Cream cheese and spinach-stuffed chicken breast in a creamy, flavorful sauce baked in the oven. This quick and easy, low-carb dish will please your family!
Global Food Recipes
with Spices and Herbs
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Process Overview
We love to prepare a dish of stuffed chicken dinner meal because it's easy to prepare, and creamy cheese and spinach is a delicious combination.
Step 1
Cut “pockets” into your boneless chicken breasts.
Cook fresh spinach briefly or use frozen spinach. Chop spinach small.
Step 2
Combine all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl.
Step 3
Arrange chicken in baking dish and sprinkle salt and black pepper over chicken.
Step 4
Stuff chicken breasts with filling.
Step 5
Pour cream into the dish and drizzle oil over chicken.
Step 6
Bake chicken first covered and at last uncovered.
Serve hot with a side dish of your choice.
📖 Recipe
Cream Cheese Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 Medium Chicken Breast skinless
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
For the Filling:
- 9 Ounces Spinach or 1 cup frozen, *see Notes
- ¾ Cup Cream Cheese
- 2 Pieces Garlic Cloves chopped fine
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheese *see Notes
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- 1 Tablespoon Thyme
For the Sauce:
- ½ Cup Cream table or heavy, *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Cut "pockets into your chicken breasts with a sharp knife. (see video or process shots) Keep aside.5 Medium Chicken Breast
For the Filling:
- If you use fresh spinach, prep your fresh spinach. Rinse and pick out withered leaves. Keep a small pot with water to boil and place spinach leaves in to blanch (aka cook briefly) for 3 minutes. Take it out of the water and place it into a prepared bowl with ice water.9 Ounces Spinach
- If you use frozen spinach, just thaw it and remove excess waters.
- Chop spinach.
- Combine filling ingredients in a bowl: the cream cheese, chopped garlic, chopped spinach, grated cheese of your choice, salt, black pepper, and thyme.¾ Cup Cream Cheese, 2 Pieces Garlic Cloves, 1 Cup Shredded Cheese, 1 Teaspoon Salt, ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 1 Tablespoon Thyme
For the Chicken in the Dish:
- Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit/ 200° Celsius.
- Place boneless chicken breasts into your casserole dish next to each other. Sprinkle salt and black pepper over your chicken breasts.½ Teaspoon Salt, ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- Stuff each chicken “pocket” with the cream cheese spinach stuffing until nothing is left.
For the Sauce:
- Pour cream into the sides of the casserole dish.½ Cup Cream
- Sprinkle olive oil over the chicken.1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
To Bake:
- Cover the chicken dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes at 400° Fahrenheit/ 200° Celsius.
- Take your dish out of the oven halfway through the cooking process and remove the aluminum foil.
- Bake the dish uncovered for another 20 25 minutes approximately and increase the temperature to 430° Fahrenheit/ 220° Celsius, or bake until the chicken is cooked through but juicy and moist.
- Serve up hot with a side of your choice.
Notes
- Use fresh or frozen spinach. I prefer fresh baby spinach or regular spinach leaves if possible vs frozen spinach. If I'm late, I will use frozen thawed spinach too.
- Pick a cheese of your choice. I like to use grated mozzarella or gruyere cheese.
- You can use light or heavy cream, whichever you prefer. Light cream is called table cream too. If you have half and half in your fridge, you can use that too but it has fewer fats and the sauce will turn out more watery.
Equipment
- 8" Chef Knife
- 9 x 13" Rectangular Baking Dish
Nutrition
Ingredient Options
If you don't have cream cheese, you can use Greek yogurt or ricotta too. You can choose your cheese, which you want to use along with the cream cheese. I like to use grated Gruyere, mozzarella, or cheddar cheese.
But you can also use a blue cheese such as gorgonzola, goat cheese such as feta, and even gouda cheese.
Spinach is a leafy green; that means technically you can substitute spinach with any other leafy greens such as kale, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and similar vegetables.
However, I believe that nothing beats the combination of cream cheese and spinach!
If you want to use another leafy green, don't forget to blanch it first. Blanching means to cook briefly in water to soften and retain nutrients.
Serving ideas
Serve this stuffed chicken with any of the following sides:
- cooked rice - plain or aromatic rice
- wheat berries
- mashed potato
- cooked pasta or spätzle
- roasted vegetables - brussels sprouts, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans. Take your pick.
- plain simple salads such as a green leaf salad, beet salad, carrot salad, or your favorite salad.
Storing
Leftovers
You can store the leftovers in an airtight container in your fridge for up to two days.
To warm it up again, place it into a pan or your oven for a few minutes over medium to slow heat until it's warmed up.
For the microwave, place it into a microwave-safe dish and heat it up over a medium heat setting for a few minutes or until hot.
To freeze
You can also freeze this dish. To do so, stuff your chicken as per instructions but skip the sauce.
Place the stuffed chicken pieces into freezer-friendly containers surrounded by parchment paper (so that you can take them out easily without them sticking to each other when frozen) and freeze.
When you want to use them, place them in the fridge overnight to defrost, OR if using frozen, place them into a casserole dish with the sauce prepped and poured in.
Cook in the oven with extra time in mind to defrost and cook through.
You can add about 20 minutes to the cooking time if you are cooking non-thawed and still frozen chicken breasts in the oven.
More Chicken Breast Recipes
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