Caribbean Chicken with Mango Salsa

Pre-Script: This mango salsa is also great with CHIPS!! (But what isn’t…)

Okey doke, so I’ve told you before that I don’t really know anything about the Caribbean except what I seen on that movie about them pirates. And also what I can remember from my scuba diving trip I took to Cozumel when I was 17 which isn’t much because have you ever been there? Well, we were pretty much drunk the whole time in hotel bars with all the other Americans when we weren’t scuba diving and seeing humongo crabs and wittle-bitty baby octopi and tortugas giganticas. The scuba part was amazing. An octopus crawled on my arm! It was the coolest feeling ever to have these octopus arms suction-cupping their way across my arm. And we did a night dive and saw all this phosphorescent algae and what-not. Better than a bad acid trip any day!

But I digress from the food part. So the thing about the food in Cozumel, in my limited experience, is that is kind of sucks. It’s like it was all tailored to tourist-tastes and that probably had a lot to do with where I was staying and who I was with and the fact that that person was not adventurous when it came to food (lame!) but man, I swear I ate Tostitos with Rico’s Nacho Cheese Sauce for five days straight.

Barf-out.

Oh this story is so long and pointless. I’m sorry. Anyway, the point is that I was a foolish child and didn’t learn anything of the cuisine there while I had the good fortune to be there in the flesh and so now I make up recipes called Caribbean-style chicken in the hopes that someone will take me seriously.

An impossible dream, I know.

Click here for a video demo on how to cut a mango on my YouTube channel!

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Caribbean-Style Chicken with Mango Salsa

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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 2-4 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (2 half-breasts)
  • 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice, cinnamon, or cloves
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • For the mango salsa:
  • 2 mangoes, cut into 1/4″ cubes (about 2 cups)
  • 2 green onions, sliced thinly
  • 1 jalapeno, diced (and seeded for less heat)
  • 1/2 cup diced radishes or cucumber
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, basil, or mint
  • Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

  1. Begin the mango salsa: Cut up the mangoes and vegetables. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, except the herbs and lime juice. Refrigerate.
  2. Using a sharp knife, cut each chicken breast into two thin cutlets, as if butterflying the meat, but cutting all the way through.
  3. Combine the seasonings and sprinkle each side of each cutlet with an equal amount.
  4. Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat (medium-high if using a nonstick coated skillet) and add the oil.
  5. Place the cutlets in the skillet with the thickest parts towards the center of the skillet, and set a timer for 2 minutes.
  6. After two minutes, turn each portion and cook another 2 minutes.
  7. Remove to a plate to rest for a minute or two while you finish up the salsa.
  8. Remove the salsa from the fridge and add the herbs and lime juice. Add salt if you think it needs it but I don’t find that it does.
  9. Serve the chicken with some of the salsa and add a green salad for a light, healthy, and quick meal!

Notes

Light eaters will be able to serve 4 people from 2 chicken breast halves. Double the chicken amount for heartier eaters. There should still be plenty of salsa, though, for 4 chicken breasts with this recipe.
Leftover salsa keeps for 2 days in the fridge and is also great with salmon or any fish, or pork chops.

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6 Comments

  1. Randy on April 14, 2012 at 4:55 pm

    Hopefully, I’m finally going to get caught up on episodes this weekend. As it was, this morning, I made my monthly trip to Costco. I had brought a shopping list of pantry items, but was standing in the meat section looking for inspiration as to what to buy for my big monthly cook-a-thon (cook one day, freeze everything, spend the rest of the month microwaving). Suddenly, I have a Hilah moment…a tall, attractive blonde nearly side-swiped me with her shopping cart. That prompted me to remember that I hadn’t made your chicken enchiladas. And as luck would have it, I decided to check that recipe and came upon this recipe. And luckier still, just last week I discovered that, as far as glycemic load goes, fruits are not on the to-be-avoided list like corn, potatoes and rice are. So all systems are go for the salsa as well. Into the shopping basket goes 8 pounds of vacuum sealed boneless, skinless chicken breasts. And as a final stroke of luck, Costco had the variety of mangoes that you recommend (I don’t think I’ve seen them anywhere else).

    I mention all of that because (unlike my usual practice) I’m not going to follow the recipe to the letter due to my cooking strategy today. The stovetop is going to be busy with other dishes. Since my electric grill is already going to be cranked up for yet another recipe, the Carribean Chicken is going to be grilled as well. I’m fairly confident they will freeze well so I’m making a double batch. On the other hand, I’ll have to make half a batch of the salsa. I’m eager to try it with the pork chops I’ll be grilling tomorrow night (I love steamed vegetables, but they can get boring as a constant side dish).

    • Randy on April 15, 2012 at 6:41 pm

      Just a quick report back on grilling the Carribean Chicken instead of sauteing. It turned out fantastic. I didn’t alter the ingredients at all, I just melted the butter, let it cool, then added the rest of the ingredients to make a marinade. I wasn’t intending to let them marinate for a while, but I decided I was too lazy to clean the grill plates of the electric grill between the two chicken dishes I was making so I grilled the Carribean Chicken second instead of first as I’d originally intended. I think that with a little planning, grilling them on a real outdoors grill after a couple of hours of marination would be really fantastic. It would also scale up easily to larger quantities for a party.

      The mango salsa was great as well. I overlooked buying radishes so I used cucumber. The salsa was great with the grilled pork chops I just made, as well.

      This dish is going to make the logistics of buying large quantities of chicken breasts and freezing them in amounts that are easy to defrost for pairing up with my other favorite quick-cooking chicken dish, chicken piccata, much easier.

      • Hilah on April 16, 2012 at 11:28 am

        Awesome idea to use it as a marinade! I wouldn’t have thought of that. We are just getting our grill up and running this spring so I can’t wait to try your way! Thanks, buddy.

    • Hilah on April 16, 2012 at 11:28 am

      I’m happy your Costco trip was so fortuitous! 🙂 Those ataulfo mangoes are the best, aren’t they? I just love them.

  2. Gene Cox on August 13, 2014 at 11:14 pm

    I am not too sure about Caribbean either. Never had an octopus crawl on my arm, but I live around a lot of bats and have had them for pets. They feel real creepy crawling all over you. I am trying all things chicken, so I will have to try this.






  3. Julia on April 27, 2019 at 6:41 pm

    Hello Hilah! Did everything as the recipe says, the chicken was a bit dry though. I had to cook it on a heavy skillet longer, because after frying for two minutes on each side it was still raw inside. 🙁

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