Cheesy Chicken Melts with Red Pepper Jelly

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sargento® Cheese. All opinions are 100% mine.

This recipe for Cheesy Chicken Melts is an easy dinner idea made with slices of bread, red pepper jelly and chicken topped with 100% real, natural cheese from Sargento®.

Cheese lovers, we’ve got a fantastic recipe for you today! If you love to feed your family super simple meals made with 100% real ingredients, you are going to love this Cheesy Chicken Melts recipe made with Sargento® Sliced Cheese.

If your family is like ours, life gets busy. My husband, Kent and I are often rushing around at the end of a long day of work and running our boys back and forth to school and events. More often than not, we’re scrambling to get a hot dinner on the table, but we don’t want to compromise on quality. Cheesy Chicken Melts are one of our family’s favorite “go to” meals, the kind we make when we didn’t have time to think about what to make for dinner.

We can seriously have these Cheesy Chicken Melts on our table in just 15 minutes. We added red pepper jelly and dried cranberries to give them a sweet and tangy flavor, but you can easily omit those ingredients if your family doesn’t care for them.

Sargento® Sliced Cheese goes great on our Cheesy Chicken Melts because it’s made with only 100% real, natural cheese. Pasteurized Process Cheese Food, often known as American singles, on the other hand is only required to contain 51% real cheese. Sargento® Sliced Cheese is never processed and is even tested by professional cheese graders, so we know we’re getting quality cheese to feed our family.

To make these easy Cheesy Chicken Melts, you just combine canned or shredded chicken in a small bowl with mayonnaise, yellow mustard, dried cranberries and some spices.

Next spread red pepper jelly on top of whole wheat bread. We like ours to be really flavorful so we use quite a bit of red pepper jelly on each slice.

After that, you divide the chicken mixture between the whole wheat bread slices.

Then top each one with a slice of your favorite Sargento® 100% real, natural cheese. We used Sargento® Natural Provolone Cheese for our Cheesy Chicken Melts. However, the best part about this recipe is that you can really experiment with the flavor by trying any of the 23 delicious varieties of natural cheese that Sargento® offers like colby jack, swiss or sharp cheddar.

Pop the Cheesy Chicken Melts in a conventional or toaster oven for 7-10 minutes or until the Sargento® cheese is melted – and voila! You’ve got yourself a delicious family dinner in hardly any time at all.

Cheesy Chicken Melts with Red Pepper Jelly

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

What you need

• 1 can chunked chicken breast (12.5 oz can)
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1½ teaspoons yellow mustard
• ⅛ teaspoon celery salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup dried cranberries (optional)
• 4 slices of whole grain bread
• 4 tablespoons of red pepper jelly
• 4 slices Sargento® Natural Provolone Cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine chicken, mayonnaise, mustard, celery salt, black pepper, garlic powder and salt. Add dried cranberries, if you'd like. Mix well and set aside.
3. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly grease it with cooking spray. Place slices of bread in a single layer on the baking sheet.
4. Spread red pepper jelly on each slice of bread, approximately 1 tablespoon per slice.
5. Divide the chicken salad evenly between the four slices of bread. Top each one with a slice of Sargento® Natural Provolone Cheese.
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until the Sargento® cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Notes

You could also substitute the canned chicken with 1½ cups of shredded chicken.

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Serving Suggestions for Cheesy Chicken Melts

While Cheesy Chicken Melts are incredibly quick and easy to make, there are also a variety of ways you could modify this recipe to fit your family’s tastes.

• Give the Cheesy Chicken Melts a little crunch by adding finely chopped celery, onion or green pepper.
• To give your Cheesy Chicken Melts a bolder flavor try Sargento® Sharp Cheddar or Pepper Jack cheese. Sargento® Garlic and Herb Jack, Tomato and Basil Jack or Gouda would also be amazing on Cheesy Chicken Melts.
• Instead of whole grain bread, use something else like flatbread, focaccia, sour dough or french bread. In hindsight, we thought the Sargento® Provolone Cheese would have fit perfectly on an English muffin. We’ll have to try that next time!
• You could also top the Cheesy Chicken Melts with slices of ham and fried onions, like these Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu Melts we made.
• Serve the Cheesy Chicken Melts with a side salad, fresh fruit, or veggies and a glass of low fat milk for a well rounded meal.

Get inspired with more delicious meal ideas using 100% real cheese by following Sargento® on Instagram and Facebook.

While you’re here be sure to check out other easy meal ideas like these Popcorn Chicken Nuggets or this Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole. If you enjoyed this recipe for Cheesy Chicken Melts, please share it with your friends or pin it for later:

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Carrie is the chief writer, crafter and cook here at Kenarry: Ideas for the Home. She’s an optimist by nature and enjoys sharing recipes, trying new craft ideas, planning for parties and events as well as organizing and decorating. When she’s not blogging, preparing meals or picking up around the house, you’re bound to find her hidden away in a castle under the stairs reading to her two young boys. Whether you’re cooking, crafting or creating for your family, follow Carrie on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram to get inspiring ideas for your home.