How to Make Rolled Chicken
Roll. Bake. Eat. Repeat.
This is such a fun and versatile meal; you'll never tire of it. Don't be afraid to get creative with the fillings. Stuff your chicken full of ham and cheese like a Cordon Bleu or fill it with onions, peppers and mushrooms for a more earthy flavor — the options are endless. All you need to learn is the technique; once you've got that down you're bound to serve up a winning meal.
I’m going to be using my favorite filling this time, a cheesy mix of bacon and spinach.
1 PREPARE
To get started you will need 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (a breast, sliced thin), 4 strips of bacon, 2 cups of fresh spinach plus about 20 more leaves, 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Make sure to also have parchment paper, plastic wrap and a meat tenderizer handy.
2 TENDERIZE YOUR CHICKEN
Lay out your parchment paper on a cutting board. Then lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the parchment paper. Place one of the chicken cutlets on one half of the plastic-covered parchment. Then fold the other half over the chicken. Use your meat tenderizer to pound each piece out to about 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick.
3 MAKE THE FILLING
Cook the bacon in a large skillet. Once cooked, remove the bacon from the pan and coarsely chop it. Remove all but a teaspoon of the bacon drippings from the pan and add the spinach to the skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the spinach wilts.
Now, put the coarsely chopped bacon, wilted spinach, cream cheese and grated Parmesan cheese into the food processor. Pulse until everything is evenly combined.
4 FILL & ROLL
Now it's time for an assembly line, it'll make this whole process much easier and quicker.
You'll want to arrange your chicken, the additional spinach, the filling, 2 egg whites + 1 tablespoon of water that have been whisked together and 2 cups of seasoned breadcrumbs in a row. This way you can fill, roll and bread your chicken with ease.
Before you start rolling, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Now, working with one chicken breast at a time, take those 20 or so extra spinach leaves and lay 4 or 5 on each flattened piece of chicken. Then spoon about 2 tablespoons of the filling onto each piece of chicken. Use the back of the spoon to spread the filling evenly.
Then roll it up!
Once the chicken is rolled, dip each roll in the eggwash and then the breadcrumbs.
Now that your chicken breast has been stuffed, rolled and breaded, place it — seam-side down — in your greased casserole dish and start on the next chicken breast. See how helpful the assembly line is?
5 BAKE
Now that all your rolled, breadcrumb-coated chicken breasts are in your casserole, seam-side down, all that's left is the cooking.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and spoon 3 cups of marinara sauce over and around the baked chicken rolls. Top with 1 cup of grated mozzarella cheese and then broil on high for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is just melted and the sauce is heated. Garnish with 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley and serve.
This chicken is ready to rock and roll!
