Ricotta, Spinach, Tomato & Basil Stuffed Chicken

Like my most recent post about Stuffed Zucchini (seriously awesome; it's been lunch all week), this post was going to have a LONG title. Well, it still does, but it was going to be even longer. I wrestled with what to call this so that you would have an accurate idea of what it entails. I stuff a fair amount of chicken so "Stuffed Chicken" wasn't going to cut it.

Want to hear the long version of this? Panko-Crusted Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, Basil & Tomato. Too long? I thought so. Hopefully you're pleased with the title I settled on. Because I've got nothing! Not to mention I kept hearing my journalism professors yell at me for passive voice with many title attempts...I think my friends Ally and Katie would understand best.

This recipe is courtesy of For the Love of Cooking, which recently got a blog makeover/upgrade! At first I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it - my "pin" on Pinterest didn't take me to the right page, gasp! But luckily I wrote the correct name of the dish on my pin and with a quick search was back in business. You can find it without searching by clicking here (or reading this post). 

Oh, you may want to know how this dish actually was, huh? So great. The chicken was moist and juicy, and the filling, was, well...filling! I didn't even serve a vegetable on the side - as I normally do - and John and I couldn't even finish our chicken breasts (they were pretty big to begin with, but still). This was a refreshing and pretty simple meal. I highly recommend it!

Ricotta, Spinach, Tomato & Basil Stuffed Chicken
Recipe by For the Love of Cooking
Yields 2 stuffed chicken breasts 
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Ingredients:
*1 cup of fat free ricotta cheese
*Small handful of baby spinach, chopped
*Small handful of grape tomatoes, diced (remove the seeds if possible)
*2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
*1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
*1 clove of garlic, minced
*salt and pepper, to taste
*Dash of oregano
*2 chicken breasts
*Italian seasoned panko bread crumbs (in my case...panko bread crumbs plus italian bread crumbs mixed together)
*2 tsp olive oil

Preparation:
*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

*Combine the ricotta, spinach, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Mix until thoroughly combined.

*Rinse the chicken breasts then cut a long horizontal slit along the center of the thin long edge of the chicken breast, nearly through to the other side. Fill the cavity of the chicken breast with the ricotta mixture. Season each side of the chicken with salt and pepper, to taste.

*Carefully dip the chicken breasts in the panko crumbs until both sides are evenly covered. Close the slit together with toothpicks.

*Heat the olive oil in an oven-proof skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken in the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.

*Flip the chicken over and place the skillet into the oven (I transferred mine to a baking sheet because I wasn't sure if my skillet was oven-safe). Cook for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Then, dig in!

filling

on the skillet...once I made the slit I just kept going and forgot to take pictures. See here for pictures of slitting chicken.

crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside

make sure to scoop up some filling for each bite :)