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Jalapeno Popper Chicken Casserole

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Add a spicy kick to dinner with this tasty jalapeno popper chicken casserole! Chicken, jalapenos, and pasta smothered in a rich, creamy cheese sauce and topped with crispy breadcrumbs – yum!

Ingredients

Scale
  • cooking spray OR a butter wrapper
  • 8 oz pasta
  • 4 Tbsp butter
  • 4 Tbsp flour
  • 1 ½2 cups milk
  • 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
  • 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
  • ¾ cup Greek yogurt
  • ¼ tsp each nutmeg, onion powder, garlic powder
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 3 Tbsp Frank’s hot sauce or homemade hot sauce
  • up to 6 oz sliced pickled jalapenos, drained, juice reserved
  • 2 cups shredded or diced chicken
  • ½ cup panko breadcrumbs

Instructions

  1. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray OR grease using a butter wrapper.
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  3. In the same pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, stirring constantly until the flour is dissolved. Cook the flour about 4 minutes, stirring often.
  4. Add 1 cup of milk and the juice from strained jalapenos (or milk for a mild dish) and stir until a sauce is formed.
  5. Turn the heat to low and add the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and yogurt, and stir. Allow the cheese to melt, stirring often so the cheese doesn’t burn and the milk doesn’t curdle.
  6. Add the spices, hot sauce, jalapenos, chicken, and pasta and stir to combine well. (For a mild dish, start with 2 oz jalapenos. Taste and add more to desired level of spice.)
  7. Add additional milk if the sauce is too thick, a few tablespoons at a time.
  8. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top and coat generously with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and toasted. Serve with additional hot sauce as desired.

Notes

In case your family is like my daughter and not big fans of spicy things, let me assure you that this dish can easily be toned down and I’ve included substitution ideas in the recipe for this.

If your family is split 50/50 with spicy versus non-spicy, try this:

  • Save the peppers and hot sauce for the very end.
  • As you make the recipe, portion out some casserole “plain” into one end of your pan first
  • Then add the peppers and hot sauce to the remaining noodle mixture. Stir well and pour into the other half of the pan.
  • Top the spicy side with jalapeños over the breadcrumbs so it’s easy to see which side is which when you serve.

Bake jalapeno chicken popper casserole in a pan with a lid. I have these pyrex dishes that come with lids, so I can just put a lid on it if we have leftovers, which we reheat in the oven. Leaving it in the original pan means keeping the panko breadcrumb topping in place when you reheat it so you still get that crunch the next day.

Nutrition