An epic baked stuffed chicken breast! Slathered in tasty Italian flavours, then stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, spinach and cheese, this chicken breast is juicy and oozing with flavour. Five minutes is all it takes to prepare this with no marinating time required.
This is one of those recipes that’s so easy and versatile, you don’t even need a recipe for it. The variation possibilities are endless in case you don’t have the exact ingredients called for, and I’ve provided a handful of ideas. So you can make this tonight with whatever you have!
One of the pleasures / tortures of working in the food industry is constantly being surrounded by food. Whether on social media, research, creating and testing recipes, jobs for clients, for my monthly feature in Super Food Ideas magazine, and even when I’m with friends and family, I live and breath (and eat) food for most of my waking hours.
In fact, I see so much food that it takes something seriously good to grab my attention. And when this Sun Dried Tomato, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken from Yammie’s Noshery came across my radar, I jumped on it straight away. It was just meant to be. I had everything to make it, and I made it that very night. Well, a variation of it. Because – you know. That’s just what I do. I rarely stick to the script. 😉
This is one of those secret weapon recipes that tastes so ridiculously good and yet you barely need a recipe for it. In fact, these photos are all you need:
The beauty of this baked stuffed chicken breast recipe is that it’s a base that you can adapt to your own taste using whatever ingredients you have. Assuming that you have chicken breast. And cheese. Because….well, you know. The end result just wouldn’t be the same if you didn’t have both of those……
So I’ve added a bunch of suggestions in the recipe notes. Basil, ricotta, feta, other pickled / marinated vegetables, frozen spinach, olives, to name a few.
I love making this with sun dried tomato because for a relatively unattractive looking shrivelled up vegetable, it packs a lot of flavour punch which is right up my alley. So I always have a jar lurking in my fridge. Just a bit of sun dried tomato can make anything so much more interesting. Think – omelettes/frittas, pastas, salads.
The one thing I did differently from the original recipe was swapping out the bottled Italian dressing for a simple homemade Italian dressing that is thicker than what I use for salads. It’s more like a thin paste. By making it thicker than usual salad dressings, the flavour sticks to the chicken breast better which eliminates the need for marinating time.
Speed and no advance preparation is what this recipe is all about!
I am quite particular about how I cook with chicken breast. It’s so lean, I find it either has to be marinated, or pounded thin so it cooks quickly and stays nice and juicy. I honestly have no memory of my mother cooking with chicken breast when I was growing up. Asian food is all about “dark meat” which is fattier and has more flavour – thigh fillets, wings, drumsticks. (No feet and other questionable parts for me!)
However, this method of cooking chicken breast works really well to keep it beautifully juicy. It cooks faster than a whole chicken breast even though it is stuffed because the stuffing is not as dense as chicken flesh.
And as it roasts, the juices from the sun dried tomato and cheese bastes the chicken which is already slathered in the Italian dressing, so when you take it out of the oven, you will find plenty of sauce in the skillet to pour over the chicken when you serve it.
I know I’m talking this up as a fast midweek meal, but I swear, I would happily serve this up for company too. It’s one of those crowd pleaser meals, don’t you think?? – Nagi x
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Sun Dried Tomato, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 6oz/180g small chicken breasts (2 pieces), boneless and skinless
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomato (oil packed. Use enough to cover the chicken, cut into strips)
- 4 slices mozzarella cheese (or other melting cheese of choice)
- leaves Handful of spinach
- 2 tsp olive oil
Italian Dressing
- 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sugar, any
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp EACH Italian mixed herbs and red pepper flakes (Note 1)
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Whisk together the Italian Dressing ingredients in a bowl. It will be thicker than salad dressing.
- Cut a pocket into each chicken breast, taking care not to cut all the way though.
- Coat the chicken (inside and out) with the Italian Dressing.
- Place chicken on work surface. Stuff with sun dried tomato, top with cheese then finish with spinach leaves. Just stuff in as much as you can.
- Seal with toothpicks (just stick them in on the diagonal - see photo in post).
- Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add chicken and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side, or until golden.
- Transfer to oven and cook for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly and chicken is cooked through. Rest for 3 minutes before serving, drizzled with the juices in the skillet.
Recipe Notes:
Small 6oz/180g - 15 minutes
Medium 7 oz / 210g - 18 minutes
Large 8oz/250g - 20 minutes 3. Other ideas for stuffing: Spinach (thawed frozen spinach, excess water squeezed out), ricotta, feta, olives, other pickled / marinated vegetables, fresh herbs, bacon (of course). 4. Slightly adapted from this Sun Dried Tomato, Spinach and Cheese Chicken by Yammie's Noshery. 5. Nutrition is per serving, for a whole 6oz/180g chicken breast per person. If you use chicken breast much larger than this, each chicken breast can serve 2 people.
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Baked Stuffed Chicken Breast recipe video!
LIFE OF DOZER
Turns out he loves sun dried tomatoes and asparagus as much as his Mama. 😉 (OK OK….he got some chicken too…..)
PS Yes I am using chopsticks feed him. Soooooo Asian, I know…..!!!
Made it for a family gathering … loved it!
Following up from 24 Oct.– I made slow cooker pulled pork instead!
Now, as for this recipe, I sat and walked my non-cooking son through it. Even though the pockets were a bit obliterated, it turned out grand. We added a shaved slice of ham and enclosed the cheese & tomatoes in that- then slid it into the pocket so the closed end of the ham pillow faced the inside of the breast, then added spinach. It really helped to keep it all inside. I decided after the quick fry, to loosely stand and bake the breasts toothpick-edge up, in a glass loaf pan (didn’t want to lose the stuffing bits). Worked a treat! xx
Hey Nagi!
Any chance this would work with thick pork chops which have been marinated in your pork marinade? I have about 1.5 kilo in the freezer as we speak- lol.
I have fresh spinach, shredded ham, basil paste (no dried tomatoes, tho), and cheddar/ricotta/grana padano cheeses. Watcha think?
I love all of your variations on stuffed chicken breast Nagi. Tonight I’m using a cheese I found recently – Wenslydale with cranberries, and some fresh spinach. I use cooking twine rather than toothpicks for ease of turning the breasts to brown in the pan. Thanks again for another quick, easy delish dinner recipe 🙂
Amazing! I knew I would like this but was a little surprised by my husbands response. One bite and and he said, “wow! The flavor is amazing!”
The only thing I did differently was take the advice from another comment on here and used your baked panko for a crust and baked the chicken in the oven without searing in the pan. Absolutely amazing dish!
Woo hoo that’s great Tami!! I am glad that you both liked it! N x
Amazing! I knew I would like this but was a little surprised by my husbands response. One bite and and he said, “wow! The flavor is amazing!”
The only thing I did differently was take the advice from another comment on here and used your backed panko for a crust and backed the chicken in the oven without searing in the pan. Absolutely amazing dish!
super recipe
I made this tonight. Dipped in egg and breadcrumb and cooked in the air fryer. Four stuffed breasts, 390 for 20 minutes. Absolutely delicious. I will be using my new air fryer for more of you recipes.
Thanks for the air fryer tip. Going to try it tonight
Hi Nagi, I am going away in a group of 10 people and as space in the pan would be an issue I was wondering if I could cook the fillets in batches and put them in a pre heated baking dish to cook them all at once?
Yes you can Rod – that’s how we do it when prepping dishes like this at scale for RecipeTin Meals! N x
I have tried this recipe a couple of times. I just recently developed a newfound love for butcher’s twine. It is a game changer fro things like this
There are some things that every kitchen should have and that’s one of them! N x
The recipe is fabulous!!
Has anyone made this with provolone cheese?
Fabulous.Another favourite in our house.So tasty.One I will be passing on to my family.Thankyou againNagi.xx
This chicken was spectacular! I followed the instructions exactly and used Brie cheese which I thought was a perfect choice. I left the spinach off my husband’s piece as he is not a huge fan of spinach. He gave this five stars and said next time he will try it with spinach! I’m already planning to make this again next week. Definitely will make for guests…so impressive on a plate. I served with oven roasted beets and julienne carrots.
I tried your secret to stuffing chicken breast with Brie & dried cranberries. I used your tip to brown the panko. My Aunt Vicki coats chicken with mayonnaise and the crumbs stick really well and keeps breast juicy. Husband loved it, me too! Next I am going to combine your sauteed mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and spinach, probably add some dried cranberries. All these things I have on hand the spinach is wilting, so perfect. I LOVE ALL OF YOUR RECIPES, SO GLAD I FOUND YOU. Your cooking ideas are unique, smart, easy. I have lots of recipes I’ve just made up because that’s what I had on hand, ha,ha.
Thank you again.
Absolutely awesome. My husband’s comment: “You should make this for guests.” I used large chicken breasts which were probably closer to 12 ounces each. The chicken was perfectly cooked at after 20 minutes in the oven. Great presentation, and easy enough for weeknight. The only thing I would change is to add more cheese for the size breasts that I used. Its probably enough for 6 ounce breasts, however. By the way, I chopped up my spinach before stuffing it in the chicken, out of personal preference. Thank you so much Nagi, for another awesome meal!
Made this and was absolutely DELISH! It’s the dish I’ll make to convince people I am a fancy chef 😄 One question— can the chicken be assembled and frozen ahead of time …then cooked another day? Thanks!
Hi. I cooked your stuffed chicken breast with tomato spinach and cheese . Absolutely fantastic 💕
this recipe was so good!
I’m so glad you loved it Adele!! N x