“The best chicken I’ve had.”
That’s what the hubby said to me last night while eating this. He said “Bean, this is the best chicken I’ve had.” I said, “Ever?” He said, “Yes.”
So there you have it. It’s that good, and it couldn’t be easier. Inspired by this recipe from Tessa that I’ve been thinking about for the past few weeks, here’s what I did. I was too lazy at the time to pull up the recipe again….but it turned out just fine 🙂
I did some prep work in the afternoon, before I left for work. I grabbed a handful of fresh spinach, diced it up and put it in a bowl with a little bit of water. After 2 minutes in the microwave it looked like this:
I scooped the spinach into a paper towel and wrung out the excess water before returning it to the bowl. Then I added a few tablespoons of goat cheese, and two strips of turkey bacon, diced, that I cooked up on the griddle.
Mix it all together and set it aside. I had three chicken breasts thawed out in the fridge so I cut slits in the side (kinda difficult since they were thinner than I thought they were!) and divided the mixture between the three breasts.
I knew I was going to bake these, but I always like to pan sear chicken for a little extra flavor. Bonus this time because, after seasoning with paprika and black pepper, I just plopped them on the griddle I cooked the bacon in for a little more bacon-y flavor. I didn’t even feel bad doing this since turkey bacon makes WAY less grease than regular 🙂
I put the chicken in a greased, glass baking dish, covered it with foil and stuck it in the fridge. Then the hubby popped it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degress while I was on my way home from work, along with a sweet potato I had diced up! When I got home, dinner was almost ready.
If you want to be extra fancy, slice it up so it looks pretty…but I’m not gonna lie, I only did this for you guys! Hubby got his piece whole on the plate.
So there you have it! It’s good stuff, give it a try 🙂
Goat Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Chicken
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Keywords: bake entree chicken goat cheese spinach
Ingredients (Serves 3)
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 3 Tbsp goat cheese
- 2 strips turkey bacon, diced
- paprika and black pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Roughly chop the spinach and place in a small bowl with 1/4 c water. Microwave on high for one minute. Drain excess water.
2. Add the goat cheese and bacon to the bowl with the spinach and stir to combine.
3. Cut a slit in the side of each chicken breast and stuff 1/3 of the mixture inside each one.
4. Sprinkle with paprika and black pepper and sear both sides in a hot pan (Optional: cook in the same pan you cooked the bacon in for added flavor).
5. Transfer the chicken to a greased baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Finally, thanks to everyone who commented, texted, tweeted, called and facebooked me a happy birthday!! I had a wonderful day and am lucky to have such great people in my life.
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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Brittany (A Healthy Slice of Life) says
WOW that looks fabulous! Hubbs would love this chicken and it looks pretty easy- bookmarked! 🙂
Lindsay says
super easy!! hope he enjoys 🙂
Jess@atasteofconfidence says
This looks great!
Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen says
I like how you stuffed the chicken…usually I do a “whack and roll” sort of thing, and as much fun as it is to whack chicken with a frying pan, this does look a lot easier. 🙂
Lindsay says
whack and roll, eh? yeah this is about as easy as it gets!
sarah (sarah learns) says
oh my! these look amazing. i’ve NEVER made stuffed chicken breasts before. i’m not sure why! it doesn’t look that tricky!
Lindsay says
girl, get on that!! looks so fancy, but so easy!
Susan (Oliepants) says
My husband would be singing chicken and Lindsay praises if he had this for dinner too!! 🙂
Lindsay says
hahaha 🙂
Beth @ Beth's Journey says
Wow that looks awesome Lindsay! Stuffing anything adds another layer of flavor, and this sounds delicious!
Lindsay says
it’s as good as it looks 🙂
Nicole@HeatOvenTo350 says
This looks incredible. I can see why your husband would declare it the best ever. I love goat cheese, and I especially love meals that I can prepare and have my husband put in the oven for me. I’m bookmarking this one.
Lindsay says
aren’t those just the best kind of meals?!
Rachel @ The Avid Appetite says
Um, Yum!!! This looks absolutely fantastic. I love stuffing chicken with all kinds of goodies. I can’t wait to try this one!
Lindsay says
woohoo!! hope it’s a hit!
Erica says
Nice! Josh love the stuffed chicken I made, so I am planning on trying new varieties. Spinach seems like a fun add in. Glad you had a nice birthday 🙂
Lindsay says
great way to sneak in extra veggies 😉
Kelli says
I know exactly what I’m making for dinner tonight!
Lindsay says
awesome! let me know how it turned out 🙂
Kelli says
It was A-mazing! This was the first time I’ve cooked with goat cheese and now I’m hooked. The turkey bacon played so well off of it. I can’t wait to make it again 🙂
Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun says
This looks right up my alley!
Lindsay says
i thought it might be!!
Carol says
This looks YUMMY! I’m going to make it!
Lindsay says
hope you guys enjoy it!
Lisa @ Thrive Style says
OMG—This looks amazing! My fave combo of ingredients all in one 🙂 Can’t wait to try it!
Lindsay says
awesome! hope it hits the spot 🙂
Kristy says
Happy belated birthday! This dish looks amazing, I love finding new chicken recipes! Definitely trying this one soon! Thanks for sharing!!
Lindsay says
thank you!! hope you like it!
Donna says
This looks amazing
Love the spinach wilting process, i’ll definitely have to try that soon 🙂
Sarah K. @ The Pajama Chef says
this looks great. i might try it with another kind of cheese though because goat cheese & i don’t get along 🙂
German Mama says
Hi Lindsay, as you may or may not know, I was assigned your blog for this month’s SRC. I had chosen this recipe but then “out went the lights” for almost a week (freak snow storm in New England). However, I finally got around to prepare it, and HubbyGrouch and me liked it a lot. The post will be up very soon. Just wanted to let you know that you hadn’t been left out – I guess Amanda found someone to fill in for me but I wasn’t sure.
Lindsay says
awww, sorry to hear about your power outage! what a pain!! i’m so glad you guys like the recipe. can’t wait to read your post 🙂
JIM says
LOOKS AWSUM!!! I’M GONNA GRILL IT CUTTING AT TOP MABE PUT A FEW STITCHES IN TO CLOSE…. I’LL LET YA KNO HOW IT TURNS OUT!
THANKS FOR IDEA
JIM