The Cozy Cookbook is here! This Stuffed Chicken Breast is filled with a creamy 3-cheese blend with spinach, herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes! It’s easy to make and customize with different fillings!
Stuffed Chicken Breast
There is no better way to make dinner exciting than to make Stuffed Chicken Breast! This recipe pairs so well with a variety of potato side dishes as well as roasted vegetables. The filling options are endless and fun to customize!
This particular recipe has a creamy 3-cheese blend with sauteed spinach, garlic, herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes! It’s an easy way to add a gourmet flair to your regular rotation, and you can even stuff the chicken ahead of time!
Be sure to check out all of my pro tips below!
How to Make It
*See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Soften the spinach and garlic in a skillet and let cool. Combine the stuffing ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
Slice a pocket into each chicken breast as shown below, being careful not to cut all the way through the other side. Fill each with stuffing and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.
Sear in oil from the sundried tomatoes (or olive oil), for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden.
Bake at 375° for 17 minutes or until the internal temp of the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°. Serve with mashed potatoes and roasted green beans.
Make Ahead Method
- Stuff the chicken as outlined. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come close to room temperature (20-25 minutes), then sear and bake as outlined.
Pro Tips
- Chicken: If your breasts are very thick, tenderize with a meat mallet to thin it out slightly. This will also make the chicken more tender.
- Cheese: Shred/grate the cheese from a block for best results as it will melt and taste better. I use Dragone whole milk low moisture mozzarella and BelGioioso Parmesan.
- Stuffing Amount: I use just under 1/2 cup of filling per chicken breast.
- Add-on options include sauteed mushrooms, bacon, feta, and more!
- Toothpicks can help keep the filling intact if you are having trouble with that, the cream cheese in this recipe helps the filling stay pretty sturdy/in place, so I don’t find them to be necessary.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. This chicken does freeze well.
- To Reheat: Wrap loosely in foil and bake at 325° for 15 minutes, depending on the size. (If possible, let it sit out at room temp for 15-minutes first.) You may choose to add 2-3 teaspoons of water to the foil to keep the chicken juicy.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 12-inch Enamel Cast Iron Skillet– The perfect size for this recipe and oven safe!
- Sharp Paring Knife
- Meat Mallet -This is the one that I use, it’s great!
- Digital Meat Thermometer
Try These Next
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- Lemon Pepper Chicken
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- Chicken Meatballs
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- Creamy Chicken Pasta
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- White Cheddar Chicken Pasta
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- Baked Ravioli
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- Beef and Broccoli Ramen
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Tried This Recipe?
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Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- Salt/Pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Filling
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 cups packed spinach, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained/chopped
- 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 cup, softened
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella, see notes
- 1/3 cup Parmesan, grated
- ½ teaspoon EACH: dried basil, dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Pro Tip 1: Instead of olive oil, I like to use reserved oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in this recipe!
- Pro Tip 2: Sear the chicken in a cast iron or oven-safe skillet so that you don’t have to transfer it to a casserole dish after searing!
Prepare the Filling
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Add 1-2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and garlic and cook until wilted, 3-4 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
- Set the spinach/garlic and sundried tomatoes aside. Combine remaining filling ingredients, then gently stir in the spinach/garlic and tomatoes. Set aside.
Prepare the Chicken
- Pat the chicken dry. Use a sharp paring knife to create a pocket for the stuffing. (Slice the side of the chicken that has the fold on the bottom.) Be careful not to cut all the way through to the other side. (See process shots in blog post for a visual on what the pocket area looks like.)
- Stuff each chicken breast with the filling. Sprinkle the top of the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is glistening and hot, add 2 chicken breasts at a time and sear each side until it begins to turn golden, 2-3 minutes.
- Pro Tip: I use 2 spatulas to maneuver the chicken when flipping, it’s easier to handle gently. The top and bottom of chicken will cook about halfway up but the middle will still be uncooked.
Bake
- If your skillet is not oven safe, transfer the chicken to a baking dish.
- Bake at 375° for 17-20 minutes, or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°. Rest for 5 minutes prior to serving with mashed potatoes and roasted green beans!
Notes
- Chicken: If your breasts are very thick, tenderize with a meat mallet to thin it out slightly. This will also make the chicken more tender.
- Cheese: Shred/grate the cheese from a block for best results as it will melt and taste better. I use Dragone whole milk low moisture mozzarella and BelGioioso Parmesan.
- Stuffing Amount: I use just under 1/2 cup of filling per chicken breast.
- Add-on options include sauteed mushrooms, bacon, feta, and more!
- Toothpicks can help keep the filling intact if you are having trouble with that, the cream cheese in this recipe helps the filling stay pretty sturdy/in place, so I don't find them to be necessary.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. This chicken does freeze well.
- To Reheat: Wrap loosely in foil and bake at 325° for 15 minutes, depending on the size. (If possible, let it sit out at room temp for 15-minutes first.) You may choose to add a 2-3 teaspoons of water to the foil to keep the chicken juicy.
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving. There are 4 servings in this recipe.
This was last night’s dinner and it was so flavorful, tender and moist.
Truly, a fantastic and versatile ingredient chicken dish! To use up an abundance of fresh herbs, I replaced the dried herbs with 1 teaspoon each of finely-chopped Rosemary & Oregano (all stems removed). I stirred them into to the skillet, combining them with the spinach, about a minute before it was completely wilted. That prevented the herbs from burning and moistened them just enough to extract their fresh flavors.
Also, when testing the chicken for an accurate proper doneness, I always make sure to insert the instant-read thermometer horizontally into the thickest part of the chicken, rather than into the stuffing mixture.
Hi Robert! I’m so happy that you loved the recipe and your addition of fresh herbs is fantastic! You are right on about how to check the temp of the chicken for sure. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it!! -Stephanie
This recipe was phenomenal! My whole family loved it. In our opinion, the ingredients you chose to stuff the chicken with were perfect in every way! It didn’t take long at all to make; and the stuffing made my kids love it so much more! I can say this will be a regular weeknight dinner for us going forward as my family is getting tired of the basic ways I normally cook chicken. I tenderized the meat for this, which I don’t normally do, but it made a big difference! We LOVED the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and cream cheese. Thank you so much!
I’m so happy the whole family loved it Lynnie! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
My husband and I tried this recipe last night and we loved it! It was a recipe quality stuffed chicken breast, but easily made at home. The only substitution I made was I used a mozzarella provolone mix since it was already opened. I also added sautéed portobello mushrooms as suggested as an optional addition. I seared (and then baked)the chicken in a cast iron pan with sun dried tomato oil. Olive oil was another option in the recipe . I believe the sun dried tomato oil took the flavors to another level. I did not use toothpicks to hold the chicken together and very little filling bubbled out.
Hi Kimberly! I am sooooo happy that you loved this recipe! The mozzarella/provolone combo sounds amazing, so do the mushrooms! I agree, I never have to use toothpicks to keep things together either! Thank you SOOO much for the review, I appreciate it so much!! -Stephanie
What can you substitute for the cream cheese? Would ricotta work?
Hi Leila, the firm texture of the cream cheese is really needed to keep the filling intact in the chicken, I believe ricotta would be too soft. This is a case where I can’t think of a suitable sub other than to maybe use more shredded mozzarella instead if needed!
I didn’t have any cream cheese on hand but I did have a container of Boursin garlic and herb and it was AMAZING!!
What a great idea Heather!! Nicely done!!! Thank you for sharing and for taking the time to leave a review! -Stephanie 🙂