This Keto/THM S Cheesy Salsa Chicken With Cauli Rice will be on your table in 30 minutes.
Easy and quick are what I need these days in order to stay on track. This creamy, cheesy sauce is rich and decadent (and covers the taste of the cauliflower rice). I know this goes against the new rage of low carb cauliflower rice but I just can’t get on board , UNLESS it is covered in some cheesy goodness! I can get on board with anything that is swimming in cheese and salsa.
This cheesy salsa chicken with cauli rice meal will fit with your Keto/low carb/THM S lifestyle and is also pretty budget friendly! I made it for less than the cost of 2 value meals at a fast food restaurant.
I love this cheesy salsa chicken with cauli rice meal because you only need a few ingredients and they are all pretty shelf stable or long lasting. Pull out some frozen chicken tenderloins, riced cauliflower, a bottle of salsa verde and a block of cream cheese and you are ready to make a quick dinner that will conform with your low carb lifestyle.
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30 Minute Keto/THM S Cheesy Salsa Chicken With Cauli Rice
When you start a low carb lifestyle, cauliflower rice is almost always suggested. And while it is a great way to fill up your plate and bulk up your nutrition, I didn’t love it. But I found that if I layer it in delicious cheese and spicy salsa it turns into a great base for chicken.
And now cauliflower rice finds a way to get into a bunch of my meals & I’m not sad about it! I recently made a really yummy (and totally easy) 20 minute Keto Buffalo Chicken Dip casserole that turns your favorite appetizer into an easy weeknight meal. Pin it here for later.
Cooking Directions for Keto Salsa Verde Chicken & Queso Cauliflower Rice
The first thing you want to do is make sure you have your cream cheese softening up so it will melt nicely in your sauce. Next, get your chicken tenders cooking.
I added a little pepper and some fajita seasoning that I had on hand. If you are a Trim Healthy Mama purist (I am not) you may want to ensure that it fits within the guidelines. I love the overall method of THM but I just kind of go with the flow and don’t mind an off plan ingredient here or there. You could make your own seasoning that would fit into the plan perfectly.
Get your chicken completely cooked and then remove it from the pan. Cover it with some foil if you are worried about it getting too cold but the sauce comes together pretty quickly.
Make The Cheesy Queso Sauce:
Next, you want to take your softened cream cheese and cut it into fourths. This will help it to melt a little quicker.
Now you need to add your bottle of Salsa verde. Cook it over medium-low heat until the cream cheese is completely melted.
Once the sauce comes together, add your cooked chicken back on top for a minute or two. Just make sure the sauce and chicken are warm.
While the chicken is mixing with the sauce, put your cauliflower rice in the microwave. Cook according to the directions. Then layer the cauli rice, cheesy salsa verde sauce and chicken. The result is a satisfying cheesy chicken with cauli rice meal that will make you forget about carbs!
Serve It Up:
The way that I prepared it, there was enough for a dinner and I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I did have a bit of unused sauce so if you added more chicken, the sauce could stretch farther since it is so rich. I have also wrapped this meal up into a green salsa queso drenched enchilada that is a family favorite! Pin it!
| Cook Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings |
|
- 1 package chicken tenderloins
- 1 tbsp fajita seasoning
- 8 oz block of cream cheese (softened)
- 16 oz salsa verde
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Ingredients
|
|
- Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken tenders to the skillet and season with the fajita seasoning. Cook your chicken completely and remove from pan. Cover with foil to keep warm.
- Reduce heat to Medium/low.
- Cut the softened cream cheese into fourths and add it to the pan.
- Add the bottle of Salsa verde.
- Stir occasionally until the cream cheese is completely melted and the salsa is well incorporated.
- Add the chicken tenderloins on top of the completed sauce for 1-2 minutes to warm it all together.
To serve, place 1 cup cooked Cauliflower rice at the bottom of a bowl, spoon the cheesy salsa verde sauce on top of the rice and top with the desired number of chicken tenderloins.
Follow my low carb / THM food diary on Instagram!
If you like this cheesy salsa chicken with cauli rice meal, check out these other top THM/Keto recipes:
Protein Packed Meat/Cheese Roll Up Salad
$5 Chicken Sausage & Vegetables Grill Meal
If you are curious about Trim Healthy Mama, read about how it helped me lose 22 lbs. postpartum here. And if you need a super easy 2 minute Keto microwave egg breakfast, find that simple scramble recipe at this link.
Cheryl says
Did you use the whole bottle, 16 ounces, of the salsa?
Stacy Craft says
Hi Cheryl! I did use the whole bottle of Salsa. It was pretty Spicy using the whole bottle of Medium Salsa (I like spicy, but if you don’t you might want to go mild). Thanks for stopping by!
Sandy says
Maybe someone has already asked this but have you ever made this in a Crock-Pot on low?
Stacy Craft says
Hi Sandy! I haven’t tried it in the crock pot but I’m putting that on my to do list. I’m not sure how the cauliflower rice would hold up in the crock pot. You could definitely put the chicken and salsa verde in the crockpot on low. Then when you got home, you could melt the cream cheese in a skillet (maybe add a little butter or broth to help it melt without burning or sticking). Then cook your cauli rice and layer it from there. I think that would work.
Janine says
I’ve made something similar to this and putting the chicken and salsa on low then adding the cream cheese to the last hour melts it nicely. Since the cauliflower is a steam bag it wouldn’t take long to took in the microwave
Stacy Craft says
Great Idea!
Stephanie Minns says
Is there a printable version of this with an ingredients list?
Stacy Craft says
Hi Stephanie,
I added a recipe card that can be printed towards the bottom of the post. I hope you get to try it!
Susan says
I can not find the recipe card. Help!
Stacy Craft says
Ahhh! Can I still get away with the “I have a baby” excuse even though he is 8 months? Lol. I *think* I fixed it for good this time! I must not have saved the change last night. Sorry about that.
Susan says
I don’t see the recipe card. Help!
Melanie says
Hi! This looks delicious, but there are no quantities for ingredients. Is it a pound of chicken? How much of the cream cheese and salsa? How manner servings does it make? Thank you!
Stacy Craft says
Hi Melanie!
Sorry about that, I have added a recipe card towards the bottom of this post. I hope you try it.
Trish says
I’m not seeing how much chicken to use. I’m not seeing a recipe card either. The recipe looks good tho, so I’m gonna wing it with a bag of frozen tenderloins from Aldi… Hope that works!
Stacy Craft says
A bag of frozen should be good. I used a smaller fresh package but the sauce is rich so I thought it could have used a little more chicken!
Kim says
I just made this tonight, it was delicious! Everyone loved it! I did use a mild salsa verde, which I am glad I found, medium would have been to spicy for me personally.
Erin A Elizabeth says
This is delicious and highly recommend it. I used rotisserie chicken instead of chicken tenders, mild Salsa Verde and added mushrooms.
Stacy Craft says
Erin, I am so glad you liked it! Great idea on the Rotisserie chicken! I love using those. That would make this quick recipe even easier!
Marcela says
This was really good. We are not keto dieters so I did light cream cheese and made cilantro rice. Next time we will try over cauliflower rice because we do use it as a rice substitute a lot. I’m Hispanic and it tastes like my homemade enchiladas Verdes minus the tortilla. Thanks!
Stacy Craft says
Marcela,
Thanks for trying it! I am glad to hear the subs that you used worked out well!
Cat says
I made this tonight the only change I made was to add parmesan cheese to the top.. It was delicious!!
Cat says
I made this tonight the only change I made was to add parmesan cheese to the top.. It was delicious!!
Stacy Craft says
Cat, I am glad you enjoyed it!
Katelyn says
This sounds amazing! We don’t have a microwave. Would you recommend cooking the cauliflower rice (refrigerated from Trader Joe’s) in the sauce for a few minutes and to soften it up and then add the chicken to heat it up?
Stacy Craft says
Lucky you with a Trader Joe’s! I am pretty sure my husband thought I was insane when we were visiting Chicago and I spotted a Trader Joe’s and HAD to go in!
I think it would be fine to just throw it in with the sauce. You could do it in a second skillet with a little butter or olive oil but that would dirty another pan so totally up to you on that one! I hope you enjoy it!
Melanie says
I am wondering what the calorie count would be per serving.
Shannon says
Wonderful and easy weeknight dinner for the family. The medium salsa was a bit too spicy, but such good flavor!
Stacy Craft says
Hi Shannon, I am glad you liked it! Try it again with the mild Salsa sometime. I love spicy and this medium salsa was even a little spicy for me!!
Shan says
Thanks for the easy delicious recipe! I tweaked it a little to lessen the carbs per serving. I used 6 oz of cream cheese and 1/2 of a 16 iz bottle of mild salsa verde. I then thinned out the sauce with a cup or 2 of chicken broth.
I started by sauteeing the riced cauliflower in a little evoo, and butter. I used s+p and used some Penzeys Arizona Dreaming and Penzeys Ground Chipotle Pepper. I put in the c.c., salsa, and broth and brought to a boil. I then added 4 or 5 c cooked, shredded chicken an topped with a cup of shredded monterey jack cheese.
It made 4 servings at just over 7 net carbs per (approx) 2c serving. Next time I’ll use 2 bags of riced cauliflower instead of one to make a larger serving for only 1 net carb more per serving!
I am thinking of tweaking the recipe to make a jalapeno popper chicken skillet…lovely!
Stacy Craft says
A jalapeño popper chicken skillet sounds awesome! Glad you liked the recipe!
Sarah says
How many calories per serving?
Stacy Craft says
Hi Sarah! I don’t usually calculate calories (the beauty of a low carb diet!). I did plug in the ingredients into my fitness pal and came up with 399 calories per serving. Hope that helps!
Jane says
Thank you for this great and affordable recipe!
Daisywulf says
Anybody ever try this with regular salsa? I happen to have some in my pantry…
Stacy Craft says
It would probably be good. I haven’t tried it but I will often mix regular salsa with Greek yogurt as a veggie dip and it is tasty like that. I don’t know much of anything that you can mix with cream cheese that won’t taste good!
Allison PierceWendell says
Great recipe. Cooks just as well in the Instapot…I add 1/2 cup of chicken stock, the chicken, the salsa and the cheese. Cook on high 12 mins. Done! I like extra spicy so I added jalapenos 🙂