Southwestern Chicken: The perfect chicken recipe

Pretty strong words, aren’t they? Trust me, it takes a lot to write them. I’ll bet you’re wondering if I’m saying that what is to follow is actually the perfect chicken recipe. It is, for several reasons, but first, I have to tell you something.

I’ve kept this recipe a secret from you for a very long time. On purpose.

I’m not at all ashamed of it, either. There’s a story behind why I’ve held on to this recipe, and why I’ve kept it from you. But before I introduce you to the chicken dish that will change your life forever, let me give you a little background.

 *Cue funky flashback footage*

I learned the basis for this dish at my first line cook’s job. It was 1990, the golden age of tasteless, boneless, skinless chicken. Every restaurant served the stuff. Everybody extolled the benefits, but for the most part, nobody really enjoyed any of it. Except for this dish.

Southwestern Chicken was one of the most popular items on the menu. We couldn’t make this stuff fast enough. It flew out the door consistently,

Why? Because this wasn’t like all the other boneless, skinless nightmares floating around. People looked forward to eating it. It wasn’t dry, flavorless and in desperate need of something. This dish was moist, tender, juicy, succulent and sublime. It still is.

Seriously, just look at it!

So you see, I have run around for the past 20 years with the recipe for perfect boneless, skinless chicken any time. The only other people who knew about it worked in that restaurant with me.  I was the member of a very exclusive club. I’m sure you can understand why I’ve kept it a secret.

It was precious. My precioussssssss.

*End flashback footage and cue THX audio. Also, get the hobbits some shoes.*

Flash forward 20 years and that recipe, while not forgotten, ended up in ”I’ll get to it some day” file. Then, one day I got an email from Kraft asking me if I had any fond memories involving Kraft Singles. And I did.  Not fond memories of Mom’s grilled cheese, which also used those singles, but this one.

You see, the secret here is in sliced Swiss cheese and salsa. And the cheese we used in the restaurant was Kraft Swiss cheese. This was the very first thing that came to mind. And somehow I knew that after a lifetime of hoarding this, that now it’s time to let you in on the secret. You deserve to know. You NEED to know.

If you can bake or sauté chicken, even marginally, you’ve got this covered. Trust me, the method you use to cook the chicken isn’t important. If you overcook the chicken a little, it’s no big deal. This is fail safe, It’s tested.

This recipe is not a set in stone thing, it’s very versatile. The key factors are the salsa and the cheese (A good melting cheese, and Kraft Swiss is definitely a good melting cheese.) you can even change out the salsa for something else if you’d like.

I’ve updated the recipe a bit. It has more of an authentic Southwest ingredient set and the flavors are a lot more robust, but still just as mind-blowing as the original.

This is the chicken that will change your life.  I wouldn’t tell you that this was the perfect chicken recipe if I, and many others, didn’t agree. Give this a try, let us know how it turned out in the comments. We’d love to hear your experiences with it.

Lastly, I have to say this:

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a coupon for free Kraft Singles and a stipend. All opinions are my own. Hey, they asked me to write about a memory. It’s MY memory.