These juicy chicken breasts are stuffed with garlicky mushrooms, spinach and a blanket of oozing melted cheese. Simple to make with just a few ingredients, this is how to transform chicken breast from ho-hum into “ohhh yum!”
After this one, try Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken!
Stuffed chicken breast
Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast is one of those recipes where you take just a few ingredients and deploy them in a way that makes chicken breast so much more interesting than it usually is! Chicken breast, spinach, mushrooms, garlic and cheese are the only base ingredients here. Vary the type of cheese and swap the spinach for other leafy veg to spin this dish to suit your tastes or what you have on hand!
To make it, it’s as simple as frying off the mushrooms and spinach, stuffing the chicken, giving it a quick sear and then baking to finish it off. The reward is THIS for dinner tonight ↓↓↓!
Looks a whole lot more interesting than the usual dull chicken breast recipes, right??!!
Ingredients in Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast
Here’s what you need to make this recipe. Not that much, like I said!!
All these ingredients are pretty straightforward, so I don’t think I need to run through them like I usually do. Just a few points:
Chicken – It needs to be breast to be large enough to cut deep pockets. Boneless thigh won’t work;
Baby spinach – Chopped or sliced ordinary spinach, silverbeet (Swiss chard), kale or cabbage will work fine too;
Cheese – Anything that melts will work great. Mozzarella is ideal because it melts well but isn’t as runny as, say, cheddar or tasty cheese. This is worth bearing in mind since we don’t fully seal the chicken like with Chicken Kiev since it’s a quick recipe, so some cheese is likely to escape!;
Thyme – Fresh thyme and mushroom are such a classic combination, I can’t help but use it often! Dried thyme can be used as an alternative, else dried oregano, marjoram or rosemary. Fresh versions of any of the aforementioned will also be perfect, as would parsley or tarragon. Most herbs, really!
How to make it
One tip: stuff generously. Like paltry pie fillings and dinky dumplings, nothing is sadder in this life than stingy stuffing!
Sauté mushroom and spinach – The key here is to get great colour on the mushrooms. Colour means flavour, and we never say no to flavour.
Cut pocket slits – Cut a pocket in the chicken breast, per the diagram below, being sure not to cut all the way through. Cut the side where the meat has a fold, not the smooth side.
Season the chicken, including inside the pocket, with salt and pepper;
Stuff generously with the mushroom and spinach, then stuff in cheese slices;
Seal with 2 or 3 toothpicks. It will be stuffed too much to seal completely, and that’s OK (in fact it’s good!) The goal here is just to keep it closed enough so the filling stays mostly in place. Just insert the toothpicks on the diagonal, that’s enough to hold it in place.
Sealed and ready! This photo shows what it looks like once sealed. Ready to cook!
Brown the breast in an oven-proof skillet (so we can take it straight from the stove to the oven);
Bake and rest – Bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 65°C / 149°F. Then remove the chicken to a plate and rest for 5 minutes before serving. Resting is an essential step after cooking any protein to allow the juices in the meat to redistribute. If you don’t rest, the meat juices run out onto the plate when you cut into it.
What to serve with Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast
The nice thing about this chicken breast recipe is that there’s already a decent amount of vegetables in it, making it virtually a meal-in-one. While our mums would beam approvingly if they knew we’d made the effort make an extra vegetable side dish, the truth is I wouldn’t go too far out of my way for it! For the photo above all I did was take the leftover baby spinach and drizzled it with some Balsamic Dressing. Totally simple and lazy, but hey it does the trick!
If you feel like making your mum proud though, have a browse of Vegetable and Side Salads. It’s organised by vegetable to make it easy to use something you’ve got!
Also pictured on the side is Lemon Herb Risotto. Before you start furrowing your brow at the thought of the effort needed to make a risotto, know that this is a simple no-stir, baked risotto! You read that right. Not only that, the results are staggeringly close to – no, I’d even say virtually indistinguishable from – traditional risotto. Creamy, luscious and perfectly al dente, all without standing at the stove stirring for thirty minutes.
Try it. I think you’ll be surprised! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 x 220g / 7oz chicken breast , skinless boneless (Note 1)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 200g / 7 oz mushrooms , sliced 3mm (1/8″) thick (~2 heaped cups)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 tsp thyme leaves (Note 2)
- 2 cups baby spinach (Note 3)
- 80 g / 3oz mozzarella , sliced (or other melting cheese)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°F fan).
- Cut pockets into each chicken breast, being sure not to cut all the way through (see photos in post). Cut on the side with the fold in the meat, to keep the smooth side intact.
- Season the inside and outside of the chicken with half the salt and pepper.
- Mushroom filling: Melt butter in a heavy based oven proof skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes until they start to turn pretty golden. Then add garlic, thyme, remaining salt and pepper and continue cooking for a further 2 minutes until mushrooms are nice and golden.
- Add spinach: Add baby spinach and stir until wilted – about 30 seconds.
- Stuff mushroom mixture into the pocket of each chicken, then top with cheese.
- Seal with toothpicks as best you can – it doesn’t need to be fully sealed like we do with Chicken Kiev. Just mostly sealed.
- Sear chicken: Give the pan a quick wipe with paper towels. Heat oil over medium high heat. Sear each side of the chicken breast for 1 1/2 minutes until golden.
- Bake 15 minutes: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 65°C/149°F (chicken flesh, not the mushroom filling).
- Rest 5 minutes: Remove from tray onto a plate, loosely cover with foil and rest for 5 minutes. Serve! Pictured in post with easy creamy Baked Lemon Herb Risotto and baby spinach with Balsamic Dressing.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Life of Dozer… and Life of Nagi!!
you didn’t say what temperature to bake chicken breast, I had to look at other recipes
Hi Judy – Step 1 in the recipe is “Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°F fan)”. If you click the “recipe” button at the top of the page it will take you straight to the instructions! N x
I just made this tonight. Very easy & so delicious. 15 min in the oven is perfect. The chicken was juicy and the taste was amazing. I used an Italian cheese blend & added slice onions to the mushroom mixture. I love your recipes, only a few ingredients & big flavor. Thank you Nagi. I have one binder for all your recipes. Keep them coming. Can’t wait for your cookbook to be published
Can you use frozen spinach for this? If so, do you have to squeeze the water out before putting in the pan?
I made it for my family, they love it, and I will make it for my visitors today. It’s really something u can make it any time. We love it
I don’t have oven ready cookware, will this recipe work with a non stick skillet and transfer to a lined baking sheet pan? Thank you!
That should be fine Michelle! N x
This looks amazing and on our next dinner menu. Hoping one day you’ll also have a “crab” stuffed recipe…( fingers crossed)
I always look at the images for recipes, this was by far the most delicious looking one I saw. Will be making it tomorrow for New Years dinner, but with thinly sliced Gouda, it melts great & has more flavor! Thanks!
Good tip, Michelle! N x
Thank you for all of your incredible recipes. Your always my go too, when I have no clue what to cook for dinner. This one I’m sure will be another winner ! Thank you NAGI ❤️
I am making this b/c it looks so good. all I have is terriyaki marinated chicken breast. I think it will still work. I’ll get back to ya to let you know how it worked out!!!
Made this tonight and my family said it was the best chicken they’ve ever had. Didn’t use herbs, my grocery store is always out of something! But it was still delicious.
So yummy n so good with so little ingredients. Will be making this again. A hit with the kids!
Hi Nagi,
Can’t wait to cook this tomorrow night, it looks amazing! BUT one question: 1 oven, 2 dishes to go in (the chicken and risotto) and 2 temperatures required; how do you resolve this? I don’t want to over cook/burn the chicken.
I have cooked this twice now, it’s really easy and delish.
Another superb recipe from my favourite online chef! Deeelicious! I used Jarlsberg because that’s what I had, might try goat cheese next time. Thank you Nagi 🙂
Trying this tonight with goat cheese
Sounds yummy! N x
Mozza has little flavor. I use gruyere , emmenthaler or soft goat cheese.
Gruyere rocks! But I do like the meltiness of mozza! N x
I cooked this last night for dinner oh my goodness how delicious was this. I felt like I was in a 5 star restaurant
The internal cooking temperature for chicken breast is actually 165°F or 74°C. Do not follow internal cooking temperature provided.
As long as chicken is cooked at 149-150 for 5 min, it’s safe to eat.
I made this for dinner and my son loved it.
I used provolone cheese and it was delicious
I came across your site yesterday. I made this last night I followed the recipe as written. It was GREAT thank you. .you have a great site and I love the way you explain things. I feel as if you are in my kitchen with me. again Thank You.