13 Canned Ingredients That Will Take Your Chicken To The Next Level

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Chicken is delicious, but, as most of us would agree, it can get boring after a while. It's easy to get stuck in a rut, using the same ingredients over and over, but jazzing up your next chicken meal doesn't have to require fancy add-ins. Canned ingredients, whether it be fruits, vegetables, sauces, or other flavorful additions, can upgrade your chicken, turning it into something marvelous.

In the upcoming post, we're revealing our favorite canned ingredients to pair with chicken to make scrumptious lunches, dinners, and snacks. Some of the upcoming suggestions might come off a bit uncanny, but don't worry — we'll help you every step of the way by offering suggestions to help turn each canned component into a mouthwatering chicken addition. Ready to dig in? Stick around as we uncover the canned ingredients that we're confident will assist you in taking your chicken to the next level.

Canned beans aren't the most intuitive ingredient to add to chicken, but they work well (assuming you're not making these typical canned bean mistakes), especially when it comes to Latin fare. One of the best ways we've found to enjoy beans with chicken is to marry the two together in dishes where meat and beans naturally collide, such as chicken enchiladas. Not much of an enchilada fan? No worries, you can try chicken and beans in chili, instead — with the use of flavorful spices like cumin, smoked paprika, and lime, your chili will take on Latin-inspired flavors for an interesting way to enjoy chicken for dinner.

If you're looking for something outside of Latin cuisine, allow us to introduce you to a flavor combination you might dig a little more. Try using baked beans and chicken together to make an albeit different but no less delicious casserole. Simply chop up your favorite veggies (carrot and onion tend to work well) before sautéing and adding in a bit of tomato paste, chicken stock, and seasonings. Add in cooked chicken thighs, and you'll have a cheap and delicious entrée that practically takes no time to throw together.

Adding canned chilies to chicken imparts both flavor and satisfying heat. There are multiple types of chilies to choose from, all of which will grace your chicken with deliciously different flavors. One of our favorite types of canned chilies to pair with chicken is green chilies. Varieties like these Ortega Mild Fire Roasted Diced Green Chiles can easily be added to dishes like white bean chicken chili, chicken tacos, or a hearty chicken soup.

In terms of spice, green chilies tend to be mild, but heat level can vary depending on the brand, so be sure to pay attention to label categories such as mild, medium, or hot before purchasing. So, what other canned chilies can be used with chicken? Canned chipotle chilies can be a flavorful addition, though you won't necessarily need to use the whole can in a recipe. A simple chicken marinade, for example, may only require a few chillies from the can rather than the whole shebang. Include a bit of oil, honey, citrus juice, and seasonings, and you've got all the ingredients necessary for a marinade that'll produce juicy, flavorful, and delightfully spicy chicken.

If you're looking to sample something a little out of the ordinary, adding canned coconut to your next chicken dinner might be the ingredient you've been searching for. By combining canned coconut cream or milk with complementary ingredients, you can achieve a restaurant-quality dish right from the comfort of your own kitchen.

If you're unsure of where to start, give coconut lime chicken a try. This entree combines the flavors of lime, spices, and, of course, canned coconut to make a light yet lusciously flavorful meal. Add to this dish a variety of spices, including ginger, soy sauce, onion, and garlic. Keep in mind that the kind of canned coconut you use matters — canned coconut cream, including this popular Thai Kitchen Unsweetened Coconut Cream, tends to be thicker, while canned coconut milk is thinner. We don't recommend that you use low-fat coconut milk when cooking, since doing so can alter the flavor of your dish, resulting in a bland-tasting rendition that won't be nearly as scrumptious as when made with full-fat varieties.

Curry fan? Why not treat yourself to coconut curry chicken for dinner? By utilizing the deep and rich flavors of canned coconut, you can pull off this recipe easily. Use your favorite veggies (we recommend red peppers and onions) along with a dash of curry powder, ginger, lime, and other seasonings. Add a can of full-fat coconut milk and diced chicken breasts before serving this crave-worthy sensation over a bed of rice. Yes, please.

Did you know canned jalapeños make a fantastic marinade for chicken? It's true, which is why canned jalapeños have made our list of amazing canned ingredients that can take your chicken to the next level. The science behind it is simple — since many canned jalapeños, including this La Costeña Pickled Jalapeño Peppers, are already swimming in a vinegar brine, it makes sense that using these juices as a marinade would yield great results. The salt and vinegar help tenderize the meat while the peppers add heat and flavor. Of course, just how much heat your jalapeño marinade will impart to your chicken will depend on the canned variety you choose — like with canned green chilies, you'll want to look over the label to ensure you pick the heat level that best suits your taste buds.

The process for marinating your chicken in a jalapeño brine is straightforward. Place your raw chicken in a resealable bag along with a can of jalapeños, juice included. Seal the bag and throw it in the fridge for four hours to overnight. Remove the chicken from the bag, season it to taste, and cook as usual. The results? Wonderfully flavorful and juicy chicken that even the laziest person could achieve. Don't forget the many other ways to utilize these spicy canned jalapeños — chicken nachos, Mexican chicken soup, and jalapeño chicken dip are all fair game.

If you adore corn as much as we do, then you probably already know how these sweet little kernels can uplift the flavor of chicken. Still, you may find yourself confused about how to pair these two ingredients. Thankfully, there are a variety of ways you could sample these two flavors together. One way is to combine your corn kernels with chicken in the form of a casserole. Combine drained canned corn with a mixture of sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, and seasonings. Ladle this mixture over chicken breasts and bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through. Add a flair to the recipe by including cilantro and your choice of cheese. This dish delivers the delectable flavor of street corn while still offering the heartiness of a traditional chicken casserole.

Prefer a simpler canned corn and chicken dish? No problem. Try searing a couple of chicken breasts (or thighs) in a deep skillet before adding diced tomatoes, black beans, and canned corn to the mixture along with a bit of cumin and other seasonings. Gently simmer the mixture until the chicken is cooked through. Top with Mexican cheese and cilantro before serving. Of course, these are only a couple of chicken and corn recipe combinations; there are many others to choose from, including a simple yet flavorful corn chowder – with diced chicken added, of course.

Adding canned peas to chicken can inject more nutrients into your meal and add a pop of color to make the entree attractive. Peas are extremely versatile and can be utilized in multiple dishes, including chicken fried rice. Cream-based white sauce pasta dishes especially benefit from peas, as they help break up the monotony of its rich and creamy consistency by adding a contrasting texture. The lively green color of the peas also stands out against a white sauce backdrop, making this humble veggie a winning choice.

It isn't only pasta and fried rice that benefit from the addition of peas — you can add frozen peas directly to a pot of cooked chicken for a delicious, albeit basic, dish. All you need to do is cook seasoned chicken in a skillet before adding your frozen peas toward the end of cooking for anywhere between three to five minutes. Don't forget to season your peas — Italian herbs work well, but you could also skirt by with just butter and salt.

Canned olives can be used in a number of ways, but one of our favorite methods is to pair them with chicken. Choose from green or black canned olives, making sure to note the differences between the two, as green olives tend to be saltier and black olives milder. In many cases, you'll use either olive type as a topper — simply drain them and sprinkle over grilled chicken, chicken pizza, or your favorite chicken salad for a briny punch.

And though most chicken recipes calling for canned olives will utilize them in the ways already described, there are still other methods for pairing this ingredient with your next chicken meal. For example, you can use the olives as part of a marinade by chopping and placing them into a resealable bag along with a number of spices before using it to marinate your chicken for several hours. Just be sure to account for the saltiness of the olives; add salt only a little at a time to ensure you don't overpower your chicken.

Whether it's canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, or diced tomatoes, adding this delicious "fruit" to your chicken will not only upgrade its flavor, but enhance its texture. The acid in tomatoes helps break down and tenderize the chicken, which is why an ingredient like tomato paste is a wonderful component to add to a marinade.

As we're sure you're aware, canned tomatoes are extremely versatile and can be used in a number of ways. Canned tomato sauce, for example, is an awesome choice for chicken Parmesan. Simply add it atop your breaded chicken breasts along with a bit of basil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and mozzarella to boost its flavor. Another idea is to use canned tomato paste and diced tomatoes to make a uniquely interesting Instant Pot Indian butter chicken recipe. No matter what you choose to dish up, be sure to pick a high-quality tomato product like Hunt's 100% Natural Tomato Sauce – this will ensure the best, most flavorful outcome every time.

Cream of chicken soup, typically sold by Campbell's, is one of many soup varieties often added to chicken meals to amplify their richness and flavor. This classic ingredient has been used in recipes for decades and is particularly popular when utilized as a part of casseroles and chicken bakes. As you might imagine, the internet is littered with recipes that put this inexpensive ingredient to use, and for good reason — people cite its creamy, rich, and nostalgic flavor as the reason for their devotion.

As mentioned, cream of chicken soup most often shows up as an ingredient in casserole recipes, though you may see it featured as a part of other chicken dishes as well. Some of the chicken meals we've seen that utilize this canned ingredient call for a variety of different ingredients, including broccoli, other soup types, seasonings, rice, and potatoes. In most cases, you'll simply open up a can of cream of chicken soup and dump it in with the other ingredients, though you'll want to note the specific directions of each recipe to know how, and how much, of it to use.

Cabbage is good for you in so many ways, yet it's a vegetable many of us forget about. And though cooking cabbage usually requires lots of chopping, there are easy ways to couple it with chicken without ever having to pull out your cutting board.

We'll admit that canned cabbage can sometimes be hard to come by, but we found this Glory Foods Seasoned Country Cabbage on Amazon. In most cases, using canned cabbage like this means you'll still reap many of the typical cabbage benefits, but without spending the time it would take to cook it from fresh.

Once you've gotten your hands on canned cabbage, consider dumping it over cooked chicken, along with a few shredded carrots. Add to that a bit of garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper, smoked paprika, tomato paste, and chicken broth. Feel free to add in a knob of butter to deepen flavors while also experimenting with seasonings; omitting the tomato paste and adding a splash of soy along with a bit of fresh ginger, for example, puts a slightly different spin the dish. Round out the meal with a side of fluffy white rice or rice noodles, and you've got a quick weeknight dinner that's easy to pull off.

Sweet potatoes are such a healthy treat; packed with antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins, these orange (or sometimes even white or purple) veggies are a great addition to your diet. Upgrading your chicken with the addition of sweet potatoes is fairly easy, though you'll need to pick the right flavors and ingredients to successfully tie flavors together.

One combination we go ga-ga for is BBQ chicken with sweet potatoes. Tying these two flavors together in a way that's creative, such as in a BBQ sweet potato enchilada or casserole dish is sure to be a winner. Starting with the first recipe, consider cooking chicken, shredding it, and adding canned (and drained) sweet potatoes. Add a mixture of enchilada sauce with BBQ sauce to this chicken filling as well as over top of your enchiladas before baking.

Alternatively, you can find interesting ways to tie the flavor of BBQ and sweet potatoes into a casserole or flip the script on flavor by creating your casserole with honey mustard, instead. For a yummy honey mustard chicken casserole with sweet potato, marinate your chicken in a honey mustard sauce before draining your sweet potatoes, adding a few veggies, and seasoning with the spices of your choice. Cook everything together in a casserole dish, and you've got an easy dinner packed with lots of protein, fiber, and antioxidant properties. Yum.

We've already mentioned the benefits of using cream of chicken soup to upgrade your chicken meals, and cream of mushroom soup is another delicious contender for adding rich, creamy, and in this case, umami flavor to your next dish. As you know, thick soups like these make amazing additions to casseroles, but what you may not know is that many of them also work well for skillet meals. In the case of cream of mushroom soup, you can expect it to add decadent flavor to your chicken when used as a sauce, though you'll want to make a few tweaks to it to ensure you get it to the right consistency.

To use cream of mushroom soup as a rich sauce for chicken, consider sautéing your chicken first in a skillet before removing the chicken and adding your cream of mushroom soup to the pan. Add an additional cup of water to the soup and whisk vigorously until the soup has a smooth consistency. Add your chicken back into the mixture and heat until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or enjoy on its own. Don't forget the flavor makers — grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms, fresh garlic, and a dash of parsley will breathe new life into the meal, making it that much tastier.

Canned pineapples and chicken? Yep — it's an unexpected upgrade, but it works nonetheless. The benefit of adding canned pineapples to chicken lies in both its acidity and its sweetness — the acidity helps tenderize and flavor the meat, while the sweetness complements the overall taste of chicken, especially when paired with the right ingredients.

Try adding a bit of canned pineapple (with its juices) to your next chicken dish, or making a special dip using canned pineapple as part of the ingredients. Using spices like soy and ginger typically works well here, while other seasonings, like red pepper flakes or sriracha, help bring the heat. Using pineapple with chicken also helps caramelize its exterior, making not only for beautifully charred chicken, but lots of smoky-sweet flavor as well, especially when cooked over a grill.

When using canned pineapple with chicken, we recommend using an unsweetened variety, such as Del Monte Pineapple Tidbits in 100% Juice, rather than pineapples packed in heavy syrup. Using the latter may grace your chicken with an unbearable sweetness that may just ruin your chicken dish.