsa Stuffed Sheet Pan Chicken
As for this chicken, it’s stupid easy. Blend ingredients, marinate, bake and enjoy. I ate mine with fresh bell peppers and (affiliate link –>) microwaveable brown riceor chips. If you want to roast bell peppers like I did in the steak fajita sheet pan meal, you could totally do that too. I just don’t LOVE roasted bell peppers, so I stuck with fresh. PS, don’t skip the marinade, it’s delicious!
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Salsa Stuffed Marinated Sheet Pan Chicken
Ingredients
For the marinade:
For the chicken:
- 1/3 cup salsa I used Trader Joe's Harissa
- sprinkle taco seasoning
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 lbs chicken breast
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a high powered blender and blend until smooth.
- Place chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag and pour marinade inside the bag. Close the bag and let marinade in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 425F. Line a heavy duty baking sheet with heavy duty foil.
- Slice a pocket into the chicken breast for salsa stuffing. I would start about an inch from the end and finish an inch from the other end so that you don't split them all the way in half.
- Fill pocket with your favorite salsa, I suggest something smokey with a depth of flavor like a chipotle version.
- Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Bake for 30 minutes, make sure internal temperature of chicken reaches at least 165F. Sprinkle the top with cheese and then broil for 3-4 minutes. Stay close and check on it every minute or so, the broiler works fast. Once the cheese is melty take them out.
Nutrition
I now get ALL my meat and poultry from Butcher Box. The taste and quality are absolutely unbeatable. Get $10 off your first box and FREE uncured all natural bacon using my link, here!
Hate dishes, love one pan recipes??? Me too! Check out my One Pan Pinterest board for more inspiration and check back every Monday for an easy meal!
Patrick@looneyforfood.com says
This looks nice and easy. I love spring cleaning and getting rid of things that I have held on to way to long!
Susie @ Suzlyfe says
The problem with me is that I would just end up eating the salsa with a spoon, lol. But what a great recipe! We did a huge clean when we moved to our new apartment, and it is definitely time to do it again!
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
I did eat a pretty good amount… had to be careful not to spoon salsa into chicken then back into jar and in my mouth. Had to be diligent…
Patricia @Sweet and Strong says
Girl, I cried over a bad batch of cupcakes for a work party of few weeks ago. It wasn’t about the cupcakes, it was about everything else I had to do. Makes me feel good reading this that I’m not the only one! And I made my husband eat a PB&J last Friday and felt so guilty about it, but I don’t even think he cared one bit. Thanks for the reminder to know I can’t always do it all, and to ask for help!
And as for this chicken recipe, looks so simple and delicious! I love anything with salsa!
Megan @ Skinny Fitalicious says
I cried this morning. I think I screwed up my knee/tibia on my good leg. It’s stress fracture pain and I just want to die right now. I can’t go through this again. So let’s cry together!
Rachael says
This sounds delicious! Love one pan meals. Pinning!