Chicken | Pasta

Poblano Chicken Mac & Cheese

May 20, 2016July 30, 2019

We love to watch Chopped around here, we have watched it for years and Dan loves testing me by asking what I would make with basket ingredients.  It is our go to show and I was so excited to participate in this at home Chopped Challenge using delicious Sargento Fine Cut Shredded 4 Cheese Mexican blend, chicken thighs, poblano peppers, and corn tortillas, yum!

For all my cheesy Mexican recipes I make sure to keep a big bag of Sargento Fine Cut Shredded 4 Cheese Mexican blend.  It is my favorite cheese to use in tacos, casseroles, quesadillas, nachos, you name it!  I love that I do not have to pull out my grater to get that off the block taste because Sargento has me covered.

Their Fine Cut Shredded 4  Cheese is so delicious and smooth and creamy and it really brings the Mexican flair to my dishes.  When I am in the kitchen making our favorite pork tacos, or my fajita quesadillas I want big cheesy flavor but I HATE grating cheese so I am so happy that my dishes get that off the block freshness with Sargento.

I love using Sargento in all my dishes because you can just see the quality of their cheeses and the taste is out of the world!

So for this challenge I wanted to make one pan mac & cheese with tender chicken thighs and just a hint of spice from the poblanos and crunchy tortilla strips to give it that crunch everyone loves.

This recipe is soo easy and it has quickly become one of our favorite dinners!  Dan could not stop eating this, he had a big bowl for breakfast!!

I start by dicing up some boneless skinless chicken thighs and browning them in a skillet with a little oil.  I season the thighs with salt and pepper.

Next I add in a sliced poblano pepper.  I just used one but you can use two to really bump up the spice and flavor.

Once the chicken and peppers cook together a little bit I add milk to the pan and rotini noodles (I love rotini!)

I bring that to a boil and let it simmer until the noodles are tender and the milk has thickened.  I add in the cheese and stir till everything is all cheesy and melty!

I top it with a little more cheese and scallions.

For the crispy tortilla strips I just slice up some corn tortillas and place them on a baking sheet and give them a quick spritz of oil and sprinkling of salt and bake until brown and crispy.

Then they go on top.  How purty does that look??

Poblano Chicken Mac & Cheese

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Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs chopped
• 1 tbls oil
• Salt and pepper
• One poblano pepper sliced into half rings
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups rotini noodles
• 2 cups Sargento® Fine Cut Shredded 4 Cheese Mexican blend
• Scallions
• 3-4 corn tortillas cut into strips

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in your skillet and add the chicken thighs, season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the peppers and cook for about 5 minutes until they get a little tender.
3. Next add in the milk and noodles, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer
4. Simmer until the noodles are al dente or tender.
5. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of cheese.
6. Top with the rest of the cheese and a few chopped scallions.
7. On a sheet pan lay out your tortilla strips and spritz with oil or cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.
8. Bake at 400 till brown and crispy (keep your eye on them)
9. Top mac and cheese with strips and serve!!

Not only is this a delicious and cheesy dish but it is so quick to make and hello only one pan to clean!

I was so happy to participate in this Food Network Chopped Challenge and even more so to work with this amazing cheese that I already love so much!

Guess what?  You can enter the Chopped at Home Challenge where you have the chance to create and share your best recipe using the basket ingredients for your chance to win $5,000 and a trip to New York City to compete in a televised Chopped cooking challenge for a $10,000 grand prize.

You can also participate by voting for your favorite recipe Food Network Chopped Challenge

So open your basket and get cooking with Sargento Fine Cut Shredded 4 Cheese Mexican blend!

For more inspiration, check out the Sargento Pinterest page
or visit www.sargento.com/Shredded for more
information.