Here it is! The so-promised chicken breasts stuffed with mozzarella cheese and spinach recipe is so crazy-delicious that even some vegetarians will come running over for dinner! :-) I mean it!
No April Fool’s Day (the one day that it’s apparently acceptable to do awful things to the people you care about and get away with it)! No hours of preparation! Not even cooking skills required! You only need chicken breast (as many as you like), spinach, mozzarella cheese, Gouda cheese (optional), turmeric (optional), chili flakes, butter and olive oil. I’m counting 8 ingredients. You?
Before you dive in, I’d like to apologize for my absence in here. It’s been a rough few weeks – first dealing with the broken hand and then finishing with a nasty flu that kicked my butt. Ouch!
But that’s over now (I really HOPE so!). And I am even racing tomorrow and ready to kick some ass! :)) So fingers crossed, please! :-)
You guys.
I really cannot get enough of this dish – baked chicken breasts stuffed with buttery cooked-spinach and mozzarella cheese, all covered in Gouda cheese – so so DELICIOUS! It’s my new favorite way of eating chicken breast.
You can make this recipe as is, or borrow the buttery cooked-spinach and mozzarella cheese for stuffing your favorite type of meat – turkey stuffed with buttery cooked-spinach and honey-feta cheese come to mind first. You could also replace the fresh spinach with frozen one and skip the spice turmeric (also called curcumin), topping the chicken breasts instead with toasted nuts, maybe even pouring white wine evenly over the chicken. Mmmmm! ;)
Ready? Get started by following my list of ingredients such as chicken breasts, fresh baby spinach, mozzarella cheese, Gouda cheese, turmeric, chili flakes, butter and olive oil.
First things first, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan. Add spinach and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently until spinach has started to cook down. Then add mozzarella cheese and cook 2 extra minutes while keep stirring.
Meanwhile, cut a horizontal slit through the center of each chicken breast to form a pocket.
Then place a large spoonful of spinach mixture in each pocket and season it with turmeric and chili.
Lastly, sprinkle with Gouda cheese and place the chicken breasts stuffed with mozzarella cheese and spinach on baking dish. Then drizzle with olive oil. Bake 30 to 35 minutes at 200°C, until chicken breasts get light golden brown.
- FILLING:
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- ⅓ cup (about 1½ ounces) Gouda cheese
- ¼ teaspoon chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach, rinsed and drained
- CHICKEN:
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- First things first, preheat the oven to 250°C (~480°F).
- Next, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil) to the pan. Add spinach and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently until spinach has started to cook down. Then add mozzarella cheese and cook 2 extra minutes while keep stirring.
- Meanwhile, make incisions into chicken, ½ inches apart, being careful not to cut through the chicken.
- Then stuff each incision with a large spoonful of spinach mixture and season it with turmeric and chili.
- Lastly, sprinkle with Gouda cheese and place the chicken breasts stuffed with mozzarella cheese and spinach on baking dish. Then drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes at 200°C, until chicken breasts get light golden brown.
CHANGE IT UP: You could replace the fresh spinach with frozen spinach and skip the spice turmeric (also called curcumin), topping the chicken breasts instead with toasted nuts, maybe even pouring white wine evenly over the chicken.
That’s it! It’s simple, straightforward, SUPER DELISH (I promise!) dish that will make your weeknights-dinner tastier. ;)
Et Voilà – so delicious, healthy and fast to make – for gray days and sunny days and any day in between.
Did you make this recipe? Then tag #cookitfit on your favorite social media channels. I’d love to see! :-)
Stay healthy & be happy!
Xoxo Cris
Sharing is kind of SEXY!
Looks delicious, would goats cheese work?
Definitely!!! :-) Thank you, Lucy! Xoxo
:-)
Xxx
Okay, this is going on my meal plan for next week! YUM!!!!
Looks delicious! Do you have the nutritional value?
Hi, Kim! It shouldn’t be more than 350 calories per serving. I hope this helps. :)
Can I use fresh buffalo mozzerella instead?
Absolutely, Linda! :)
I see preheat oven to 250 but then it says bake at 200. Also that seems like a low heat for baked chicken, we baked it at 250 for 35 minutes and the chicken read 154 on the thermometer.
Hi, Kyle. I’d suggest you guys bake the chicken at 250 for 35 minutes. If it always works that way, then you shouldn’t change it. I hope this helps. Please let me know how it turned out for you! :-) Enjoy!
I too was suspicious about the 200 degree cooking temp.
I baked it @ 250 for 35 min and it was about half cooked.
Hi Cris…I’m looking forward to trying this tonight! You might want to provide both degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit because it looks like there is some confusion from the comments. A few folks are cooking the chicken at 200 degrees F which, as you know, is a low temperature….but your recipe calls for 200 degrees Celsius which is around 400 degrees F. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Thanks!
You say to cut a horizontal slit through center of chicken yet your picture shows the breasts have several slits
Michele, you’re right!!! Actually, there are several slits. Thank you for noticing and sending me your feedback. I’m going to change the instructions right away. I hope you still gave the recipe a go. :)
Going to cook this for dinner tonight☺
Hi Christine! I hope you really enjoyed it. :-)
I cooked this last night and it was delicious!
Hi, Riss! Thank your for your feedback. :-) I am happy you’ve enjoyed it as well. It’s been my fav way of cooking chicken for quite some time now.
I’m going to cook this tonight, if I wanted to add sauce on top which would you use?
We used a tomato butter sauce over the top
That sounds like a fantastic idea! Thank you, Barbara! I will also give it a go.
Hi, Elizabeth! Sorry for the delay. I’d definitely give to mango-sauce a try. Haven’t done it yet, though.
What side dish goes best with this chicken ? I want to make this tonight but not surrwhat t goes well with. Thanks
Hi, Barbara! Asparagus salad will do the trick.
At first it says preheat to 250 degrees Celsius. Later it says bake at 200. I’m gambling on the latter…
Can I substitute blue cheese for the gouda cheese?
Hi Erica. Sure you can, I personally haven’t tried it thou. Let me know please how it goes. Enjoy!
We really like your site, it has good information, Have a nice day!
Thank you very much for your feedback, Georgia! Have a nice weekend! Xoxo
Thank you very much, Georgia! Have a lovely weekend! Best, Cris
One of the best chicken recipes I’ve had in a while. I covered in foil for 35 min at 450 F. Took the foil off for the last 5 min to brown a little bit (helps control the burn on the bottom of the pan as well). Also added a bit of garlic to the spinach cheese combo. Amazing….definitely doing it again
That’s a great idea. I’ll try it myself, too. Thank you so much for your feedback! Wishing you a very nice weekend. Cris xx
It was delicious. I thought it was a bit heavy on the mozza but as usual my hubby says there’s no such thing as too much cheese! Next time I’ll try a bit more spinach. And maybe skip the olive oil drizzle to lower calories?
Hi Susan, thank you so much for your feedback! Skipping the olive oil to lower the calories is definitely an option. Try it and let me know how it went. Xoxo, Cris
Shut the front door- this was good! : ) the only change I made was subbing chipotle chili pepper for the turmeric, as I was out, and adding chopped sundried tomatoes with the spinach and cheese stuffing. My chicken breasts were large, so I did end up cooking them a few minutes longer. Wonderful recipe..
So happy to read your comment, Deb! Glad you enjoyed it :) Xoxo, Cris