Jalapeno Cherry Chicken is the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. It’s easy seared chicken with jalapenos, cherry, honey, orange juice, and brown sugar sauce.

This recipe is perfect for Weeknight Dinners. The Grilled Chicken is easy to make on the stovetop and then flavored in the most delicious and easy cherry jalapeno sauce.

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken on serving plate

Simple chicken dinners make wonderful comfort food dishes that you can add a variety of flavors to with fun recipe ingredients. In this dish we’ve used sweet cherries and jalapeno peppers to make a uniquely sweet, sticky, spicy, and slightly tart sauce. It tops off the easy chicken dish for an amazing flavor-packed dinner that’s sure to become one of your favorite recipes.

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken is perfect for when you want an easy meal, but are also looking for some variety in your typical dinner rotation. It makes for an exciting change of pace from standard chicken dinner flavors. Sweet cherries bake down into an amazing sauce along with orange juice, honey, and brown sugar. Adding the minced jalapenos adds a little heat to the sweet sauce for a more complex and delicious meal.

It only takes a few minutes to make this chicken with cherry jalapeño sauce. You should be done with the whole recipe in about a half hour! For equally easy sides to go with your Jalapeno Cherry Chicken try Baked Sweet Potato, Roasted green Beans, or Garlic Crispy Potatoes.

MORE CHICKEN RECIPES

KEY INGREDIENTS

Boneless, skinless chicken breast: Chicken breasts are tender, juicy, and easy to cook through in a matter of minutes. They make the perfect main course, and the tender meat easily soaks up the flavor from the sauce.
Jalapeño peppers: The minced peppers are what bring a nice contrasting flavor to the sauce in this recipe. Rather than a simple sweet flavor, you get the addition of amazing spice. We only use 1 jalapeno in the recipe ingredients because it brings enough spice to change up the flavor, without being too overpowering.
Cherries: The frozen cherries quickly defrost and burst on the stovetop into the perfect sweet and slightly tart sauce. Delicious cherry juices perfectly mix with the sugar and other ingredients for a syrupy sauce that’s perfect to coat the chicken in.
Orange Juice: Orange juice adds extra liquid to the sauce ingredients. Its citrus flavor also brightens the sauce and goes great with the cherries.
Sweeteners: This recipe uses a combination of brown sugar and honey for sweeteners. Both ingredients help balance out the spice in the dish and give the chicken a wonderful taste.

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken sauce in cooking pot

COOKING TIPS

Homemade sauce: The frozen cherries need time to break down, so you want to start cooking the sauce before the chicken. Add the frozen cherries, minced jalapeno peppers, orange juice, and brown sugar to a small saucepan. Stir the mixture together over medium heat. Continue cooking for 18-20 minutes until the cherries break down and pop open. Then turn the heat off and begin making the chicken.
Chicken: Use a kitchen mallet to pound the chicken pieces, so that they have an even thickness all over. Then lightly season the chicken with salt and ground pepper.
Cooking time: Add butter to the base of a large cast-iron skillet and put it over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken on both sides until it’s cooked through. It should only take about 8-10 minutes in total.
Finish: Stir the honey into the cherry sauce, then spoon the mixture over the cooked chicken and serve.

VARIATIONS

Veggies: For some extra flavor and texture you can grill up your favorite veggies along with the chicken. Green bell pepper slices, sweet onion, carrots, or sweet potatoes would taste great. You could also add minced garlic cloves to the sauce, or top the dish off with sliced green onion.
Citrus: For some extra citrusy flavors in the sauce, you can mix in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice or lemon juice.
Barbecue chicken: You can use the same cherry and jalapeno flavors in a barbecue chicken dinner. Simply whisk your favorite kind of Barbecue Sauce into the cherry mixture. 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce should be plenty to give the dish a nice smoky flavor.

DELICIOUS SIDE DISHES

HOW TO STORE

Serve: After cooking, Jalapeno Cherry Chicken is good at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
Store: Once the dish has cooled, put the chicken in an airtight container to store in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Freeze: You can also seal and freeze the Jalapeno Cherry Chicken for up to 6 months.

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Ingredients

▢ 12 ounces frozen pitted cherries
▢ 1 jalapeno , deseeded and minced
▢ 3/4 cup orange juice
▢ 1/4 cup brown sugar , packed
▢ 4 chicken breasts , boneless and skinless
▢ 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
▢ 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
▢ 2 tablespoons honey

Instructions

Add cherries, jalapenos, orange juice, and brown sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat.
Cook for 18-20 minutes until cherries break down pop open then turn off the heat.
Using a kitchen mallet pound the chicken breasts until they are an even thickness.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Add butter to a large skillet on medium-high heat.
Sear the chicken on both sides until the chicken is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes total.
Stir honey into the cherry sauce and pour the sauce over the chicken.