Italian Stuffed Chicken

"I created this one evening when I wanted to make a romantic meal. It's not very difficult to make but the stuffed chicken is beautiful. Serve on a bed of spinach or with a lovely green salad on the side."
 
Download
photo by creativecurio photo by creativecurio
photo by creativecurio
photo by creativecurio photo by creativecurio
Ready In:
1hr 5mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
4
Advertisement

ingredients

Advertisement

directions

  • Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté half of the chopped onion until soft.
  • Add the spinach and continue cooking over a medium heat, adding a touch of water if needed, until the spinach is wilted.
  • Take off the heat and let cool for a moment, before stirring in just over half of the mozzarella cheese.
  • Cool until you can comfortably handle the mixture.
  • Meanwhile, cut a slit lengthways along each chicken breast but be careful not to cut them in half.
  • You want to end up with a little pouch in each one.
  • When the spinach mixture is cool, stuff each breast with as much of the mixture as you can.
  • You may not use it all.
  • Cover the chicken with some cling film and set in the fridge while you make the sauce.
  • Heat some more olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the remaining onion and jalapeno pepper until soft.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes, water, stock cube and oregano.
  • Simmer for about 10 minutes until the flavours blend and the mixture starts to thicken.
  • Stir in the tomato paste, season with salt and pepper and let simmer a few minutes more until you have a fairly thick sauce.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 degrees F.
  • Put enough sauce in a casserole dish to cover the bottom.
  • Lay in the chicken breasts and then cover with the remaining sauce.
  • Bake for 40-45 minutes, then pull out of the oven briefly to scatter the remaining mozarella cheese on top.
  • Turn on the grill and cook just until the cheese is bubbling and browned.

Questions & Replies

  1. I've made this many times before (using diced tomatoes) and it is amazing!!! Just wondering if you've ever tried it in the crock pot. Would like to know if you have any tips to do so?
     
Advertisement

Reviews

  1. This recipe is AWESOME!! I made the recipe as it was written except used basil, garlic and oregano chopped tomatoes. Thank you so much for the fantastic recipe!!!
     
  2. So good!
     
  3. I tried this recipe out as my very first SBD phase 1 dinner. It was excellent! I actually made this as it was, but also made a second filling made with chopped broccoli instead of spinach since my boyfriend doesn't like it. It also turned out very well. Served with a side of squash and zucchini sauteed in the juices from the chicken created a very tasty dinner!
     
  4. This recipe is absolutely lovely! At first glance, it seems kind of complicated, but it really isn't. The flavor is just right - not too much & not too little of everything. I did eliminate the jalapeno peppers, though. The first time I made it, the occassion was my boyfriend's birthday. He actually said that this was one of the best dishes that I'd ever cooked for him (and I cook quite often)! Needless to say, I'll be using this recipe again.
     
  5. From Jacksonville, USA thanks for your receipe. I just made it and was extremely good, will definatly make it again. Your natural foods approach is very appealing to me, i'll check more of your receipes and probably will use a number of them. Only change i made was to not use the tomato paste (darn carb diet, lol) never the less had no effect on the outcome. THanks again for sharing ...
     
Advertisement

Tweaks

  1. I tried this recipe out as my very first SBD phase 1 dinner. It was excellent! I actually made this as it was, but also made a second filling made with chopped broccoli instead of spinach since my boyfriend doesn't like it. It also turned out very well. Served with a side of squash and zucchini sauteed in the juices from the chicken created a very tasty dinner!
     
  2. I hope you will have another romantic dinner again, as long a you share the recipe with us! The only minor thing I did different was that I drained the spinach before adding the mozzarella, but then can depend on which type of spinach you have, some just have more water. I left out the chili pepper and used chicken stock instead of water and a cube. Lovely sauce and I served it on a bed of spinach as you suggested, and a little bit spaghetini.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

This is a picture of me and my husband in Portugal, climbing up above the clouds with our bikes. Right now we are travelling around the world on our bicycles, so I only pop onto Zaar occasionally, when internet connections and time allow me to. If I don't reply to a message about one of my recipes, now you know why! Our trip may take several years so if it's urgent, it's probably better for you to post in the forums ;) Good food is really important to me -- I am happy to pay extra for food that I feel is produced in a sustainable and ethical way and always try to eat using seasonal produce. When we were in the UK we rarely shopped at supermarkets, trying instead to favour small producers, although we were very lucky in that we lived in London and there was lots of choice. We also were fortunate enough to have a weekly organic veg box delivered to our door, filled with so many lovely vegetables for very little money. It really opened my horizons in terms of the variety of vegetables I eat. If you're in the UK, check out Riverford for a box supplier as they're amazing! When I'm not eating I love to take pictures and travel with my husband. <img src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/World%20Tour/ZWT2.gif">
 
View Full Profile
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Find More Recipes