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Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad is mildly spicy, super creamy, and loaded with all the things you love about classic jalapeño poppers. This chicken salad gets dressed up with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, and jalapeños. Serve inside buttery and flakey croissants!
For more recipes full of jalapeno flavor be sure and try this Jalapeño Popper Chicken Casserole, Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread, or Jalapeño Ranch Dip.
Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad
This creamy chicken salad is a delicious and spicy twist to classic chicken salad. There are so many ways make chicken salad which is why it’s always a favorite of mine to create recipes for.
The base of this chicken salad is a seasoned cream cheese mixture, which makes it ultra creamy and rich, and then it’s filled with chunks of chicken, crispy salty bacon, cheddar cheese, and jalapeño peppers.
Some more of our favorite chicken salad recipes are this Pineapple Chicken Salad, Dill Pickle Chicken Salad, Apple Walnut Chicken Salad, or Southern Style Chicken Salad.
Ingredients Needed
- Cream Cheese
- Mayonnaise
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
- Cooked Chicken : I love to use a rotisserie chicken when I make chicken salad, but you could also use leftover chicken, store-bought ready to use chicken strips that you cut into chunks, or even canned chicken (it’s better than you think!). You can even put some chicken breast into the slow cooker along with a can of chicken broth and cook on low for 6-7 hours; shred or chop it up and it’s ready to go.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese : Any variety of cheese you love can be used here; PepperJack cheese for some spice, Monterey Jack, Sharp cheddar cheese, Colby Jack, etc.
- Chopped Cooked Bacon : Make crispy bacon your preferred way and chop it up or use real bacon bits. You need the equivalent of 4 pieces of bacon if using bacon bits.
- Fresh Jalapeno Pepper : The recipe calls for 2-3 peppers but you can use more or less depending on spice preference. If you take out the seeds and cut the white membrane part out of the jalapeno, then the spice level is very mild and suitable for kids. Leave the seeds in for more spice.
How To Make Jalapeno Popper Chicken Salad (Printable Recipe Card)
In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mayo until smooth and creamy.
Add in the garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and black pepper. Beat until combined.
Add the chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon, and diced jalapeños. Beat on low speed, or use a wooden spoon to mix it all together until well incorporated.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or a lid, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving it chilled.
Serve the jalapeño chicken salad on it’s own, as a sandwich filling inside croissants or your favorite bread, over fresh lettuce greens, inside a low carb tortilla as a wrap, or as a lettuce wrap.
How To Store Leftovers
Keep leftover chicken salad store in the fridge, covered with a lid or plastic wrap, for up to 3-4 days. The flavors meld together even more the longer it’s stored in the fridge, so leftovers are fabulous, however, the chicken salad will thicken quite a bit the longer it’s in the fridge; the chicken soaks up all the creamy dressing. So give it a good stir before serving, and you may have to moisten up the chicken salad with a touch of mayo.
Chicken Salad Recipe Tips
- Serve Chilled : Chicken salad tastes best when it’s chilled, so make sure you allow time for the chicken salad to sit in the fridge before serving. The fridge time allows the flavors to blend and it allows everything to get colder for serving.
- Low Carb Tips : Make this a low carb chicken salad by serving the chicken salad inside a lettuce wrap, inside a low carb tortilla, one a bed of lettuce greens, or eat it with nut thin crackers, gluten-free crackers, or eat the chicken salad as is.
- Make It Healthier : Try replacing the mayo with plain Greek yogurt for a protein filled chicken salad. You can use all Greek yogurt or do half yogurt + half mayo. Use lite cream cheese or fat-free cream cheese. Use turkey bacon.
- Bacon : For best results, make sure the bacon is cooked until ultra crispy.
- Full-Fat Dairy : For best results, thick and creamy texture, I recommend using a good-quality brand of full-fat mayonnaise and full-fat cream cheese in this recipe. Of course, the lite versions can be used, but for the best flavor and texture I recommend sticking with full-fat.
Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups cooked chicken (shredded or chunked)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 slices bacon cooked crispy & chopped)
- 2-3 Jalapeño peppers (seeded & finely diced)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mayo until smooth and creamy.4 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- Add in the garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and black pepper. Beat until combined.1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Add the chicken, cheddar cheese, bacon, and diced jalapeños. Beat on low speed, or use a wooden spoon to mix it all together until well incorporated.2 cups cooked chicken, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 4 slices bacon, 2-3 Jalapeño peppers
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or a lid, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving it chilled.
- Serve the jalapeño chicken salad on it's own, as a sandwich filling inside croissants or your favorite bread, over fresh lettuce greens, inside a low carb tortilla as a wrap, or as a lettuce wrap.
Notes
Nutrition
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