You won’t believe how tender and delicious this Stuffed Chicken Breast is! It’s super easy to prep, making it a perfect weeknight healthy dinner for you or a great dish to impress your guests.
If you follow this blog, you will know that chicken breast is a central part of my healthy cooking. I am always on the lookout for more tasty chicken breast recipes.
Normally, I would browse Pinterest for recipe ideas, but this one was based entirely on what I had left in the fridge after making a huge salad for lunch.
And it turned out to be one of the best recipes I have ever cooked!
Don’t let the idea of “stuffing” in this dish fool you: there are NO complicated steps or fiddling required!
In fact, this is one of my favorite meals to serve when I have guests. It’s an impressive dinner that is secretly so easy to make. My friends ALWAYS ask for the recipe, which I think is one of the best compliments I can receive when I cook for a group!
How to make stuffed chicken breast
Ready to see how easy this delicious and beautiful recipe is to prep? The entire meal can be ready in less than 30 minutes if you don’t mess around.
You can see how I make the recipe in this short video or read the step-by-step instructions below:
You can chop the vegetables for the stuffing while the oven heats up, and getting the stuffing into the chicken breasts is done in a heartbeat!
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 365 F (185 C).
Step 2: About halfway up the chicken breast, cut a slit lengthwise to create a pocket for the filling.
Step 3: Chop up the mozzarella, artichoke, basil, tomato, and garlic. Mix to combine.
Step 4: Stuff the mixture into the chicken breast where you created the pocket.
Step 5: Use a few toothpicks to close the chicken breast around the stuffing.
Step 6: Place the chicken breast on a baking sheet or aluminum foil and season it with pepper, curry powder, and paprika.
Step 7: Bake for around 20 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken breast).
Step 8: Remove toothpicks and serve!
How easy is that?
Prepping chicken breasts in advance
If you want to prepare some of this recipe ahead of time, you can pre-cook a few chicken breasts.
Then, when you’re ready to eat, just cut the pocket into the side of the chicken, add the stuffing, then microwave for about a minute before serving.
It won’t be QUITE as good as when you cook everything together from scratch, but it’s still delicious. I do this a lot when I don’t have time (or am too lazy) to cook.
What can you stuff chicken breast with?
As I mentioned earlier, I created this stuffing based on what I had leftover in my fridge from a big salad I’d made. I love the flavor combination and definitely recommend you try it!
However, if any of these ingredients aren’t quite your taste, you are welcome to swap them out. I know a few readers have substituted the artichoke hearts with asparagus and had great results! Spinach is another popular filling ingredient.
Feel free to experiment, there are lots of tasty combinations when it comes to the stuffing for your chicken breast.
Storage
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
If you are prepping ahead, I recommend using the method above to pre-cook the chicken and then adding the stuffing when you’re ready to serve. This will give you a better flavor and texture than making the full recipe and letting it sit for a few days.
More delicious and healthy chicken breast recipes
Are you like me and love having plenty of great chicken breast recipes on hand? If so, here are a few more of my favorites that I’m sure you’ll love:
- Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast with Cream Cheese
- Mustard Baked Chicken Tenders
- Lemon Chicken Piccata
For even more inspiration, check out this roundup of my favorite low-carb chicken recipes for people with diabetes. You can never have too many tasty chicken breast recipes, right?
When you’ve tried this stuffed chicken breast recipe, please don’t forget to let me know how you liked it and rate the recipe in the comments below!
Healthy Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 oz. low-fat mozzarella
- 1 artichoke heart (from a can)
- 1 teaspoon sundried tomato, (chopped)
- 5 large basil leaves
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- Pinch of pepper
- Toothpicks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 365 F (185 C).
- About halfway up the chicken breast, cut a slit lengthwise to create a pocket for the filling.
- Chop up the mozzarella, artichoke, basil, tomato, and garlic. Mix to combine.
- Stuff the mixture into the chicken breast where you created the pocket.
- Use a few toothpicks to close the chicken breast around the stuffing.
- Place the chicken breast on a baking sheet or aluminum foil and season it with pepper, curry powder, and paprika.
- Bake for around 20 minutes (depending on the size of the chicken breast).
- Remove toothpicks and serve!
My husband prefers red meat, but this dish made him a fan of chicken for at least one night. He even said it was something he would find in a restaurant.
I’m still trying to find a link to the video…..
The video is in the post. For some reason, a very small percentage of people can’t see the video (less than 1 in 10,000). We are not quite sure why but we are trying to find out. To see the video, please try reading the post on a different computer or mobile device.
What if you don’t like artichoke hearts
You can omit it or add another vegetable
Substitute with asparagus mmmm
Uh, that’s a great idea. Thank you for sharing
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have a brother with Type 1 diabetes and also a few good friends with type 2. I have been searching for tasty recipes to make for them. I now make this and serve it often. My family all loved it and could not believe it was a healthy recipe. I highly recommend this recipe.
I made this recipe but modified it a bit. Don’t like artichokes and sundries tomato so I used spinach with the other fillings and was awesome.
Made this for new neighbors! Big hit!
I used extra basil but otherwise stayed close to the recipe.
Making it again for out of town guests tomorrow! Definitely recommend it.
My 12 year old Granddaughter was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Cooking for a diabetic is completely new to me. I’ll invite her over, and we’ll make this recipe together, (she likes to cook and bake, I would also like her to learn how to prepare delicious meals for herself. I’ll check back later.
Thanks for the recipe,
Concerned Grandmother
You’re welcome. And please know that there is nothing that she can’t eat, so no need to cut our carbohydrates completely unless she chooses to. However, she does have to pay attention to her food choices, count her carbs and learn how to manage her blood sugars with insulin.
My husband cannot have greens due to blood thinner meds. what are the cubes of vegetables pictured? Are they different types of potatoes?
Those are yellow and red beets. When baked they will have a consistency similar to potatoes
Thanks! Makes sense, potatoes are very starchy!
This was so easy and delicious!
Thank you for the idea — I am planning a meal for 10, group including several diabetics. — This will serve as the main dish but I also need ideas for sides (and a dessert!). Am from a “meat and potato” back ground so this is all new to me.
You can still do potatoes, just add in some greens as well, so that it’s not 100% carbohydrates