Name: Easy Chicken Cheesesteaks in Just 15 Minutes
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2-3 Large Chicken Breasts (24oz total); 1 Large Green Bell Pepper; 1 Large Sweet or Yellow Onion; 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Pepper; 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder; 1/4 tsp Parsley; 1/4 tsp Paprika; 4 Slices Provolone Cheese (can also use white American cheese); 4 Italian Sub Rolls (about 6" each)

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If you have 15 minutes, then you have enough time to whip up a delicious chicken Philly cheesesteak.

Not only is the recipe quick & easy, but it’s absolutely packed with protein.

Each chicken Philly sandwich contains under 500 calories and has nearly 50g of protein (49 grams of protein to be exact), so it’s a very easy way to hit your protein goals!

Plus, the ingredients are very customizable, so you can adjust this recipe to fit your tastes.

What is a Philly cheesesteak?

When I went away to college, I ended up very close to Philadelphia, so of course, I had to try an authentic Philly cheesesteak.

A true cheesesteak is made with thinly sliced ribeye steak, pepper, onion, and melty cheese inside of a hoagie roll.

It wasn’t until I had one for the first time that I learned that a real Philly cheesesteak is made with Cheese Whiz, which is that gooey cheese sauce you find in jars. You can also order your cheesesteak with sliced cheese if preferred, but I was told it was frowned upon for a TRUE Philly cheesesteak experience.

All in all, while delicious, it’s a very greasy sandwich. No disrespect to any Philadelphians out there, but it’s just not for me.

That’s why I wanted to put my own healthy spin on the classic sandwich by making a chicken Philly cheesesteak sandwich instead.

By using boneless skinless chicken breast and no butter or oil, we’re bringing the calories down, bumping the protein up, and not sacrificing any flavor.

How to make chicken Philly cheesesteaks

The star of a chicken cheesesteak is obviously the tender chicken, and you can truly use any chicken and cooking method you prefer.

To keep this recipe very lean, as well as quick, I chose to quickly pan-fry some sliced chicken breast. If you follow those same instructions, you’re going to make a delicious chicken cheesesteak.

But there is no shortage of what kind of chicken you can use. Here are some alternate ideas:

Use chicken thighs for some extra flavor (but slightly higher calories).
Cook your chicken in a slow cooker or instant pot for tender shredded chicken.
Utilize leftover rotisserie chicken to speed the process up even more. If you go this route, I recommend heating the chicken up in a pan with a little bit of chicken broth to give the chicken a little bit of extra flavor.

You can also use ground chicken, chicken sausage, or anything else you prefer!

No matter what you choose, the process will be the same.

To start, chop your bell pepper and sweet onion into strips. Add to a pan or large skillet over medium-high heat and cook them down for about 5 minutes. If there is another veggie you’d like to add, like mushrooms or sweet bell peppers, you can add more to the pan as well.

I chose to not use any olive oil in the pan in an effort to keep the calories down, and I found the green pepper and sweet onion to cook down with no problem. If you want to add a little bit of olive oil to the pan, you certainly can!

We want the bell pepper to have some color to it, and we want the sweet onions to be slightly translucent.

While the vegetables cook, you’ll dice your chicken breast up. You can leave the chicken in chunks, or dice it up into smaller bite-sized pieces. The smaller you cut the chicken, the quicker it will cook.

Add to your hot pan with the sautéed onions and bell peppers along with some salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, and paprika. Mix everything up and allow the chicken to fully cook, which should only take about 10 minutes in total.

Periodically mix everything up in the pan and continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked through and is no longer pink.

Take 4 slices of provolone cheese and lay them over the top of your chicken mixture. Even if you’re not planning on making 4 chicken Philly cheesesteak sandwiches right away, I still like to melt the cheese over the top for the added flavor.

Cover the pan to help the cheese to melt for about 30 seconds, and then you’re ready to serve!

To complete your chicken Philly cheese steak, you’ll need to choose your ideal sandwich rolls. You can choose any type of hoagie roll, sub roll, hot dog bun, or even regular hamburger bun. There are no rules here!

My store sells “mini sub rolls” which is what I chose to use, but any type of sandwich roll will work great.

Philly sandwiches are usually quite large, but I decided to stick with 6″ hoagie rolls for my chicken version.

Scoop 1/4 of the mixture out of the pan and add to a hoagie roll. If your roll isn’t fresh, you can microwave it for about 15 seconds to soften, or even toast it up. Personally, I prefer my roll to be nice and soft, so I don’t like to toast the roll in this sandwich recipe.

If you like a little bit of heat, you can also spice these chicken cheesesteak sandwiches up with a little bit of buffalo sauce, jalapeno peppers, or banana peppers. In my opinion, the perfect sandwich always has a little bit of heat to it, so I highly recommend it.

More chicken recipes you’re going to love

You’re likely reading this chicken cheesesteak recipe because you love chicken (if not, then you definitely need to go and find yourself a different main dish). Lucky for you, I’ve got plenty of amazing chicken recipes here on my blog for you to explore:

Easy Chicken Cheesesteaks in Just 15 Minutes

Yield: 4 Cheesesteaks

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Chicken cheesesteaks take only 15 minutes to make (from scratch) and are an insanely delicious way to hit your protein goals! Each sandwich contains 50g of protein, so to say it's very filling is an understatement.

Ingredients

2-3 Large Chicken Breasts (24oz total)
1 Large Green Bell Pepper
1 Large Sweet or Yellow Onion
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Parsley
1/4 tsp Paprika
4 Slices Provolone Cheese (can also use white American cheese)
4 Italian Sub Rolls (about 6" each)

Instructions

Slice your pepper and onion into strips and add to a pan over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt & pepper.
Periodically stir everything up and allow the pepper and onion to cook down for about 5 minutes.
While those cook, dice up your chicken breast. You can slice your chicken up into stripes, or dice it into any size you prefer. The smaller you cut the chicken, the faster it will cook.
Once the pepper and onion have cooked down a bit, add the chicken to the pan along with all of your seasoning. Mix everything up to make sure the chicken is fully coated in the seasoning.
Since the chicken is diced up, it will cook pretty quickly. I estimate that it took only about 10 minutes for the chicken to fully cook and the veggies to be nice and soft. You can cover the pan if you'd like, but I didn't find it necessary as long as you periodically mix everything up to make sure all sides of the chicken get cooked.
Place 4 slices of provolone cheese on top of the cooked chicken and veggies, then cover the pan for about 30 seconds to help the cheese melt.
Use a spatula to scoop 1/4 of the mixture out and into one of the sub rolls. Continue for all 4, or save the rest for leftovers later on.

Notes

The nutrition you see below is based on the specific ingredients I used. Since every store will carry different rolls, I recommend calculating your own based on whichever you use.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can customize it however you'd like. You can use shaved chicken (Trader Joe's sells some) to create a more traditional cheesesteak style, or you can even use pre-cooked chicken to speed things up even more!
I kept my chicken in slightly larger pieces, simply because I find it much easier to dice the chicken breast up that way. If you want to chop the meat into smaller pieces like a true cheesesteak, you absolutely can!
Traditional Philly cheesesteak uses Cheez whiz, so you can certainly use that in place of sliced cheese if you prefer. I chose to stray from the classic Philly cheesesteak in order to save some calories, but I won't argue with the deliciousness of whiz!

Nutrition Information

Yield 4 Serving Size 1 Cheesesteak
Amount Per Serving Calories 455Total Fat 12.5gCarbohydrates 36gProtein 49g