Monterey Chicken
on Jan 18, 2022, Updated Jan 29, 2024
Monterey Chicken is a delicious combo of juicy BBQ chicken, melty cheese, and tasty toppings! This easy dinner dish is certain to be a hit.
This Chili’s copycat recipe is one of our favorite chicken dinner recipes- and it’s not hard to see why! Goes great with a side of steamed broccoli and some Crispy Potato Wedges or The Best Mashed Potatoes.
Monterey Chicken
Anyone else having trouble finding a Chili’s nowadays? It used to be there was a Chilis restaurant anywhere I went but now the closest one to me is almost half-an-hour away! That’s unfortunate, because Chili’s has some pretty good food- usually at a pretty good price too. One of my favorite things from the Chili’s menu was the discontinued Monterey Chicken.
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Thankfully, I have this copycat recipe for it now! If you never had a chance to have the Monterey Chicken, just know that it’s a delicious barbecue chicken dish topped with melty cheese, tomatoes, green onions, and crispy bacon. At home, it’s super easy to make too: you just have to cook up some chicken breasts however you please and bake them up with some BBQ and your toppings!
This tasty but simple chicken recipe is quickly becoming one of our new favorite chicken dinner recipes. It’s a great way to use leftover chicken breast or make chicken taste good. You can even make it ahead of time and leftovers will keep in the fridge for a good while! We love this easy chicken recipe and hope you folks will too.
Enjoyed this Monterey Chicken recipe? Try these other easy chicken recipes next!
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Another one of our favorite easy chicken recipes is this 2-ingredient Italian Dressing Chicken. Italian dressing makes for an amazing chicken marinade that yields juicy, flavorful chicken breasts! Grilled or baked, this simple chicken recipe is certain to be one of your go-tos.
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Parmesan Crusted Chicken is a quick recipe that’s great for a busy evening. Pound some chicken breasts thin and you can fry them up real fast in some butter and oil! The delicious parmesan coating adds a lot to this tasty chicken recipe.
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Casseroles are usually easy to make and so comforting- and our Chicken Pot Pie Casserole is no different! This recipe has always been one of my favorites because it’s so simple to make with store-bought ingredients. A great and delicious way to use up some leftover chicken and frozen veggies!
Ingredients for Cheesy Bacon BBQ Chicken
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Chicken Breast – For this recipe, we’ll salt, pepper, and fully cook our chicken in a hot pan with some oil before baking it. If you’d like, you could also use Air Fryer Chicken Breasts or Baked Chicken Breasts instead.
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BBQ Sauce – Feel free to use your favorite BBQ sauce here! Dark and sweet barbeque sauce will work the best though. If you’re keeping this low-carb, remember to use a sugar-free barbecue sauce.
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Cheese – Go with a cheddar, monterey jack, colby jack, or a blend if you want!
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Green Onions
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Tomatoes – Any cherry tomato, garden tomato, or even canned Rotel tomatoes will work as long as they’re diced. If you don’t have tomatoes, feel free to use a salsa of some kind.
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Bacon – We used some thick-cut microwave bacon here but you can pan-fry some up yourself if you want. Maybe even cook your chicken in the leftover bacon fat?
How to make Monterey Chicken
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Prep and cook your chicken breasts however you like.
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Baste chicken breasts with BBQ sauce and bake for 5 minutes.
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Top chicken with shredded cheese and bake another 5 minutes. Add toppings and serve.
If you aren’t using any of the other chicken recipes we listed above, we recommend pan-frying your chicken. To prep, cut any larger chicken breasts in half to help speed up cooking. Keep the seasonings simple- we just went with some salt and pepper.
Heat up a bit of oil in a pan and give your chicken breasts a good pan-fry. Cook them fully.
When you finish cooking the chicken, set it aside. Grab your cutting board and give your toppings a quick dicing.
Now we can start making Monterey Chicken! First, add a bit of barbecue sauce to the bottom of a casserole or oven-safe dish.
Add your cooked chicken and give everything a quick basting with some extra barbecue sauce. Once everything’s all coated, transfer the dish to an awaiting 350 degree oven.
Let the BBQ chicken cook for about 5 minutes before pulling it. Take your shredded cheese and top each chicken breast with a generous amount.
Send the chicken back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Once the cheese is all nice and melted, pull the dish back out. Hit it with any desired toppings.
Serve your chicken up and enjoy!
Make-Ahead and How to Reheat Chicken
Monterey Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 cup Barbecue Sauce
- 1 cup Shredded Cheese, Monterey Jack and Cheddar
- 1/2 cup Tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup Green Onions, sliced
- 4 slices Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Instructions
- If chicken breasts are large, slice in half before cooking.
- Salt and pepper each piece of chicken.
- Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat. Cook chicken, turning as needed, until done (165 internal temperature).
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Pour about half of the barbecue sauce in the bottom of a baking dish
- Place the chicken in the dish and coat with the remaining sauce.
- Bake the chicken for 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle each with the shredded cheese.
- Return to oven for 5 minutes. Then remove and top with tomatoes, green onions and bacon.
Nutrition
