Stuffed Chicken Breasts are an amazingly easy—yet wonderfully snazzy—new way to enjoy chicken!
Boneless skinless chicken breasts are so handy and so loved by everyone in my family that I end up making them pretty often. But for those same reasons, chicken breasts can get a little, well, boring. Which is why I love a simple recipe that jazzes them up.
A recipe like these Stuffed Chicken Breasts.
What’s In The Filling?
It starts with a relatively classic combination of spinach, cream cheese, and Parmesan, then adds garlic powder, onion powder, and lemon juice. The result is a delicious mixture that’s good all kinds of places—as a stuffing for steaks and pork chops as well as chicken, but also a topping for baked potatoes or a filling for puff pastry tarts.
To make the dish even creamier and cheesier, the filling includes a slice of cheese. I like Swiss, but other kinds would be good as well – cheddar, provolone, gruyere, and mozzarella, to name a few.
To stuff the chicken, you simply butterfly it. Butterflying is cutting the chicken in half thickness-wise so it’ll open like a book. I find it’s easiest to do that using a sharp knife while gently pressing the chicken with the palm of my other hand, to keep it flat as I go.
Once the breasts are open, you just arrange the cheese on top, add the spinach mixture, then fold the “books” closed.
Topping And Baking Stuffed Chicken Breasts
If all you did was cook at this point, you’d have a great dinner on your hands. But to make it a little nicer with hardly any extra effort, I top my Stuffed Chicken Breasts with some panko. Then they’re ready for the oven.
Why the oven? I prefer it over a skillet because it can be tricky to flip the chicken without disturbing the filling.
And not only is baking easier, it’s less hands-on. So I can throw together a simple side dish without having to multitask.
All in all, this recipe is a delightfully easy—and delicious!—new way to make something special out of simple chicken breasts. Try it and I think you’ll agree.
(And if you do, you might also like my easy Chicken Cordon Bleu or this Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan.)
Enjoy! – Christine
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Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Stuffed Chicken Breasts are an amazingly easy—yet wonderfully snazzy—new way to enjoy chicken!
For the sliced cheese, you can substitute your favorite kind. Or omit it or the panko topping to make the dish even simpler. No matter what, you’ll love it!
Ingredients
- 4 oz. frozen spinach, thawed
- ½ cup cream cheese, room temperature
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- ¼ tsp. garlic powder
- ¼ tsp. onion powder
- ½ tsp. salt, divided
- ½ tsp. pepper, divided
- 4 (1 oz.) slices Swiss cheese
- 4 (6-7 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tsp. olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Meanwhile, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the thawed frozen spinach. In a medium bowl, mix the squeezed spinach, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.
- Cut each piece of chicken almost in half thickness-wise, so it’ll open like a book. Arrange one slice of cheese on one side of each opened piece of chicken (cut or fold the cheese to fit). Spread the cream cheese mixture on top.
- Fold the chicken breasts closed and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
- In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and oil. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the chicken.
- Bake until the chicken is cooked through to 165°F on an instant read thermometer and the bread crumbs are browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
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