Chipotle Apple Butter Chicken
Sometimes I’ll go through a phase where I become addicted to a certain type of food. Like really addicted. I’ll have to have it every day, so I’ll buy mass quantities at one time- you know, just to make sure I never have a craving that can’t be satisfied. Because that sucks and definitely gets under my skin (probably more than it should).
At one time, it was Yoplait Boston Creme Pie Yogurt mixed in with Honey Bunches of Oats Just Bunches. I HAD to have some as an after dinner ‘dessert’.
At another, it was an Archers Farm trail mix of cashews, almonds and dried cranberries.
For a while, I was hooked on Panera Cinnamon Crunch bagels, toasted and spread with butter.
Bananas and melted peanut butter on whole wheat toast was a REALLY big favorite.
Yellow corn chips is still a big one- I’ve got three bags in the house right now. Honestly, I have to be careful- they’re waaaaay too easy for me to eat in large quantities. Same thing with animal crackers; right now they’re my go to work snack.
About two years I developed a huge love of eating fried eggs on toast and experimenting with different spreads to put on top. I loved the contrast of saltiness from the egg with the sweetness of different jam spreads. One day I was in the grocery store looking in the jam aisle for something a little bit different to try and I noticed a jar of Musselman’s Apple Butter. I’d never heard of apple butter before, much less what it tasted like. But I was in the experimenting kind of mood, so I decided to give it a try.
From that first day, I was hooked. I LOVED apple butter. From then on, it was all I wanted to eat on my toast.
But as we know, interests and passions begin to fade and shift after a while. Eventually,I got a little tired of having my regular fried eggs on toast smeared with apple butter. I moved onto my next obsession.
But I still had two unopened jumbo jars of apple butter in my pantry. For a long while, they just sat there. And sat there. And sat there.
I wasn’t gonna throw them away. I’m too cheap to do that. But I just…I didn’t know what to do with them. One of the jars eventually went to making some Apple Butter Bread- which I’ve posted on the blog a while ago. The other one still didn’t get used for a few months.
Recently, I bought a family pack of chicken breasts and had no idea what I was going to do with them. I just decided that I would look in the pantry and pick out whatever I thought would be good in a dish. When I got home, the first things I came across were the lonely unused jar of apple butter, and a can of adobe chipotle chiles. And that gave me an idea. By itself, the apple butter would make the chicken way too sweet- but the addition of chipotle chiles and sauce- that just could work.
I’ve never heard of an apple butter and chipotle barbecue sauce before- but after coming up with this here recipe, I’m of the strong opinion that it really should be come a ‘thing’.
Because it’s friggin marvelous stuff.
The marinade alone works really well, but the best part of this recipe is setting aside a sizable portion ahead of time so that when the chicken is done, you can have some sauce to dunk it into. I cut the chicken up into medium sized tenders, then baked them off in the oven on racks, but this would be an EXCELLENT dish to make over a grill to give a really special charcoal flavor to compliment the flavor of the sauce.
I’m really happy with this one, guys. So you should go ahead and just try this.
I’m beginning to think that I should just start calling this blog Cooking Chicken Is My Sport-because sometimes, it really does seem to me that all I do is throw a bunch of chicken recipes at you guys. It’s getting kind of ridiculous.
But the truth is, chicken’s just about the most inexpensive meat I can buy. Luckily, it’s also my preference of protein nine times out of ten. So I have to keep experimenting with different recipes and ingredients just to make it stay interesting.
Sorry. I hope you won’t hold it against me too much.
I’m taking this chicken to this week’s Fiesta Friday #51, hosted by Angie@TheNoviceGardener and co-hosted by Jhuls @The Not So Creative Cook and Juju @cookingwithauntjuju. Thanks ladies- appreciate ya 🙂
Chipotle Apple Butter Chicken
Recipe Courtesy of Jess@CookingisMySport
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz. jar of Apple Butter
- 2 1/2 canned chipotle chilies, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp. of the sauce from the jar
- 1 tbsp. Hungarian paprika
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into tender-size strips
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
- Romaine hearts, optional
Directions
1. Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl. Divide 1/2 cup of marinade between two ziploc bags, and set aside the rest for later use.
2. Place half of the chicken tenders in one bag, and one half in the other. Seal bags and roll chicken around in marinade to make sure it is evenly coated. Refrigerate overnight, or at least for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper, then place a baking rack on top. Spray rack with non stick cooking spray.
4. Remove chicken from marinade and place on top of baking rack. Bake chicken in the oven, about 30-35 minutes (or until chicken reaches an inner temp of 165°), basting with the remaining apple butter/chipotle sauce occasionally.
5. Remove chicken from oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve inside of romaine hearts if desired.
OMG. We are sooo making this recipe this weekend!! Yum! And thanks for sharing!
DO IT-you won’t be disappointed! Thank you so much 😀
Ahh…hahaha!! I’m just like you, Jess. I go through spurts of cravings.. and keep on eating until I get tired of it! I’m also a chicken fanatic. I would eat it every day if I could get away with it! This looks so delicious… I’m amazed at how you can just come up with recipes like this. You have a talent, my friend. <3
Awww, thanks Prudy. This recipe was really kind of an accident, so that means a lot to me <3
I love apple butter but most of my family prefers my applesauce. Love the combination with chipotles in adobo sauce. Some mighty good flavors there! I use to smoke my own jalapenos (eventually chipotles but never made the adobo sauce. Thanks for sharing a great chicken recipe – I like it and I know all the meat lovers will too. Thanks for sharing with FF#51. Hope to see you next week for the big celebration 🙂
Thank you so much- I will DEFINITELY be at the party next week 🙂
I can’t get over how delicious your chicken dish looks and the sauce sounds so easy to make, definitely pinned for later!
Thanks Lily- it’s VERY easy and yummy 🙂
The mixture of apple butter and chipotle over chicken is very clever. And I expect it would go well with other meats, like pork.
YES Hilda, this would be great for a pork loin in the slow cooker. Great idea, thank you!
Mouthwatering glaze! Love the combination. 🙂
Thank you!
They look so good, I can almost smell the fragrance. Yum!
Thanks Fae!
Jess! I’m just done eating dinner and now you make me feel like I need a second one! Chicken is my meat of choice too! I really can’t wait to make these!
Thank you Andrea, I think you’ll like them 😀
Yummy, Jess! The apple butter and chipotle combo sounds like a winning team… great photos… makes me want to dig in to that delicious looking chicken! <3
Thank you Nancy!
Jess! This is so good!!! I need to get 3 cups of rice for this. 😀 Thanks for sharing! See you at next week’s party? https://thenovicegardener.wordpress.com/2015/01/17/fiesta-friday-anniversary/
I’m at the party now Jhuls, thank you!
I do the same thing! Right now my “thing” is cherry coke, which is bad because I can’t stop drinking it! I don’t even want to think about how much weight I’m putting on because of it, hopefully my next thing will be a bit healthier!
This chicken dish looks amazing, the perfect use for the apple butter I’d say – I love the sweet and spicy combination
This chicken looks so moist, saucy and delicious! We eat quite a bit of chicken too, but I lo like it fancied up a bit and this is really fancied up!
Thank you Julie- it’s easy but it does have a fancied up taste to it 😉
Sweet & spicy together are always a good idea. Great recipe Jess! 😉
Thank you Bonnie- spicy and sweet are some of my favorite flavor combinations!
OMG 😱This chicken looks gorgeous. I never heard of Apple butter either. Have to get hold of it somehow after seeing this exotic looking chicken🙅
Thank you- apple butter is actually pretty easy to make from scratch if you can’t find it anywhere in stores 🙂
Jess, that chicken looks brilliant, I would probably eat it everyday too 😀
I certainly could Naina- thank you!
This chicken looks amazing, Jess! And I still love those Panera Cinnamon Crunch Bagels–they’re so addicting! 🙂
Thank you Nancy- I still love the bagels too 🙂
GENIUS!! Great combo- I love the flavor of chipotles- sounds so delicious in this dish!!
Thank you so much- it was an off the cuff decision that just happened to work out really well 😀
This looks yummy! Im definitely going to try this in the near future!
Awesome, I hope you enjoy. Thanks 🙂