This Italian stuffed chicken breast is so perfectly flavored with Italian sausage, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese.
Last week was Nate and my wedding anniversary. We have been married for 3 years. Wahoo!
So to celebrate we went to a nice restaurant on Friday, and stayed in a hotel in the “city” (Salt Lake City), because we feel giddy like little kids when we stay in a hotel we of course swam in the pool and then went and got some goodies from the local grocery store. We got brownies, 5 baby ice creams (so we didn’t have to pick 1 flavor) and a bag of cheetos. Saturday morning we went out for breakfast and got baked french toast and a sandwich to share. We had nachos for dinner Saturday too. Needless to say when we went shopping Saturday evening for some things for Sunday nights dinner neither of us were very hungry and we couldn’t think of any ideas for dinner the next day.
Sometimes when we are shopping we look for the meats that are on sale. They are going to expire soon, but if you eat them before then you just get some good meat that is on sale.
We got chicken breasts and Italian sausage. And then this meal was born.
Stuffed chicken breast. If we were to stuff them with Italian sausage what else could we put inside. So we decided cheese, tomatoes, basil and spinach would be good. And trust me it was delicious.
This is one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had. Though I cannot reiterate enough how important it is not to overcook your chicken. Dry chicken is the worst. So make sure to get a nice meat thermometer to make this.
Anyway, the flavors blended perfectly together that I didn’t need to add any extra salt to season this. We ate the chicken plain with a few sides, but I think it would also taste delicious on top of some noodles.
Italian Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 5-6 large chicken breasts (or about 10 small/regular size)
- 5 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup spinach (chopped)
- 2 TBS fresh basil (diced)
- 8 oz mozzarella (shredded and divided)
- 1 cup tomatoes (diced)
- 1 cup Italian sausage (browned)
- 1 TBS garlic (minced)
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
Instructions
- Dry chicken breast and pound chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer until it is about 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch thick.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine cream cheese, spinach, basil, 4 oz of mozzarella, tomatoes, Italian sausage and garlic in a medium sized bowl and stir well.
- Put chicken top side down and cover with stuffing (divide evenly between chicken breasts).
- Roll chicken breasts up and pin closed with toothpicks.
- Dip in Italian bread crumbs and cover evenly.
- Place in a baking dish, seam side down.
- Bake for about 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle additional cheese on top of each breast (and more tomatoes if desired)
- Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until the inside of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
- Top with additional basil if desired and serve hot.
Amber Brady says
I want you to cook me that for dinner tonight okay? Yum! Thanks for sharing at Sweet & Savory Saturdays #21!
~Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later!
http://www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com
marissa | Rae Gun Ramblings says
wow this looks SO good! Happy anniversary I can’t wait to try this pinned for later 🙂
Nicole says
This looks amazing!!!! Congrats on the anniversary too, time flies when you’re having so much fun. =)