How to pick the best chicken breasts:
- I try to only buy chicken that falls within these guidelines: organic, vegetarian fed, no hormones, free range. Mary's chicken is one of my favorite brands but as long as the chicken you buy fits the above guidelines, you can't go wrong.
- In terms of chicken breast thickness, the cardinal rule is: the thicker the breast the longer it will take to cook. The perfect thickness of chicken breasts for this recipe 1 ¼". Any thinner and it becomes difficult to cut the slits deep enough to hold the spinach but not too deep that you cut right through the breast.
The best cheese to buy:
- There are so many great topping cheese options for this recipe but the most popular is mozzarella because it tastes great and melts at a fairly low temperature.
- For a dairy-free option, I like goat mozzarella or goat cheddar. They can be a little difficult to find depending on where you live but if you can find them, they are both great.
Top tips for this recipe:
- If you want to get a nicely browned cheese look on your chicken breasts, the very last thing you should do is set your oven to the broil setting
and put the chicken breasts on the top rack of your oven. Make sure you watch them broil the entire time because even 10 seconds too long can leave you with burnt chicken. - These chicken breasts go great with a side of white or brown rice and also vegetables. My favorite vegetable to make with this recipe is steamed broccoli.
Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken
A lot of people don't believe me when I say this but I'll say it again: CHICKEN BREASTS DON'T HAVE TO BE BORING! For example- this Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken is every bit as tasty as it looks in the photo below. Every bite is the perfect ratio of cheese, spinach, spices, chicken and then the goat cheese inside.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 369kcal
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- ½ cup crumbled goat cheese or feta
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 4 chicken breasts boneless and skinless (aprrox. 1.5 lbs.)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp paprika
- ? cup shredded Mozzarella cheese or cheddar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degree fahrenheit and set aside baking pan.
- In a large skillet add a splash of grapeseed oil, cook spinach over medium until slightly wilted (approx. 3-5 min). Add crumbled goat cheese and continue to cook until cheese is melted for about 1 min. Stir in red pepper flakes (optional) then set aside.
- Place chicken breasts in baking pan. Using a sharp knife cut slits across the chicken breast about ¾ of the way through chicken breast (careful not to cut all the way through). Stuff each slit with spinach and goat cheese mixture.
- Salt and pepper top of chicken breast and season with paprika. Sprinkle ¼ of the mozzarella cheese on each chicken breast.
- Place the chicken breasts in the oven and bake for 20-25 min. For more crispy and browned cheese, broil for the last 10 min. of cooking.
Nutrition
Serving: 175g | Calories: 369kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 56g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 165mg | Sodium: 447mg | Potassium: 987mg | Vitamin A: 3175IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 123mg | Iron: 2.2mg
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