Tex-Mex Chicken Bowls
with Chicken Thighs, Pineapple Salsa, Green Pepper & Cilantro Lime Rice
- Milk
Move over, Hawaiian pizza—there’s a new pineapple-centric dinner in town. Here, we make an easy pineapple salsa with just fresh cilantro, lime juice, and onion for a delightfully sweet and savory condiment. It doesn’t stop there, though—the juice is simmered with rich spices to create a tantalizingly sticky glaze for ground turkey. It’s all joined by fluffy rice, sautéed pepper and onion, smoky red pepper crema, and lime for brightness. One bite will have you totally BOWL-ed over.
Ingredients
1 unit
Red Onion
1 unit
Long Green Pepper
¼ ounce
Cilantro
4 ounce
Pineapple
1 unit
Lime
½ cup
White Rice
1 tablespoon
Southwest Spice Blend
10 ounce
Diced Chicken Thighs
1 unit
Tex-Mex Paste
2 tablespoon
Smoky Red Pepper Crema
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
2 teaspoon
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and thinly slice onion; mince a few slices until you have 2 TBSP (3 TBSP for 4 servings). Drain pineapple, reserving juice; roughly chop. Roughly chop cilantro. Zest and quarter lime. Halve, core, and thinly slice green pepper into strips.
• In a small pot, combine rice, ¾ cup water (1½ cups for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15-18 minutes. • Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
• While rice cooks, in a small bowl, combine minced onion, chopped pineapple, half the cilantro, and a big squeeze of lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion and green pepper; season with half the Southwest Spice Blend (you’ll use the rest in the next step), salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies are browned and softened, 7-9 minutes. TIP: If seasoning begins to brown too quickly, add a splash of water. • Turn off heat; transfer to a medium bowl and cover to keep warm. Wipe out pan.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey*; using a spatula, press into an even layer. Cook, undisturbed, until browned on bottom, 3-4 minutes. • Break up meat into pieces and stir in Tex-Mex paste, remaining Southwest Spice Blend, and reserved pineapple juice. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened and turkey is cooked through, 2-3 minutes more. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat.
Open package of chicken and drain off any excess liquid. Swap in chicken (no need to break up into pieces!) or beef for turkey.
• Fluff rice with a fork; stir in lime zest, remaining cilantro, and 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings). Season with salt and pepper. • Divide rice between bowls and top with turkey, veggies, and pineapple salsa. Drizzle with smoky red pepper crema 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 dish, praising the pineapple salsa for adding interest and the spice level for being just right.
- Ease of prep: Some noted there was a lot of chopping involved, but overall found the recipe good and doable.
- Suggestions: Consider adding extra lime and crema for more brightness, or including additional pineapple chunks for more flavor.
- Portions: A few mentioned needing more lime and crema; doubling these might better suit some tastes.
Reviews from our home cooks
I used shrimp in this one and was very good. Easy to make. Lots of wonderful different flavors. Made some homemade guac to go with it.
I used both of the sauce packets and the spice packet and it was so hot my husband and I could not eat it. Had to throw it out. Later, I realized I should have only used one sauce packet, but it was still too hot.
We really liked this one! I love pineapple, so the pineapple salsa was the perfect topping.
It tasted very good, will add more peppers and onions with a splash of corn.
Substituted street corn instead of rice and really enjoyed this dish.
Red pepper crema was unnecessary! Dish was amazing without it...we threw ours away
It would benefit from more brightness. I added pineapple chunks
Enjoyed this. Changed the protein to shrimp which are juicy and tasty.
My whole family loved this one! I don't think we had enough lime or creme, we could have used double.
Using shrimp in this dish was a bit of a poor choice by us. I thought that I was sticking to the turkey, but we ended up with the shrimp instead. I don't remember making the changes. It's still good, but it's an odd choice for us.
