Cream Cheese-&-Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Preparation Time: 25 min | Level: Easy |
Cook Time: 50 min | Serves: 4 |
The hard part of making this elegant dish is choosing the filling. Making a pocket in the chicken breast to hold the stuffing is easy, particularly if you use a good, sharp, thin-bladed knife. Browning the chicken in a skillet before baking gives it a beautiful golden color. Finishing it in the oven ensures that it cooks evenly throughout.
Ingredients:
- Filling of your choice, (see below)
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Cream Cheese-Pesto Filling:
- 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
- 1 tablespoon basil pesto, (store-bought or homemade)
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Goat Cheese-Olive Filling:
- 2 tablespoons creamy goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped black olives
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Ham & Cheese Filling:
- 1/4 cup grated Swiss, Monterey Jack or part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped ham
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
- Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
- Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment