30 Minute Easy Green Chile Glazed Chicken Dinner
This quick, easy and spectacularly delicious chicken dinner winner will be your NEW favorite weeknight meal.
The Hatch Chile Store has kindly supported this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own (and highly persuasive). This post also contains Amazon affiliate links in which I earn a small commission for any sales. Thanks for your support!
How do you make glazed chicken?
Before I explain how to make glazed chicken, it’s important to explain that a ‘glaze’ isn’t the same thing as ‘sauce’, even though they are very similar, there is one distinct difference; the amount of sugar. Let me explain further:
If you want to make a glaze for chicken, or for anything really, you must add enough sugar in your sauce to caramelize and thicken while it cooks. Ingredients such as fruit juice, honey, jam, maple syrup, molasses, corn syrup or simple granulated sugar will work and give you the ‘shiny’ glaze appearance. You can add these ingredients to any liquid (not usually dairy though), bring it to a boil over heat, and after a while, a spoon dit will become thick enough to qualify as a glaze. Without a sugar component, it’s simply a sauce.
I chose to use pineapple juice, apricot jam, and a splash of soy sauce, honey, and cider vinegar to create my glaze. Those ingredients would lay the foundation flavor profiles for a sweet glaze that would marry perfectly with the flavor of roasted Hatch green chile giving the sauce a nice ‘kick’.
What are Hatch Chile Peppers?
Hatch Chile peppers are world famous for their delicious flavors, produced by the unique climate and soil composition that exists only in the Hatch Valley of Southern New Mexico. These factors combine to grow exceptional-tasting chile peppers with smoky, sweet, and hot flavor notes. More people discover Hatch Chiles each year, and their popularity continues to grow.
Growing up in New Mexico where chile peppers are an integral part of the culture, I know that Hatch chiles have earned a reputation for being the best of the best. I personally only use authentic Hatch in all my cooking because it simply tastes amazing. You should be able to find canned Hatch chile in any supermarket these days, or you can order it directly like I do. Frozen chile is much, much better tasting than canned!
The Hatch Chile Store is the premiere website for ordering your Hatch chile– they are incredibly good at shipping fresh authentic chile right to your door, whatever variety and hotness lever you prefer. It’s where I get all my Hatch Chile, and I must say the flavor really does stand out above any other chile pepper variety.
Head on over now to The Hatch Chile Store to stock up on the most delicious Hatch chile you can buy anywhere- they’ve always got great deals on your favorite products!
Did you know I have a full-color cookbook with lots more easy and delicious New Mexican recipes? You can learn more about it here!
One Pan Chicken Dinner
I love fast, easy and delicious dinners, don’t you? Easy cleanup just makes it even better!
For the best results in cooking this recipe, I recommend you use a 12-inch stainless steel skillet. Stainless steel is king of browning for maximum flavor. If you have one, don’t be afraid to use it for this recipe!
If you only have non-stick skillets that’s just fine too, but you’ll have slightly less-intense flavors. It will still taste delicious so don’t worry!
What does pounding chicken do?
Today’s chicken breast meat, thanks to modern chicken breeding, is much thicker than in ‘the olden days’ when the French discovered some of their best cooking methods. It can be made thinner in two ways: either being ‘butterflied” (slicing almost in half horizontally) -OR- it can be pounded.
Chicken breast meat almost always needs to be pounded between 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. It can be pounded with a mallet or a rolling pin before it is sautéed to ensure it will cook evenly and thoroughly. Pounding chicken will also make the meat extremely tender- an added benefit that will make it extra delicious!
Building flavor
To create this recipe for Green Chile Glazed Chicken I will teach you how to properly sauté. As I mentioned earlier the best tool to sauté is stainless steel. It’s the professional chef standard for browning meat and creating delicious pan sauces to accompany any protein.
Set a pan to preheat with a tablespoon of oil in it to help with sticking (and browning even further). While it heats, blot the chicken dry and season the meat generously with salt and pepper, or whatever seasoning you like. I personally like to use Weber seasoning blends, Old Bay, paprika, or simple seasoned salt.
Place your chicken into the hot pan and don’t touch it for several minutes!!! This is the step that scares people away from using stainless steel sauté pans because the meat WILL stick at first- but if you’re patient, the meat will naturally release when it’s properly browned! So just leave it ALONE and the pan will do its job, leaving a flavor-packed layer of darkly cooked bits on the bottom of the pan, which we will use to our advantage!
Creating a pan sauce glaze
I chose to dollop generous spoonfuls of Hatch green chile into my glaze to give it a nice sweet and spicy kick!
Once you’ve browned both sides of the chicken meat, now we will cook it further in our chosen flavors. Pouring in the glaze ingredients around the chicken, then cooking on low and covered, will ensure that the chicken takes on some of the glaze flavors while cooking slowly; keeping it extra juicy.
Now remove the chicken and turn the heat back up to simmer the glaze. Simmering will thicken and caramelize the sugars to make our glaze nice and sticky.
A touch of corn starch is also an excellent way to thicken a glaze or sauce. I mixed a teaspoon into a splash of cider vinegar, then poured it into the glaze to ensure it would thicken to the proper consistency.
How to tell when the sauce is thick enough?
Simply running a spatula or wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan will tell you if your sauce is cooked properly. If the spatula leaves a trail- and you can see the bottom of the pan for a second or two- it’s ready!
Use the pan to pour the glaze over the cooked chicken, sprinkle with garnishes and serve this delicious masterpiece to the hungry masses. It will be devoured within seconds, so be prepared ;0)
Looking for more fantastic green chile recipes? Check out the gallery below!
Did you know I have a full-color cookbook with lots more easy and delicious New Mexican recipes? You can learn more about it here!
You know what else is fantastic? Simply giving this recipe a star rating and a comment below! Your comments and ratings are greatly appreciated by me AND the Google algorithm. Thank you!
Did you know I have a full-color cookbook with lots more easy and delicious New Mexican recipes? You can learn more about it here!
Print
30 Minute Green Chile Glazed Chicken
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Sautéed chicken breast cooked in a delicious mixture of pineapple juice, apricot jam and chopped green chile to create the perfect sweet and spicy glaze. Easy chicken dinner done in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup apricot jam
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1/3 cup chopped roasted Hatch green chile
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- (optional) minced chives to garnish
Instructions
- Blot chicken breasts dry if wet from packaging. Pound the chicken to 1/2 inch thickness (if needed) with a mallet or rolling pin. Season generously with salt and pepper (or other chicken seasonings of choice).
- Place a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and add vegetable oil. Place chicken in heated skillet and let cook on one side until golden-brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side.
- While chicken is browning, mix together the apricot jam, pineapple juice, soy sauce, and honey. When chicken is browned on both sides, pour in the juice mixture around the chicken. Spoon green chile around chicken. Cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked all the way through and reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
- Remove chicken to a plate and turn up the heat to medium-high. Cook glaze until thickened, approximately 5 minutes. Glaze is ready when a spoon leaves a trail in the pan. Stir in any juices from the chicken, then stir together the cornstarch and vinegar, and pour it into the pan. Simmer for 1 minute, then pour glaze over chicken. Sprinkle with optional chives if desired, and serve warm.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
- Calories: 474
- Sugar: 26.2
- Sodium: 772
- Fat: 6.4
- Saturated Fat: 0.5
- Carbohydrates: 35.2
- Fiber: 0.4
- Protein: 69.9
- Cholesterol: 173
