Carlos O’Kellys Chicken Picado
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Carlos O’Kellys Chicken Picado is a restaurant favorite! Tender pieces of marinated chicken breast with a creamy garlic butter sauce with sautéed green peppers & onions, and melted Monterrey Jack.
What You Will ❤️ About Chicken Picado
- Restaurant Favorite – this menu item is one of the cornerstones of Carlos O’Kellys!
- 30 minute Meal! Outside of marinating, this dish only takes 30 minutes to cook!
- Mexican Piccata! Chicken Picado is a sort of Mexican take on Chicken Piccata swapping the lemon and capers for a citrus marinade and cheese.
Ingredients for Chicken Picado
Chicken, peppers and onions are the core of this creamy buttery dish! Street Taco Tortillas are the perfect delivery tool for Chicken Picado!
- Chicken breast – you could also use chicken thighs
- Mojo criollo marinade – this is my favorite chicken marinade and it’s so cheap to buy already-made!
- Green pepper – you can use any color pepper but they use green pepper
- Yellow onion – sweet onion is the best variety for this recipe
- Monterrey Jack – this is a fairly bland white cheese but use what you like – Pepper Jack would be great if you want a little spice
- Tomatoes – Diced fresh tomatoes are essential for more texture
- Scallions – Don’t lose the ends of those green onions! They add flavor and a great crunch!
- Street taco tortillas – I love the low carb street taco tortillas – they’re delicious and hold plenty of filling!
Ingredients for Cream Sauce
This sauce is similar to a bechamel sauce but with a lot more butter and a strong amount of garlic! Sounds good to me!
- Whole milk
- Salted butter
- Fresh garlic, minced
- All-purpose flour
- Kosher salt & Ground black pepper
Recipe Variations
For a Mexican dish – this isn’t very spicy – so there are lots of tweaks you can make to jazz it up. Here are a few spicy ideas along with other possible tweaks:
- More Cheese – instead of using a butter flour sauce – use Carlos OKelly’s queso to bake your chicken in!
- Pork Loin – I’ve made these delicious Garlic Butter Pork Bites and the diced pork would be delicious in this sauce as well!
- Rice instead of Tortillas – Ditch the tortillas and serve this creamy chicken over Mexican rice!
- Spicier – Add diced jalapenos to the pepper and onion mixture to make it spicy!
- Pasta Diablo – my secret COK source tells me that the chicken mixture is the same base as their famous Pasta Diablo. You’ll want to blend chipotle peppers into the cream sauce. Then, mix sauce, chicken mix and tri colored rotini. Top with jack cheese and bake. Until melted. Top with diced tomatoes and green onion, sour cream, and a fried jalapeño.
How to make Carlos O’Kellys Chicken Picado
Chicken Picado is so easy to make – marinate that chicken and then you’ll be ready to go! You can have this on the table in about 30 minutes – let’s do it:
- Place chicken in a zip bag and add marinade. Place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
- Drain chicken from marinade. In a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil.
- Add in onions and peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes.
- Add diced chicken and saute for 2 minutes until starting to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375º. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a small saucepan Warm the milk on low heat until little bubbles form at the edges and it starts to simmer; remove from heat and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add in minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it becomes a little pasty and starts to bubble – about 2 minutes.
- Slowly add in heated milk (leaving the skim at the top – if you pour slowly – it will stick to the pan) and whisk until sauce thickens. Add salt & pepper.
- Reduce to low heat, and cook, stirring, 2–3 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
- Stir chicken mixture into the sauce. Pour chicken and sauce into the prepared baking dish.
- Top with Monterrey Jack cheese and bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.
- Broil on low for 2-3 min to brown cheese a little
- Remove from oven and top with diced tomatoes and green onions.
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Carlos O’Kellys Chicken Picado
Carlos O'Kellys Chicken Picado is a restaurant favorite! Tender pieces of marinated chicken breast with a creamy garlic butter sauce with sautéed green peppers & onions, and melted Monterrey Jack.
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Ingredients
Chicken Picado
- 1 lb chicken breast small dice
- 1.5 cups mojo criollo marinade
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 cup Monterrey Jack shredded
- 2 Roma tomatoes diced
- 2-3 tbsp scallions diced
- 8 street taco tortillas
Cream Sauce
- 2 cups whole milk heated
- 8 Tbsp salted butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place chicken in a zip bag and add marinade. Place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.1 lb chicken breast, 1.5 cups mojo criollo marinade
- Drain chicken from marinade. In a large skillet over medium high heat, add olive oil.2 tbsp olive oil
- Add in onions and peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes.1 green pepper, 1 small yellow onion
- Add diced chicken and saute for 2 minutes until starting to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375º. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray.
- In a small saucepan Warm the milk on low heat until little bubbles form at the edges and it starts to simmer; remove from heat and set aside.2 cups whole milk
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add in minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds.8 Tbsp salted butter, 2 cloves garlic
- Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it becomes a little pasty and starts to bubble – about 2 minutes.3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- Slowly add in heated milk (leaving the skim at the top – if you pour slowly – it will stick to the pan) and whisk until sauce thickens. Add salt & pepper.1/4 tsp Kosher salt, 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- Reduce to low heat, and cook, stirring, 2–3 minutes more. Remove from the heat.
- Stir chicken mixture into the sauce. Pour chicken and sauce into the prepared baking dish.
- Top with Monterrey Jack cheese and bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.1 cup Monterrey Jack
- Broil on low for 2-3 min to brown cheese a little
- Remove from oven and serve with tortilla and top with diced tomatoes and green onions.2 Roma tomatoes, 2-3 tbsp scallions, 8 street taco tortillas
Notes
**We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**
Nutrition
Serving: 3tacosCalories: 553kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 25gFat: 43gSaturated Fat: 18gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 1044mgPotassium: 586mgFiber: 1gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 1053IUVitamin C: 21mgCalcium: 269mgIron: 1mg
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I am in love with each of your Carlos O’Kelly’s dishes. Thank you so much for sharing with the world! I miss Carlos’ food so much as does my whole family, so your recipes really mean a lot!