Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn

Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn is a bold and mildly spiced one-skillet meal that’s made in under 30-minutes. An excellent low-carb dinner or serve with your favorite tortillas.

What You’ll Love About Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn:

This one-skillet meal is definitely a party on your plate. It has wonderful fresh flavors using zucchini and corn, and the chicken pieces pack a good amount of zippiness from the seasonings. It’s the perfect meal when you want something fast but also healthy and tasty.

When I created this recipe my big focus was to incorporate zucchini. We have so much in our garden right now, I’ve been trying to come up with fun recipes to use up our crop. My Zucchini Cheddar Corn Bread was a major hit with the family and another great recipe when you have a bounty of zucchini.

Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn is delicious as it is and offers a lighter meal when you don’t want something heavy. Or… you can serve it with charred tortillas for scooping up all the flavorful ingredients. If you’re not trying to watch your carbs, the tortillas make this dish extra special.

Simple Ingredients:

• Chicken breast- I use boneless skinless chicken breast.
• Taco seasoning– Use a store packet for convenience or make my simple homemade recipe.
• Olive Oil– I use this to coat the chicken with the taco seasoning and also in my skillet to sauté.
• Butter– This is sautéed with the zucchini street corn.
• Garlic and jalapeno– This is used to flavor the zucchini street corn.
• Zucchini– Use fresh zucchini
• Corn– Use fresh corn off the cob when in season.
• Salt & pepper– Add to taste.
• Lime juice– Use for fresh flavor.
• Cilantro– Use for fresh flavor.
• Queso Fresco– Adds the perfect saltiness.

Substitutions:

Why I Love Cooking In My Cast Iron Skillet:

1. They are durable and last a lifetime.
2. They enhance the flavor and taste of your food.
3. They retain heat for a long time.
4. They are easy to clean.

This Fiesta Chicken meal is perfect to cook in a cast iron skillet because the ingredients cook hot and fast. You’ll also love the unique flavor it adds to this dish.

How To Make Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn:

See full instructions in recipe card below

Step One. Add chicken pieces to a bowl and toss with olive oil and taco seasoning.

Step Two. Heat oil in a large Cast Iron skillet or non-stick pan to medium high heat. Add prepared chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and set aside.

Step Three. Add butter and more oil to hot skillet. Sauté jalapeno, garlic, zucchini, and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until veggies are crisp tender, about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to the same plate as the chicken.

(Optional) Step Four. Toast corn or flour tortillas on both sides in hot skillet until golden brown or charred in spots. Place in foil until you’re ready to assemble the skillet meal.

Step Five. Add chicken and zucchini street corn back to the skillet and squeeze fresh lime juice over the top along with cilantro and crumbled Queso Fresco. Serve with tortillas if desired.

Recipe Tip:

Common Questions:

Other Recipes You Might Enjoy:

• Skillet Salsa Verde Chicken
• Street Taco Skillet
• Italian Ground Turkey and Sweet Potato Skillet
• Low-Carb Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn

Fiesta Chicken with Zucchini Street Corn is a bold and mildly spiced one-skillet meal that's made in under 30-minutes. An excellent low-carb dinner or serve with your favorite tortillas.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 390kcal

Equipment

• 1 cast iron skillet or large non-stick skillet

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 garlic clove, minced, about 1 tsp
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and the white part of the flesh removed
• 2 cups fresh corn see recipe notes for sub
• 2 cups zucchini cut into small pieces, about 2 medium zucchini
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1/3 cup Queso Fresco, crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste
• corn or flour tortillas for serving optional

Instructions

Make sure all the veggies and chicken is prepped before you start cooking as this meal comes together quickly.

• Add chicken slices to a bowl and toss with 1/2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp taco seasoning. You want the chicken well coated.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until deep golden brown on both sides. This takes about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and set aside.
• To the same skillet add remaining 1/2 tbsp oil, along with butter. Add garlic, jalapeno, corn, and zucchini. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook stirring often for 4-5 minutes. You still want the veggies to be crisp tender not mushy. Transfer veggies to the large plate with the chicken.
• Optional- If serving with a side of tortillas, heat corn or flour tortillas in the same hot skillet for just a few seconds per side. Keep warm in foil until ready to serve.
• Add the chicken and veggies back to the pan. Turn the heat off and squeeze over fresh lime juice and top with cilantro and Queso Fresco. Serve right away with tortillas if using.

Notes

Tip-

 

• To prevent the zucchini and corn from becoming overcooked, make sure your skillet is hot enough to sear the veggies quickly. This will maintain their crispness and vibrant color.

 

Substitutions- 

 

• Chicken– If you prefer dark meat chicken use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
• Corn– Frozen, thawed corn is the best substitute if you can’t find fresh or it’s not in season.
• Other veggies– Add in other veggies like bell peppers or mushrooms.
• Queso Fresco– We prefer Queso Fresco but for a classic street corn ingredient use Cotija cheese.

 

Common Questions-

 

Is this skillet meal spicy?

Jalapenos is what gives this skillet meal its spice. I like to remove the seeds and white flesh on the inside of the jalapeno to remove a fair amount of spice so adjust to your own taste.

Is this skillet meal keto friendly?

Using corn is not recommended on the keto diet because of the starch, but this would be considered a lower-carb meal.

 

Nutritional facts do not include tortillas.

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be understood as an estimate rather than a guarantee. The Menu Maid makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.

Nutrition

Calories: 390kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 123mg | Sodium: 414mg | Potassium: 1022mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 704IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 1mg

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