(And for helping to teach people how to say it correctly—“chee POAT leh”.) I love cooking with chipotles—smoked, dried, red jalapeños—especially those packed in adobo sauce. In this recipe we are making a simple salsa with fire roasted tomatoes, onions, lime juice, and chipotles packed in adobo, coating chicken breasts with the sauce, topping them with melty jack cheese, and baking them in the oven in a casserole dish. So easy! And so versatile. First, chiles in adobo last a long time in the fridge, many months once you’ve opened the can, so you don’t have to stress about using them up right away. Second, this dish has lots of sauce, which tastes great with rice, pasta, tortillas, even chips. Third, it makes great leftovers. This chicken bake is very similar to my salsa verde baked chicken, but with a smokey chipotle salsa instead. It’s a little on the acidic side with the lime juice and adobo, and tastes great with avocados to cut the acid and the heat. While I usually serve it with rice, it’s also surprisingly good with penne pasta. In fact I could see making this again as a pasta casserole, just chop up the chicken to bite sized pieces, toss with cooked pasta and the salsa, sprinkle with cheese and bake until the chicken is cooked through. A big shout out and thank you to my friend Gaby Dalkin, from whose chipotle salsa recipe I (barely) adapted this one.
Avocados
Chopped cilantro
Sour cream
Corn or flour tortillas
Rice
Pasta
Serve over rice, pasta, or with tortillas on the side, along with chopped avocado, more cilantro, crema fresca or sour cream. Variation: This is a bake-in-the-oven recipe. You could easily adapt the recipe to the stovetop this way: sear the chicken pieces first in a little olive oil, remove the chicken, add the onions to the pan, cook them till soft, add the garlic and chiles, cook a little longer, add the tomatoes, lime juice, cilantro, and salt, then add the chicken, coat the chicken with the sauce, bring to a low simmer, cover, cook for 25 minutes, sprinkle with cheese, cover and cook for a few more minutes until the cheese is melted. Homemade salsa with tomatoes and chipotle from What’s Gaby Cooking Chipotle chicken tacos from Lisa Fain, the Homesick Texan Chipotle chicken and corn chowder from Brown Eyed Baker
