Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.

Americans pronounce chopped as CHAHPT (/tʃɑpt/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She chopped the vegetables into small, uniform pieces for the stir fry".
Record yourself saying "chopped" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.

Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.

Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
In "chopped", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.