This easy and healthy Pico De Gallo Chicken is made with fresh Mexican salsa for a simple, yet flavorful, chicken dinner idea! If you’re a fan of juicy chicken with a little bit of heat, you’ll love this baked chicken recipe.
An Easy Mexican Chicken Dinner Idea
This flavorful Pico De Gallo Chicken should definitely be up next on your list of chicken dinners to try. Regular baked chicken is always a treat, but why not spice things up – pun intended – with a little homemade salsa fresca?
These chicken breasts are dusted with taco seasoning, covered in fresh pico de gallo, and smothered in gooey cheese. Sounds delicious, right? I’m here to tell you it definitely is and, seeing as you can put it all together within 30 minutes, this Mexican-style chicken is a great quick dinner option.
At under 400 calories a serving, this is one of our favorite easy and healthy dinner recipes. You can serve it with all kinds of sides, but when I am really trying to watch my diet, I often serve it over some cauliflower rice!
Recipe Ingredients
To make this dinner, you’ll need only 6 ingredients! (If you’ve already assembled the homemade pico de gallo, that is.) Here they are:
- Chicken Breasts: I used 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this recipe.
- Taco Seasoning: This is my favorite store bough taco seasoning.
- Lime Juice: you’ll only need the juice of half a lime.
- Pico De Gallo: I prefer to use my fresh homemade pico de gallo, because it gives the chicken the most flavor. However, you can use store bought in a pinch. When I use store bought, I usually add a little extra fresh lime juice and cilantro to punch up those flavors.
- Monterey Jack Cheese: shredded. You can also use shredded mozzarella if you prefer.
- Optional Garnishes: fresh cilantro, limes, avocado, and sour cream are all delicious.
How to Make Pico De Gallo Chicken
Once you have the pico de gallo chilling in the fridge, prepping the rest of the meal is a breeze. You just season the chicken breasts, add the pico de gallo and cheese, pop the pan in the oven, and wait to dig in!
For the Chicken
Prep: Preheat the oven to 400 ̊F. Spray a large baking dish with non-stick spray.
Season Chicken Breasts: Lay chicken breasts in an even layer in baking dish. Squeeze lime juice on top of chicken breasts and evenly sprinkle with taco seasoning.
Top with Pico De Gallo: Cover top of chicken with pico de gallo and sprinkle cheese down the center.
Bake Chicken: Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the center of the chicken breasts reaches 165°F.
Serve and Enjoy: Serve immediately with your desired garnishes!
For the Pico de Gallo
Making your own Pico De Gallo is so easy, and it’s incredibly delicious and tangy too! Be sure to pick the ripest Roma or cherry tomatoes that you can, and let the whole mixture marinate for at least 30 minutes before making the chicken – the flavors are more pronounced this way. Save some pico for dipping chips in as well!
Tips for the Most Tender Chicken
So, as you can see, this baked chicken is totally doable – even on a busy weeknight. Here are some tips to ensure the best results with this recipe:
- Pico De Gallo Substitute: You can substitute salsa in a pinch, but fresh pico gives the best final flavor and texture.
- What Kind of Chicken to Use: I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can definitely use chicken thighs or tenderloin – change cooking time accordingly, though. (With thicker chicken you’ll need to cook a little longer. With thinner cuts, reduce the time.)
- Taco Seasoning Substitute: You can also season the chicken with a little salt and pepper instead if you don’t want to use taco seasoning.
Serving Suggestions
Once you have the chicken, what should you serve it with? Here are my thoughts:
- Chips: Tortilla chips are needed to scoop up that extra pico!
- Salad: A light green side salad goes very well with this chicken.
- Rice: You could also serve this chicken over Mexican rice, cilantro lime rice or with perfect white rice. We also love it served over cauliflower rice (seasoned with cilantro and lime) when trying to get more vegetables into our diet.
- Beans: Add in some refried beans, flavorful Cuban black beans, or Texas style charro beans!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or freeze in an airtight container for up to a month.
To reheat, thaw in the fridge overnight, and then microwave leftovers or bake them in the oven for a couple minutes if you have more time.
Pico De Gallo Chicken
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
- juice of half a lime
- 2 cups fresh pico de gallo
- 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, or mozzarella
Optional Garnishes:
- fresh cilantro
- limes
- avocado
- sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 ̊F. Spray a large baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Lay chicken breasts in an even layer in baking dish. Squeeze lime juice on top of
chicken breasts and evenly sprinkle with taco seasoning. - Cover top of chicken with pico de gallo and sprinkle cheese down the center.
- Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the center of
the chicken breasts reaches 165°F. - Serve immediately with your desired garnishes!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Categories:
more easy dinner ideas
Looking for more easy dinner recipes? Try some of my other favorites:
- Old School Italian Meatballs
- The Best Baked Chicken
- BBQ Oven Pulled Chicken
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
- Beef Stroganoff
- Grilled Chicken Kabobs
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
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This was amazing! Since the chicken breast was very large, I cut it horizontally, and just made 1 since I was the only one eating it! I have a double oven, so used the smaller one, and cooked it at 375 for 20 minutes, and it was perfect! After telling my daughter about it, she asked me to make it for her for lunch tomorrow, so I ended up cooking the other piece!!!
Where the heck did you come up with “20-24 minutes”? After 30 minutes I’m at 120 degrees internal temp and the cheese is almost black. I know ovens cook differently, but mine is generally close on most recipes I follow. Might be my last kitchen date with you, Jessica.
Hi Randy, at 400°F, chicken breasts should cook through around the 22 minute mark. It’s a standard measurement of time (you can google – how long to cook chicken breasts at 400°F and you will see that they should have been cooked through in that amount of time). So either your oven was having an off day or were your chicken breasts super thick? Also, your cheese should not be black in 20 minutes.
Covered or uncovered ?
I bake mine uncovered. :)
Exactly. You prob had chicken on steroids or with bones.