King Ranch Chicken Shells
A perfect finger food for your next party, King Ranch Chicken Shells are a outrageously good appetizer. With a flaky pastry bottom, these cute little bites are then topped with a spicy chicken mixture and melted cheese. A great addition to your other appetizer recipes, these will most likely be the first to go.
Serves12
Ingredients
- 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half (about 6 ounces)
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion, diced (about 1/4 cup)
- 1/4 cup seeded diced New Mexico or Anaheim chile pepper
- 1/4 cup seeded diced red pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon light chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 cup Swanson Chicken Broth or Swanson Chicken Stock
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tomato, diced (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 tablespoon sour cream
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
- 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar and pepper Jack cheese blend
Instructions
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Drizzle the chicken with 1 tablespoon lime juice and season with the black pepper.
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Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes or until well browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet. Finely chop the chicken.
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Heat the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, chile pepper and red pepper and cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
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Stir in the garlic, flour, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
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Reduce the heat to low. Stir the chicken and broth in the skillet and cook for 2 minutes.
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Stir in the milk and tomato and cook until the mixture boils and thickens.
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Stir in the remaining lime juice, the sour cream and cilantro. Season with additional black pepper. Remove the skillet from the heat.
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Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
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Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a 10x12-inch rectangle. Cut into 24 (2 x 2 1/2-inch) rectangles.
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Press the rectangles into 24 (1 3/4-inch) mini muffin-pan cups.
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Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Using the back of a spoon, press down the centers of the hot pastries to make an indentation.
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Spoon about 1 tablespoon chicken mixture into each pastry. Top each with 1 teaspoon cheese.
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Bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Let the pastries cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additional chopped fresh cilantro, if desired.