Cameron Cooks in Chaos: Sassy Chicken

This time of year I am running around with my kids and it’s crazy.  We get invited to potlucks and parties and school programs and things like that and I can barely keep up with meals.  This dish is easy at home and easy to take with you to potlucks or parties or whatever.  Everyone loves this, it’s a hit all the way around.

My kids all love salsa, love breakfast burritos and tacos and things – salsa is a hugely popular condiment in my house.

This recipe’s history:  I had been wanting to mix up a salsa chicken dish but I thought it’d be too spicy for the kids so I was nervous about it.  One day I had salsa, I had chicken thighs and I thought, ‘hey, here we go, we’ll just see what happens’.  I love both chicken and salsa I didn’t think it could go wrong.

You can bake this OR put it in the crockpot – I like it both ways and just work with what you have time for.  Both ways work really well.  I use chicken thighs quite a lot because they are inexpensive and hold up very well in the crockpot.  Good quick easy protein.

This recipe serves my family which consists of 2 parents, 2 school age kids, and 3 under the age of 5, with no leftovers.  So you can do the math for your family in terms of amounts, but this is a forgiving recipe, very forgiving, versatile, and simple.

SASSY CHICKEN

10 chicken thighs

1.5-2 cups salsa of choice

1  4oz can of chopped green chiles

2 TBS of chile powder (salt and sugar free)

1 cup of coconut palm sugar

Throw the chicken into whatever pan or crockpot – sprinkle with chile powder. Dump all the other ingredients on top and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until juices run clear.  In the crockpot cook it on low all day.

I serve it with organic rice medley with frozen peas mixed in (I put the peas on top of the rice in the last 10 minutes of cooking, and put the lid back on.  Mix the peas in before serving.)

It sounds like a spicy dish, but I think the sugar balances it out or something, I don’t know.  I just know my family looks forward to this dish and gobbles it up.