My mom came by to hang out with the boys so of course I pressed her into service! She makes the very best recipes out of thin air, throwing things together with instinct and experience guiding her hand. The only challenge was making her measure things out so I could write this recipe down! She started off by making a roux with butter and flour, then added cream and vegetable stock to thin it out.
A Few Tips and Pointers
- A liberal dash of paprika made such a difference, it added a beautiful smokey quality to the whole sauce while the gouda brings a lot of creaminess and body.
- If you want to make a vegetarian version, just serve the amazing sauce with some pasta!
- Pat the breast dry before searing them for best results.
- This recipe is easily doubled for more portions!
- You can make the sauce a day ahead and assemble and bake with more ease the day of.
How do you butterfly a chicken breast?
To butterfly a chicken breast place it on a clean surface and press down with one hand. Use the other hand to slice through the breast until you knife is almost through to the other side. Not the breast can be stuffed and baked. When I do this I like to remove the tender, and pound the breast after cutting it.
Steps to Make Spinach stuffed chicken
- Start by making a roux. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons to flour and whisk over medium heat for about a minute.
- Whisk in the cream and stock. Add salt, pepper, paprika, and balsamic vinegar. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Mix in the cheese until it is melted.
- Put 2 tablespoons of butter to a large pan and melt over medium high heat then add the finely diced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened. Add garlic, mushrooms and thyme and cook until garlic is softened, making sure to stir so nothing burns. Add in spinach and stir until all is wilted. Remove from heat, add cheeses and pour in about half of the sauce. Stir everything together to distribute the ingredients and melt the cheese. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350F. Slice the chicken breast into a thin strip so it can be stuffed. Pound the breast to tenderize and thin.
- Add filling to the breast and fold to enclose. (You should have a good amount of sauce left over for later) You can seal the breast using toothpicks so it holds together in the next step but they’re optional. You can also season the outside with salt and pepper.
- Add the oil to a pan and heat over high heat. Add the breasts and sear for a 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Transfer breasts to a baking dish and spoon over some of the remaining sauce on top of each breast. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Increase temperature to broil and bake 4 minutes longer. Remove from oven.
- I recommend serving with rice or pasta mixed with the remaining filling and sauce. If you’re curious I paired this with asparagus spears and was quite content. Hope you enjoy!
If you’ve tried this spinach stuffed chicken then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Spinach Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts
- 4 tbsp butter divided 56g
- 4 tbsp olive oil 60mL
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 17g
- 1/2 cup heavy cream 120ml
- 3/4 cup vegetable stock 180ml
- 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt 6g
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper 1g
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 5mL
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms 75g
- 2 cups fresh spinach 60g
- 1/2 onion finely diced
- 2 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme minced 1g
- 1 cup gouda 108g, shredded
- 1/2 cup Parmesan 50g, grated
Instructions
For the Sauce
Start by making a roux. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of flour and whisk over medium heat for about a minute. Whisk in the cream and chicken stock. Add salt, pepper, paprika, parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar. Remove from heat and set aside.
Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a large pan and melt over medium high heat. Add the finely diced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally until translucent. Add garlic, mushrooms and thyme and cook until everything is softened, making sure to stir so nothing burns. Add in spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from heat, add gouda. Stir everything together to distribute the ingredients and melt the cheese. Set aside.
For the Chicken
Preheat oven to 350F
Slice the chicken breast into a thin strip so it can be stuffed. Pound the breast until tender and thin. Add filling to the breast and fold to enclose. (You should have a good amount of sauce left over for later) You can seal the breast using toothpicks so it holds together in the next step but they’re optional. You can also season the outside with salt and pepper.
Add the butter or oil to a pan over high heat. Add the breasts and sear for a 2-3 minutes on each side.
Transfer breasts to a baking dish and spoon some of the sauce on top of each breast.
Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Increase temperature to broil and bake 4 minutes longer. Remove from oven.
I recommend serving with rice or pasta mixed with the remaining filling and sauce. If you’re curious I paired this with asparagus spears and was quite content. Hope you enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
If you want to make a vegetarian version, just serve the amazing sauce with some pasta!
IF YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE TRY THESE OUT!
Chicken Breast With Garlic Wine Sauce
This was perfect for dinner last night! So many flavors
I made this for my family tonight for dinner. I served it over a bed of cauliflower “rice”. They all loved it! Thanks so much. I love your youtube channel. 🙂
Joanna,
So happy you liked it!
John
My family loved it, normally my husband doesn’t like chicken, but he loved this dish. For me 1 1/4 tsp of salt in the sauce was way too much, I had to add extra chicken stock ( low sodium) to dilute the salt. Next time I will just salt to taste. The sauce once cooked in the oven with the chicken came out delicious.
Also, you should specify to put the parmesan cheese in the cheese sauce and the gouda cheese and 1/4 cup of the cheese sauce in the filling. I had to watch the video to figure that out. In the video you show 3 chicken breasts not 6, I really only had enough filling for 3 which was perfect for us, but I would suggest doubling the filling if you are planning on stuffing 6.
Thanks for a great recipe, I will definitely make this again!
Made this tonight. And since I was rushing to take a kid to practice, I couldn’t pound the chicken thin, stuff and roll up chicken, etc.
So, I split 3 breasts, laid them in a 9 by 13 pan, then topped with veggie mix, and poured sauce over that. I left the 16 yr old in charge. She baked it for 45 min at 350.
IT WAS SO GOOOOOD! So much flavor.
You go preppy kitchen and Mom!!
Hi Marina,
That’s awesome to hear! This dish does have such a good flavor! Way to go mom indeed!!
Best,
John
So yummy, really good recipe! Although I had some confusion when making the recipe because of missed details on the instructions – ingredient list says vegetable stock, but directions says chicken stock. When it says to add cheese in two places, it doesn’t say which cheeses so I accidentally added all the cheese (Gouda and Parmesan) to the roux so then I ended up adding more Gouda to the spinach mixture which was just lovely actually! We ended up watching the video and it made a lot more sense, but the recipe instructions could just use a little editing. Love your stuff!
Hi Anna,
You can use vegetable stock or chicken stock. Thanks for your input, I will look over this recipe and clarify the details. I’m happy you still enjoyed this dish!!
Best,
John