One Pan Cheesy Jalapeño Chicken

First week of October. Fall deepening. The trees on our street are committed to the change, the maples going orange, the oaks holding green a little longer because oaks are stubborn, like Delgado women, like me. I drive to the hospital in the dark and drive home in the light that is shortening, the days contracting like a breath being held, the countdown to winter beginning in the leaves.

Rosa is due in five weeks. I am in full preparation mode — the chest freezer is filling with labeled containers, the postpartum arsenal that I deploy for every grandchild: arroz con pollo, caldo de pollo, habichuelas guisadas, pernil slices, sofrito cubes. Every container is a meal. Every meal is a week of nourishment for a woman who has just given birth and who needs to eat and who will not have the energy to cook and who will find, on her counter, a tower of Tupperware from her mother with masking-tape labels in her mother's handwriting, and the labels will say Eat This and Heat 10 Minutes and More Rice in the Freezer and the labels will be instructions and love letters and both are necessary.

At the hospital, the autumn routine is steady — the pandemic has receded to a murmur, not gone, still here, still requiring masks in clinical areas, but no longer the roaring presence of 2020. My team is stable. Jaylen, the new hire from June, has become competent — not excellent, not yet, but competent, which at five months is on schedule. He makes the prep list correctly. He follows temperature protocols. He has learned that when Ms. D says the gravy is too thin, the gravy is too thin, and the response is not explanation but correction. He is learning the most important lesson in food service: the food is not about you. The food is about them. The person eating the food is the only person who matters. Your ego stays in the walk-in.

The arroz con pollo and the caldo are already portioned and labeled, but when I’m in full freezer-stocking mode, I always want one dish that can stand alone — something with a little heat, something with enough fat and protein to actually sustain a woman who is nursing and exhausted and running on two-hour stretches of sleep. This One Pan Cheesy Jalapeño Chicken is that dish for me. It reheats without turning rubbery, the jalapeño keeps it from being bland, and the cheese gives it a richness that says someone who loves you made this — which is the whole point of every label on every container in that chest freezer.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each), pounded to even thickness
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 fresh jalapeños, 2 sliced into thin rounds, 1 minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
4 oz cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional, for garnish)

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat chicken breasts dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Rub the spice mixture evenly over both sides of each chicken breast.
Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large, oven-safe skillet (cast iron works best) over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken breasts and sear undisturbed for 4 to 5 minutes per side until a deep golden crust forms. Transfer chicken to a plate — it will not be cooked through yet.
Build the sauce. Reduce heat to medium. In the same skillet, add diced onion and cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add minced garlic and minced jalapeño and cook 1 minute more until fragrant. Pour in chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add cream cheese pieces and stir until fully melted into a smooth sauce, about 2 minutes.
Return chicken and top with cheese. Preheat oven to 400°F. Nestle seared chicken breasts back into the skillet, spooning sauce over the top of each piece. Arrange jalapeño rounds over the chicken. In a small bowl, combine Monterey Jack and cheddar, then mound generously over each breast.
Bake. Transfer skillet to the preheated oven and bake uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and cheese is melted, bubbly, and beginning to brown at the edges.
Rest and serve. Let the skillet rest 5 minutes before serving. Spoon pan sauce over each piece. Garnish with fresh cilantro if desired. Serve over rice or with warm bread for a complete meal. To freeze: cool completely, transfer to airtight containers with pan sauce spooned over, and freeze up to 3 months. Reheat covered at 350°F for 20 minutes or microwave on 70% power in 90-second intervals.

Nutrition (per serving)

One Pan Cheesy Jalapeño Chicken — A Little Heat for the Woman Who Just Did the Hardest Work