Olive Garden Stuffed Chicken Parmigiana

kiwidutch's Note:

Need I say more? Olive Garden, great, tasty Italian food for the whole family. My family loves this super easy and Delish recipe. COOKS NOTES: Leftover cheese filling may be kept in refrigerator for 2 weeks or frozen up to 3 months. Also makes good filling for manicotti. If using flat cookie sheet...be sure to form a "rim" so that melted shortening doesn't run off. Using foil helps with clean up:)NOTE: This is an adopted recipe and now that I have tried it myself I can only say: full credit to the previous owner for a wonderful recipe, I am lucky indeed to have become Mama to this one. Enjoy :)

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat
• 2 cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 egg white
• 1 (15 -16 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 1 (3 ounce) can kraft romano cheese
• 1 1/2 cups kraft parmesan cheese (may use any brand)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (12 ounce) jar pasta sauce (marinara style sauce)
• 1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup Crisco or 1/4 cup shortening
• fresh grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash chicken breasts, do not dry, and slit lengthwise, almost through -- to make a pocket.
2. Combine ricotta, Romano, Parmesan, basil, thyme and oregano in mixing bowl. It will be crumbly.
3. Stuff into pocket of chicken, leaving a small "edge" to seal. Using egg white, rub around edge and pinch to seal. Or may use toothpicks, but be sure to remove before serving.
4. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and melt butter and Crisco in oven at 350 degrees -- about 5 minutes.
5. Dredge wet chicken in breadcrumbs, coating well, and place on baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
6. Turn chicken and bake another 15 to 20 minutes.
7. While baking, heat pasta sauce until hot. Remove chicken from oven and spoon hot pasta sauce over each.
8. Before serving, top with grated, fresh Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Reviews

[bluemoon downunder]

Delicious Stuffed Chicken Parmigiana. I added a step by softening 4 cloves of minced garlic in what was probably 1/2 teaspoon of melted butter in the microwave for about a minute (garlic fiend!). This I then added to all the specified ingredients in step two, together with some rosemary and sage and a few grindings of black pepper. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. Very clear instructions. I used low-fat ricotta but the other cheeses were the regular variety. Thanks for sharing this very flavoursome and easy to prepare dish, which we really enjoyed. Made for PRMR.

[rosslare]

This just about beats all the rest of the chicken parmigiana recipes.

[MommaMac]

This was def a winner at my house. I was feeding a crowd so I ended up making 10 breast and had perfect amount of cheese filling. I also had no shortening so I used all margarine. I used two pans, one lined with foil and the other was an oven proof skillet. The ones in the skillet really got crispy but the ones on the foil didn't so I put them in a skillet on the stove for a minute to crisp them up. Serve with rotini pasta and Ragu Traditional sauce and boy was this dinner ever a hit! Thanks for sharing!!!!!