Remember when restaurants first started adding nutrition information to menus and everyone learned that Chili’s honey chipotle chicken crispers have, like, a million calories? It’s probably been 15 years, but the pain is still fresh. Luckily, these honey chipotle chicken sandwiches help ease the pain.
Each one has under 500 calories with 32 grams of protein and only 9 grams of fat. Hopefully the Chili’s social media interns don’t come for me.
They’re made by tossing air fried or baked frozen lightly breaded chicken breast bites in a sticky sweet and spicy sauce. Then the chicken is sandwiched between a toasted baguette with low calorie ranch spread and pickles.
I’m in love with the chicken and honey chipotle sauce combo, and I had a tough time deciding what to make with it. I polled in my Instagram stories about what followers would want to see made with it.
Tacos (which I made here), flatbreads, wraps, protein bowls, and pasta all came up. At the end of the day, I figured sandwiches just made the most sense. But I’m excited to continue experimenting. So be sure to keep an eye out for new recipes.
I’ve kept it short and spicy sweet today and dropped the recipe card below. If you’re a fan of using frozen chicken bites, I’m on a kick and have published 15+ recipes over the last month or two. Check out my chicken parm sandwiches or crunchy chicken tacos before you go.
Honey Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches
Ingredients
For the Honey Chipotle Chicken
- 16 oz Frozen Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast
- 1/4 cup 84g Honey
- 2 Tablespoons 34g Ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon 15g Red Wine Vinegar (or your choice of vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon Ground Chipotle Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup 60g Chicken Bone Broth (or water)
For Serving
- 1 Baguette, halved and sliced into 4 pieces (about 5″ each)
- Avocado Oil Spray or Olive Oil
- Pickles or Pickled Peppers
For the Ranch Spread
- 1/2 cup 113g Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons 30g Light Mayo
- 2 teaspoons Ranch Seasoning
Instructions
- Toast the baguette in pan over medium-low heat with oil spray until golden brown. Set aside and wipe out the pan.
- While toasting the baguette, mix the ranch ingredients together and place in the refrigerator.*
- Add the chicken bites to an air fryer and cook for 10-12 minutes at 375ºF. (Or follow the air fryer/oven instructions on the packaging.)
- Once the chicken is in the air fryer, add the honey, ketchup, vinegar, chipotle powder, salt, and broth to the pan you toasted the bread in. Place the pan over medium-low heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon/spatula.
- Roughly chop the cooked chicken before adding to the pan with the sauce. Toss until the chicken is coated in the sauce.
- To assemble the sandwiches, add the ranch spread to the bottom, followed by chicken and your choice of pickles. Close the sandwich and dig in.
That sauce is gold, Jerry, gold!