This Latin chicken and black beans with jalapeno orange sauce will surely win your heart. Chicken cutlets cook quickly and are tucked into a latin citrus jalapeno sauce. With healthy black beans, this recipe will become a family weeknight favorite.
One of the great things about Latin cuisine is how fundamentally simple so many of the dishes are. Full of a variety of fresh, colorful and basic ingredients, Latin food is easy to learn and easy to prepare.
Take for instance this Latin chicken recipe recipe, using citrus and minimal spices to bring chicken and black beans to a simple lively flavored meal … what’s not to love.
I made this chicken cutlet recipe for one of my creative cooking finals in Culinary School. A tender chicken cutlet which has been dusted with flour and sauteed is exceptional when topped with the orange jalapeno sauce.
This chicken dinner is easy enough for a weeknight meal, impressive enough for entertaining and full of Latin personality.
Plus chicken and black beans recipes seem like the perfect healthy option for dinner.
So if you’re looking for chicken cutlet dinner ideas, check this one out.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.
- Chicken Breasts, cut horizontally into chicken cutlets. Cutlets are easier to cook that a full chicken breast. They cook quickly so are less prone to dry out as with a larger chicken breast.
- Cilantro.
- Black Beans, canned makes this an easy fix dinner.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Jalapeno.
- Orange Juice.
- Limes.
- Neutral Oil.
- Cumin.
- Flour.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Jalapeno Pepper: If jalapeno peppers are simply too spicy hot for your palate, substitute Poblano Peppers.
- Dried Black Beans: You can most certainly substitute dried black beans for canned. You’ll just have to plan ahead. The night before soak 1 cup of black beans in enough water to cover the beans by an inch. The next morning drain the beans and add new water. Simmer the beans stove top for a couple of hours or until tender, or cook them in a crock pot on low for about 5 hours, or until tender. Simply stated, the texture and flavor of using dried beans are superior to canned. Tip: Add a tablespoon-ish scoop of lard or bacon grease to the dried beans and cook. Use about two cups of the cooked black beans to make this recipe.
- I’ve also made this with pork tenderloin cutlets. Just cut a few “steaks” from a pork tenderloin, pound them a bit with a meat mallet, dust with flour and fry.
Step by Step Instructions
- Step One: Slice garlic, chop jalapeno and dice the onion.
- Step Two: Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium and add the jalapeno and onion. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until garlic is golden and fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Step 3: Stir in the cumin, orange juice and lime juice. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 4: Add the black beans and cook until heated through. Add the cilantro. Set aside and cover to keep warm.
- Step 5: Season the chicken cutlets on both sides with salt and pepper and dust each side with a trace of flour. Shake chicken to remove any access flour.
- Step 6: Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the cutlets and cook until browned on both sides and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.
Pro Tip: How to cook chicken cutlets. Chicken cutlets cook very quickly. And to make sure they cook evenly, use a meat mallet to gently pound them for even thickness. Place them in a skillet with hot oil and cook for 2 – 3 minutes per side, or until a digital read meat thermometer reads the internal temperature to 165 degrees.
- Step 7: Divide the cutlets and black beans among individual plates. Spoon the jalapeno citrus black bean sauce over and serve.
FAQ’s
A chicken cutlet comes from a whole boneless skinless chicken breast. A chicken cutlet is made by slicing a chicken breast horizontally into two pieces.
Purchase two chicken breasts that are even in size. Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and place the palm on one hand on the breast. Using a sharp knife, slice horizontally through the breast keeping an eye on your cut to make sure you’re cutting the breast evenly.
Yes you can. Most chicken cutlets I see in the meat department are sliced more than once and can be very thin. Adjust cooking time so you don’t over cook them. However, I recommend slicing your own chicken cutlets. Keep in mind that any extra step that a butcher has taken to provide you with convenience, will also raise the price of the meat. Cutting chicken into cutlets is easy enough to prepare at home.
Latin Chicken And Black Beans and Jalapeno Orange Sauce
If you’re looking for easy latin chicken recipes, this is a good one to try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating. Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes.
And if you have a favorite chicken cutlet recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Easy Chicken Recipes for Dinner
And don’t miss my Chicken Category. You’ll find lots of great recipes, including the most popular chicken recipe on my site for Chicken Mushroom Spinach Skillet.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Latin Chicken and Black Beans and Jalapeno Orange Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breast cutlets
- ¼ cup flour for dusting
- 6 Tablespoons olive oil divided
- 3 medium cloves garlic thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin divided
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 lime juice juiced
- 1 jalapeno chile seeded, deveined and minced
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
- 1 small sweet onion chopped
- 15 ½ ounce black beans canned, rinsed and drained
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Slice garlic, chop jalapeno and dice the onion.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium and add the jalapeno and onion. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until garlic is golden and fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the cumin, orange juice and lime juice. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add the black beans and cook until heated through. Add the cilantro. Set aside and cover to keep warm.
- Season the chicken cutlets on both sides with salt and pepper and dust each side with a trace of flour. Shake chicken to remove any access flour.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the cutlets and cook until browned on both sides and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.
- Divide the cutlets and black beans among individual plates. Spoon the jalapeno citrus sauce over and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Latin Chicken and Black Beans and Jalapeno Orange Sauce …It’s What’s for Dinner.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
A fabulous way to dress up chicken for a high protein, simple and quite tasty meal. Love that citrusy and spicy sauce. A nice simple meal. Right up my alley.
we will be trying this recipe soon – love all the flavors in this one!
Thanks Stephanie.
It seems like we enjoy a lot of the same dishes. Your meal sounds delicious and is plated so nice.
Love all those savory flavors. Not so much a “sweets” person.
That sauce sounds very good. Hope you had a great vacation!
Thanks Karen, you’re getting ready to hear all about it, I’m working on a post right now. 🙂
That sauce sounds so perfect with the chix and black beans! I’d be tempted to try the habanero as long as it was seeded first. Great post Lea Ann.
I’m going to make myself buy a habanero this weekend! 🙂
My husband hates eating chicken breast, but prepared this way I think I can make him a convert with the fabulous flavors here! I’ll be checking on that link too – thanks!
I’m not a big chicken breast fan either. But when in the form of cutlets they seen to take on a tenderness that I really love.
Sounds mighty good for a quick through together and I like your shot of it.
Thanks Larry!
This sounds fabulous Lea Ann. I love almost anything with black beans and the orange jalapeno sauce must be fabulous. Will be trying this one.
Sam
Thanks Sam, it really is a good little recipe.
So good to see you back! I’m with you on the crazy orange peppers and you know how much I love my spice! I stick to Serrano peppers. Very delicious sounding flavor combination in that Mojo Sauce – I like how fast this dish goes together, too!
Well, I’m kind-a back. Will be in full swing this weekend. 🙂 Even serrano peppers can be a little spicy for me, I have to really dig at those veins. I always use them in oriental dishes when heat is called for.
I too fear habaneros. I sweat at the thought of dicing them.
LOL, I’ve never even gotten to the dicing stage. 🙂
Hi Lea Ann, Good to have you back and to see that somebody understands the blogging challenge during the summer time.. 4 weeks getting ready for vacation, 4 weeks gone on vacation and 4 weeks to catch up. It has been the never ending vacation dilemma! I’ll definitely will take this recipe to try. I know that my husband will love it. Looking forward to seeing you. Kirsten
Thanks Kirsten. Look forward to seeing you next Tues. 🙂
There’s just something wondeful about orange and jaalpeno with black beans. Great recipe. Oh and cilantro. Yum.
Oh yes, gotta throw in that cilantro!