Italian Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Looking for easy stuffed chicken breast recipes? This Easy Italian Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken will get you out of your chicken rut! I use soft ricotta cheese, fresh spinach, meaty mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes for  ricotta stuffed chicken the whole family loves. Bake this stuffed chicken breast in the oven for 25-30 minutes for tender, moist perfection.

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My daughter calls this my “fancy chicken” and boy, is she a fan! She loves the spinach and cheese filling with bits of sweet sun-dried tomato and mushrooms.  The spinach cheese mixture is where we’ll start for this easy stuffed chicken breast recipe.

Filling Ingredients For Easy Italian Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken

• Olive Oil
• Mushrooms
• Garlic
• Thyme
• Spinach
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• Ricotta Cheese

Tips For Italian Spinach and Cheese Filling

Sauté the mushrooms in olive oil until most of the liquid has evaporated. This is important because mushrooms are mostly water and they release that moisture when cooking. Since you don’t want excess liquid in your filling, cook the mushrooms until they’re well browned and most of the liquid has dissipated.

Stir in the garlic, thyme, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach and cook until the garlic is softened and fragrant. I usually use fresh spinach leaves for the filling. Fresh spinach is delicate, so it doesn’t need a lot of cook time, 1-2 minutes at the most.

Can I Use Frozen Spinach For Chicken Breast with Spinach?

• Yes. If you’re using frozen spinach, thaw it first.   
• Frozen spinach has been blanched and has a lot of excess moisture that would water down the filling. You want to eliminate the liquid by squeezing it dry.
• One way to dry thawed, frozen spinach is by placing the thawed spinach in the center of a clean dish towel, wrapping it up into a ball and squeezing over the sink until you can’t get any more juice from the ball of spinach, however, you’ll also want to check out this cool hack to dry spinach.
• I would recommend using half of a package of frozen spinach for the filling in this recipe.

Transfer the sautéed vegetables to a bowl and add the ricotta cheese and grated parmesan. Stir to combine.

How To Stuff Chicken Breasts with Cheese Filling

1. Cut a pocket into the chicken breast using a very sharp paring knife.   You want the pocket to go “not quite through” the chicken — leaving about 1/2″ border around the edges to hold in the filling.
2. To do this find the thickest side of the chicken breast and slice a small pocket about 2″ deep into the chicken. Open up the pocket and make small slits inside the chicken breast to open it up more, however, be careful not to poke through the sides.
3. Stuff the breasts with the spinach ricotta filling.

Securing and Breading Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

1. Secure the opening with toothpicks to prevent the cheese mixture from oozing out the side.
2. Brush the stuffed chicken breasts with butter and lightly pat them with the breadcrumb/parmesan coating.

Baking Stuffed Chicken Breasts In The Oven

1. Transfer chicken breasts to the parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden and chicken is cooked through.
2. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Even with the toothpicks, a little bit of the filling will ooze out of the ricotta stuffed chicken, however, that’s okay. This is homemade baked stuffed chicken — not some prepackaged, frozen wannabe and your gonna love it! 

The Best Stuffed Chicken Breast Sides:

• Pesto Green Beans
• Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes
• Browned Butter Sea Salt Mashed Potatoes
• Mashed Cauliflower with Roasted Garlic

More Baked Chicken Recipes: 

• Juicy Asian-Style Chicken Thighs
• Rosemary Garlic Chicken Wings
• Oven-Roasted Harissa Chicken
• Sour Orange Garlic Mojo Butterflied Roast Chicken
• Pan Roasted Chicken with Dijon Sauce
• Baked Stuffed Chicken Breast with Ham and Peas

If you don’t have them already, you’ll want to check out the tools I use for this recipe (and yes, they’re affiliate links) you’ll get them at no extra cost and I’ll earn enough for a candy bar (I like Reese’s).

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4 from 20 votes

Stuffed Chicken Breasts Roma

Filled with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and thyme with a blend of ricotta and parmesan cheese, these stuffed chicken breasts elevate Tuesday night.

Author: Lisa Lotts

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword baked chicken, chicken breast, stuffed chicken

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
• ½ cup white mushrooms roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves minced
• 1 ½ cup fresh spinach leaves or half a package of frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes chopped
• ½ cup ricotta cheese
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated, divided
• ½ cup dry breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter melted

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 375°.  Lay a piece of parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
• In a medium pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the chopped mushrooms and saute until browned and most of the liquid has been given off.  Stir in the garlic, thyme, sun-dried tomateoes and spinach.  Cook for an additional minute until garlic and thyme are fragrant and the spinach wilts. Transfer mushroom mixture to a medium bowl.
• Add ricotta and parmesan cheese to mushroom mixture and stir to combine.  Set aside.
• Using a very sharp paring knife, carefully cut a pocket into the side of the chicken breast that is about 1/2" shy of cutting completely through the other side and ends. 
• Fill the pockets with the filling and secure with 3 or 4 toothpicks to keep them closed.
• In a shallow bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  Brush the chicken breasts with melted butter and dip into the breadcrumb mixture to coat, pressing the crumbs into the chicken breast with your hands.  Transfer to the baking sheet.  Drizzle the remaining butter over the chicken breasts.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.  Let sit for five minutes before serving.

NOTES:

Because there's two chicken breasts, I count this as two servings, but my husband and I usually split a chicken breast because they're quite large.  That brings the calorie count down to a moderate 400 calories/serving.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 526mg | Potassium: 448mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1995IU | Vitamin C: 7.9mg | Calcium: 345mg | Iron: 2.6mg

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