Fiery Mexican-Style Chicken
with Charred Corn Salad & Tomato-Jalapeño Salsa
- Milk
This light, simple, wholesome dish is just the thing to get us prepped for summer: a heap of tender veggies topped with flavorful lean protein and a delicious sauce. And with a cook time of only 30 minutes, who’s going to be out of the kitchen in a jiff? You! Picture a savory-sweet charred corn salad packed with tomatoes, herbaceous cilantro, and lots of tangy lime juice. You’ll top that with a perfectly seared garlicky chicken cutlet, and finish with warm tomato-jalapeño salsa. With all that tomato and corn, it feels like summer’s already here!
Ingredients
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Jalapeño
2 unit
Tomato
1 unit
Lime
10 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
¼ ounce
Cilantro
1 unit
Corn
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Dice tomatoes into ½-inch pieces. Mince cilantro. Quarter lime. Halve, peel, and finely dice onion. Halve jalapeño lengthwise, removing ribs and seeds for less heat; thinly slice into half-moons.
• Drain and rinse corn; dry thoroughly with paper towels, removing as much moisture as possible. • Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over high heat. Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and lightly charred in spots, 4-6 minutes. TIP: If corn begins to pop, cover pan. • Turn off heat; season with salt and pepper and transfer to a large bowl. Wipe out pan.
• Meanwhile, pat chicken* dry with paper towels; place between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap. Pound with a mallet or rolling pin until chicken is about ½ inch thick. Season all over with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. • Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for corn over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until browned and cooked through, 3-5 minutes per side. • Turn off heat; transfer to a cutting board. Wipe out pan.
• While chicken cooks, add half the tomatoes, half the cilantro, and juice from two lime wedges (four wedges for 4 servings) to bowl with charred corn; stir to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for chicken over medium heat. Add onion, jalapeño, and remaining tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and softened, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. • Add ¼ cup water (1⁄3 cup for 4 servings) and simmer until tomatoes and onion are jammy and water has evaporated, 2-3 minutes. Stir in 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4) until melted. Remove from heat. • Add half the tomato-jalapeño salsa to bowl with charred corn salad; toss to combine (you’ll use the rest of the salsa in the next step).
• Slice chicken crosswise. • Divide charred corn salad between bowls; top with chicken and remaining tomato-jalapeño salsa. Garnish with remaining cilantro and serve with remaining lime wedges on the side.
Chicken is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many enjoyed the charred corn salad and tomato-jalapeño salsa, though some found it bland and wanted more seasoning.
- Ease of prep: Several noted prep took longer than expected; drying and charring canned corn was tedious for some.
- Suggestions: Consider adding rice, beans, or tortillas for more substance; boost flavor with additional spices or a creamy sauce.
- Portions: Some felt it wasn't filling enough as a main dish; others appreciated the light, low-calorie option.
- Spiciness: Despite the "fiery" name, most found it mild; those who like heat suggest leaving jalapeño seeds in.
Reviews from our home cooks
Loved this recipe, but once again we went our own direction a little bit. We live in New Mexico, so what you folks consider "fiery" is to us rather mild. Therefore we added our own chile powder to both the salsa and the chicken coating. Second, rather than pounding the cutlets flat and frying them that way, we cut them into small cross-grain strips, then rolled them in a mixture of garlic powder (added 1tsp of our own to increase the volume), chile powder (about 1/2 tsp), and salt + pepper, and fried in a little veg oil (as the recipe would otherwise have us do with the cutlets). Turned out very flavorful and everything had a nice bite to it. Anyway, definitely a favorite meal here. I already want to have it again.
Good. Husband doesn't like jalepeño so we omitted it. I should have added a little cayenne or red pepper flakes for some heat- but loved the charred corn. The tomato/onion jam was interesting!
My family loved this. So few ingredients, but such a new and fun flavor. And over a corn salad instead of the usual grains. It was a hit.
This meal was fun to make and so tasty. The browned corn dish was great and the salsa was delicious.
Loved this. Very spicy. I leave the jalapeno seeds and vein in because I love the heat. And again, a nice option of having corn rather than potatoes or rice.
This is a delicious meal. We're big eaters so we threw in a yellow pepper and two more tiny Roma tomatoes. The entire thing was scrummy, and we can't wait for it to come into the rotation again.
To me, this meal was lacking flavor. It needed more than a hint of lime and garlic. Just adding the zest of the lime, instead of only juice would have helped pop the tomato's flavor. And the garlic could have been a clove of fresh in the cooked salsa along with the powdered on the chicken. I personally also would have started the onion caramelizing, then added the jalapeño and tomato, just to bring up the flavor a notch. Small things that would have taken this from, meh to marvelous
Really tasty, I recommend adding a spice blend for the chicken. I used emeril's essence mix, great combo with salsa.
I ended up cutting the chicken into bite size pieces. The onions and jalapenos, I just sauteed and didn't make a sauce. Used as a corn "salsa" with tortilla chips. Yummy!
Delicious! The charred corn was my favorite and a new way we will prepare and serve corn. We thought this would also be good inside tortillas to add a little more substance.
