Jalapeno Cherry Chicken

by Sabrina Snyder

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2 Comments

5 from 1 vote
8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
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Jalapeno Cherry Chicken is the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. This seared chicken adds a variety of unique flavors to your weekly menu.

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

Sabrina’s Jalapeno Cherry Chicken Recipe

Simple chicken dinners make wonderful comfort food dishes that you can add a variety of flavors to with fun recipe ingredients. In this dish I have 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. 

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken Recipe

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken is the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. This seared chicken adds a variety of unique flavors to your weekly menu.
Yield 8 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Jalapeno Cherry Chicken on serving plate 1x1
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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.

Nutrition

Calories: 207kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 279mg | Potassium: 483mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 187IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg

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About this Recipe

This 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. 

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. 

Tips & Tricks

  • Homemade sauce: The frozen cherries need time to break down, so you want to start cooking the sauce before 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. 

What to Pair With

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 chicken, try Baked Sweet Potato, Roasted green Beans, or Garlic Crispy Potatoes.

How to Store

  • Serve: After cooking, 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 chicken for up to 6 months in an air tight container.

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. 

More Easy Chicken Recipes

Jalapeno Cherry Chicken collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. The sweet cherry preserves combined with the kick from the jalapenos create the most incredible sweet-and-spicy glaze. The chicken stayed so juicy and soaked up all that delicious sauce.

    Reply

    1. I’m delighted to hear this, Alexander. Thanks for enjoying, and for the positive review.

      Reply