I’ve seen so many versions of this dish, but Jessica’s picture (and possibly the fact that I was starving) finally nudged me into sticking it to the menu the following week. We used to have some form of stuffed chicken every week and for whatever reason we haven’t had it much lately. It was time.

Now, I adore jalapeño poppers. And by “adore” what I really mean is “could eat them by the truckload.” They have pretty much everything going for them, including a little spice, some crunch, and creamy cheese. Plus, they’re fried, which automatically makes them good.

This chicken combines the great things about poppers and puts them into a much lighter and less guilty chicken dish. Chicken breasts are stuffed with a cheesy jalapeño mixture and then rolled in crispy panko and baked. I used a method America’s Test Kitchen uses for panko breading, which is to toast it in a pan with a little bit of oil before breading. This ensures it stays nice and crisp, and I find it’s a better way to get the chicken to brown up nicely, vs. just using cooking spray.

The jalapeño I used was a bit of a dud, so I wish I would have used a second one (or at least a better one) so, don’t be like me and make sure you try your jalapeño first, to figure out how much you want to add.