Easy 20 Minute Southwest Chicken
Let me show you guys how to make this easy 20 minute southwest chicken. Enjoy on tacos, quesadillas, nachos, or a salad.
This recipe was born out of purely not knowing what to make for dinner. I looked in the fridge, saw what I had, threw this beauty together, and LOVED it. And so did my husband, which meant it was a real winner.
Point is, you don’t need much. You can sub whatever meat or veggies you’ve got on hand for this one.
If you want to get fancy and have some cilantro and limes on hand, throw that on there too!
What You’ll Need
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast: I love chicken in this recipe, but feel free to use something else. This would be delicious with ground beef, ground chicken, or ground turkey (then you wouldn’t even have to cut any meat up!)
- Taco seasoning: I use my homemade taco seasoning recipe for this, but you could also use any pre-packaged taco seasoning you like.
- Minced garlic: From the jar or fresh.
- Onion: A little goes a long way. Just 1/2 of a small white onion does the trick.
- Red bell pepper: Or whatever color you prefer. Canned diced tomatoes would also work well with this recipe if you don’t have any fresh peppers.
- Salt: To season veggies.
- Canned black beans: Rinsed and drained.
- Canned corn: Drained.
- Cilantro + limes: To garnish if you want!
How To Make It
It really is so easy to throw this together. The longest part of the process is just chopping everything up! You might even make this in less than 20 minutes…
- Cook the meat: Dice up the chicken and cook first with the taco seasoning and garlic. I use a few tablespoons of water to help distribute the taco seasoning more evenly throughout the chicken. I find the chicken is cooked at about the same time the water has mostly evaporated. Set aside in a separate bowl.
- Cook the veggies: In the same pan, cook the onion and bell pepper just until soft, then add in the beans and corn.
- Mix everything together: Add back in the chicken and stir it all up!
Southwest Chicken Video
Meal Ideas
I love this easy 20 minute southwest chicken recipe because you can eat so many different meals with it. It never gets old! Here are some of my favorite ways to enjoy it:
- Southwest chicken tacos: Throw the chicken on some extra thin corn tortillas with some sauce, cheese, lettuce, and tomato.
- Southwest chicken quesadillas: Grill this chicken in between two flour tortillas and a big handful of your favorite shredded cheese.
- Southwest chicken salad: Pack in some extra protein with this chicken loaded onto a big bowl of fresh lettuce and veggies.
- Southwest chicken wraps: Wrap this chicken up tight in a soft tortilla with some cheese and your other favorite toppings. You could easily make multiple as meal prep and store in the fridge.
- Southwest chicken nachos: Load this chicken onto a plate of tortilla chips and top with plenty of melty cheese, salsa, sour cream, and jalapeños.
That’s it! This one is so quick and simple and I’m here for it. Makes throwing dinner together so easy, especially when I have no idea what to make. It’s absolutely delicious and hits the spot every time.
As always, please leave a comment and review if you try this one out! Really, I would love to know if you make it!
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast (16 oz) diced
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning* see notes
- 1 tsp minced garlic (5 g)
- 1/2 small white onion (100 g) chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper (170 g) chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup canned black beans (74 g) rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup canned corn (78 g) drained
- cilantro and lime, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Set a large frying pan to medium high heat and spray with cooking spray. Add chicken, garlic, taco seasoning + 2 tablespoons of water to help taco seasoning distribute evenly. Fully cook chicken, about 5-6 minutes, then transfer to a separate bowl or plate.
- Spray the same pan with cooking spray and add onions, red pepper and salt. Cook until soft, about 3 minutes, then add black beans and corn.
- Add the chicken back in and stir until everything is mixed. Garnish with optional cilantro and lime wedges.
I found this recipe to be super easy and delicious. I doubled it, and I found that prepping the chicken and vegetables was definitely the longest part as the cooking didn’t take much time at all
Hey Ben,
So glad to hear it!