These Chicken Crescent Swirls are an easy appetizer or light meal. Crescent rolls wrapped with a chicken or turkey mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and vegetables make an easy handheld baked sandwich.
These chicken swirls are perfect appetizers or snacks for parties, tailgating, baby showers or bridal showers.
Chicken Swirls
These chicken swirls or chicken pinwheels are easy to make and use common ingredients. Using fresh shredded chicken or turkey from a rotisserie chicken or leftover from another meal is just fine too!
We typically have canned turkey on hand from our Turkey Farming Family in western Ohio. We also love using leftover chicken in our Tuscan Chicken & Spaghetti Casserole or Buffalo Chicken Dip.
Put the meat in a bowl and mix in sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, ranch salad dressing, chopped green onions, chopped red pepper and you’ve got a delicious mixture that tastes even better slathered over crescent rolls.
I think spreading this chicken salad and baking inside a crescent swirl makes each bite more action-packed than a typical snack, appetizer or sandwich.
My husband just got released from an unexpected stay in the hospital. It’s my job to stay close by and help him heal, so I’ve been looking for easy recipe ideas in our cookbooks. His appetite is much lighter right now, so these swirls make perfect small portions. Hungry people can eat several. I found an Amish cookbook with a similar recipe and modified it to fit our family’s taste preferences.
There are so many options to customize this recipe. Celery could easily be used in place of either of the vegetables. The vegetables primarily provide a little crunch to the recipe. Next time I’ll add bacon too, bacon just brings so much flavor to any dish.
A couple more pinwheel recipes with crescent dough that we love are our Ham & Cheese Roll-Ups and Easy Sausage Crescent Rolls.
Ingredients Needed to Make Warm Chicken Pinwheels
- Refrigerated Crescent Roll Dough
- Cooked and Shredded Turkey or Chicken
- Cream Cheese
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Ranch Dressing
- Red Pepper
- Green Onions
How to Make Chicken or Turkey Crescent Swirls
- In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing
- Add cooked and shredded turkey or chicken, red pepper and green onions
- On a greased baking sheet, unroll 2 packages of refrigerated crescent roll dough into four equal-sized rectangles
- Spread chicken mixture evenly over the crescent rolls
- Roll up like a jelly roll – see picture below for tips
- Slice and place cut side down on a baking sheet
- Bake at 375º for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown
How Long to Bake Chicken Crescent Swirls
When using two tubes of refrigerated crescent roll doll and cutting into about 20 swirls, the recipe takes 10 – 12 minutes to bake in a 375º oven. The swirls are done when the edges are lightly browned.
Sometimes towards the end of the baking time, I rotate the baking sheet to allow the pinwheels to bake more evenly. Length of baking time can be affected by how much filling is used and by how thick the swirls are cut.
Other Appetizer Tray Ideas:
- Apple and Cheddar Cheese Snack
- Turkey, Cheddar & Bacon Sliders
- Bell Pepper Taco Dip with Meat
- Farmhouse Ham, Swiss and Ranch Party Slider
- Easy Cinnamon Fruit Dip
- How to Make a Fruit Tray
- How to Make a Vegetable Tray
Printable Recipe for Warm Chicken Crescent Swirls
Chicken Crescent Swirls
Ingredients
- 2 tubes refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 1 cup cooked and shredded chicken or turkey I use a 14.5 oz. can
- 4 ounce cream cheese
- 1/4 cup ranch salad dressing
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup red pepper chopped
- 1/4 cup green onions finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and ranch dressing.
- Add cooked and shredded turkey or chicken, red pepper and green onions, mix well.
- On a greased baking sheet, unroll 2 packages of refrigerated crescent roll dough into four equally sized rectangles.
- Spread chicken mixture evenly over the crescent rolls.
- Roll up like a jelly roll. Slice and place cut side down on baking sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.
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These look so good! They would be perfect to take to any type of get together. 🙂