These juicy chicken breasts are stuffed with garlicky mushrooms, spinach and a blanket of oozing melted cheese. Simple to make with just a few ingredients, this is how to transform chicken breast from ho-hum into “ohhh yum!”
After this one, try Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken!
Stuffed chicken breast
Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast is one of those recipes where you take just a few ingredients and deploy them in a way that makes chicken breast so much more interesting than it usually is! Chicken breast, spinach, mushrooms, garlic and cheese are the only base ingredients here. Vary the type of cheese and swap the spinach for other leafy veg to spin this dish to suit your tastes or what you have on hand!
To make it, it’s as simple as frying off the mushrooms and spinach, stuffing the chicken, giving it a quick sear and then baking to finish it off. The reward is THIS for dinner tonight ↓↓↓!
Looks a whole lot more interesting than the usual dull chicken breast recipes, right??!!
Ingredients in Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast
Here’s what you need to make this recipe. Not that much, like I said!!
All these ingredients are pretty straightforward, so I don’t think I need to run through them like I usually do. Just a few points:
Chicken – It needs to be breast to be large enough to cut deep pockets. Boneless thigh won’t work;
Baby spinach – Chopped or sliced ordinary spinach, silverbeet (Swiss chard), kale or cabbage will work fine too;
Cheese – Anything that melts will work great. Mozzarella is ideal because it melts well but isn’t as runny as, say, cheddar or tasty cheese. This is worth bearing in mind since we don’t fully seal the chicken like with Chicken Kiev since it’s a quick recipe, so some cheese is likely to escape!;
Thyme – Fresh thyme and mushroom are such a classic combination, I can’t help but use it often! Dried thyme can be used as an alternative, else dried oregano, marjoram or rosemary. Fresh versions of any of the aforementioned will also be perfect, as would parsley or tarragon. Most herbs, really!
How to make it
One tip: stuff generously. Like paltry pie fillings and dinky dumplings, nothing is sadder in this life than stingy stuffing!
Sauté mushroom and spinach – The key here is to get great colour on the mushrooms. Colour means flavour, and we never say no to flavour.
Cut pocket slits – Cut a pocket in the chicken breast, per the diagram below, being sure not to cut all the way through. Cut the side where the meat has a fold, not the smooth side.
Season the chicken, including inside the pocket, with salt and pepper;
Stuff generously with the mushroom and spinach, then stuff in cheese slices;
Seal with 2 or 3 toothpicks. It will be stuffed too much to seal completely, and that’s OK (in fact it’s good!) The goal here is just to keep it closed enough so the filling stays mostly in place. Just insert the toothpicks on the diagonal, that’s enough to hold it in place.
Sealed and ready! This photo shows what it looks like once sealed. Ready to cook!
Brown the breast in an oven-proof skillet (so we can take it straight from the stove to the oven);
Bake and rest – Bake for 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 65°C / 149°F. Then remove the chicken to a plate and rest for 5 minutes before serving. Resting is an essential step after cooking any protein to allow the juices in the meat to redistribute. If you don’t rest, the meat juices run out onto the plate when you cut into it.
What to serve with Mushroom-Stuffed Chicken Breast
The nice thing about this chicken breast recipe is that there’s already a decent amount of vegetables in it, making it virtually a meal-in-one. While our mums would beam approvingly if they knew we’d made the effort make an extra vegetable side dish, the truth is I wouldn’t go too far out of my way for it! For the photo above all I did was take the leftover baby spinach and drizzled it with some Balsamic Dressing. Totally simple and lazy, but hey it does the trick!
If you feel like making your mum proud though, have a browse of Vegetable and Side Salads. It’s organised by vegetable to make it easy to use something you’ve got!
Also pictured on the side is Lemon Herb Risotto. Before you start furrowing your brow at the thought of the effort needed to make a risotto, know that this is a simple no-stir, baked risotto! You read that right. Not only that, the results are staggeringly close to – no, I’d even say virtually indistinguishable from – traditional risotto. Creamy, luscious and perfectly al dente, all without standing at the stove stirring for thirty minutes.
Try it. I think you’ll be surprised! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 x 220g / 7oz chicken breast , skinless boneless (Note 1)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 200g / 7 oz mushrooms , sliced 3mm (1/8″) thick (~2 heaped cups)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 tsp thyme leaves (Note 2)
- 2 cups baby spinach (Note 3)
- 80 g / 3oz mozzarella , sliced (or other melting cheese)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°F fan).
- Cut pockets into each chicken breast, being sure not to cut all the way through (see photos in post). Cut on the side with the fold in the meat, to keep the smooth side intact.
- Season the inside and outside of the chicken with half the salt and pepper.
- Mushroom filling: Melt butter in a heavy based oven proof skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes until they start to turn pretty golden. Then add garlic, thyme, remaining salt and pepper and continue cooking for a further 2 minutes until mushrooms are nice and golden.
- Add spinach: Add baby spinach and stir until wilted – about 30 seconds.
- Stuff mushroom mixture into the pocket of each chicken, then top with cheese.
- Seal with toothpicks as best you can – it doesn’t need to be fully sealed like we do with Chicken Kiev. Just mostly sealed.
- Sear chicken: Give the pan a quick wipe with paper towels. Heat oil over medium high heat. Sear each side of the chicken breast for 1 1/2 minutes until golden.
- Bake 15 minutes: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 65°C/149°F (chicken flesh, not the mushroom filling).
- Rest 5 minutes: Remove from tray onto a plate, loosely cover with foil and rest for 5 minutes. Serve! Pictured in post with easy creamy Baked Lemon Herb Risotto and baby spinach with Balsamic Dressing.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Life of Dozer… and Life of Nagi!!
I made this for dinner and my son loved it.
I used provolone cheese and it was delicious
I came across your site yesterday. I made this last night I followed the recipe as written. It was GREAT thank you. .you have a great site and I love the way you explain things. I feel as if you are in my kitchen with me. again Thank You.
Do you have a cookbook I could buy I am making so many of your recipes and love them all
Hi Karen, it’s on the cards! https://salesdock.info/big-news-the-recipetin-cookbook-tell-me-what-you-want/%3C/a%3E N x
I tried this recipe last night. WOW! It was soooo good! I used 4 chicken breasts (600 g total) but the filling amount was perfect. I didn’t manage to stuff them as nicely as Nagi did, but it didn’t matter… They tasted GREAT! I found them a little too salty for my liking, so I think I’ll only use 1/2 tsp salt next time.
I made them with garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken gravy. It tasted like a classy dinner at a banquet hall. This recipe will be a go-to in my kitchen!
I made this recipe, but did try it with boneless, skinless thighs, because that’s all I had and the recipe looked amazing. The way my grocery store sells them, they actually work well for this, but you don’t cut a slit, they’re just wide enough that you fold them over in half over the stuffing and use the toothpicks to hold them closed. They were delicious. So if you prefer dark meat and your market sells them in such a way that they’re wide enough to fold over and not too thick, it should work well.
That’s awesome Barb, I’m so glad you can make them with thighs, they would have been super juicy! N x
Great recipe! Lovely flavours!!
I like your recipes!!
Hi Nagi,
First, thank you for the recipes. You make them so clear and easy, everyone can make it.
I will share the link with my one year married daughter and no to bother me with questions:)
Hi Nagi, how much of this recipe could I pre-prepare? I was thinking maybe the mushrooms and spinach, maybe through to assembling but not browning and cooking? I might use dairy-free shredded mozzarella rather than dairy-free sliced Colby – no dairy-free cheeses melt as satisfyingly as their dairy counterparts, but I figure I’ve got a better chance with the mozzarella than the Colby (but do let me know if you think the Colby would be better!) And in the absence of a thermometer, I’ll just give it an extra five minutes in the oven and hope the filling doesn’t sag out on me. Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes – they probably don’t turn out anything like your originals by the time I’ve had to do all the dietary substitutions, but they taste great to us, and I’m looking forward to trying this one!
Absolutely delicious again! When I want to try something new to make for my family, I always turn to your recipes. It’s always a hit!
That’s amazing HJ – thanks so much for the great feedback! N x
Love the extra comments and instructions. I feel like you are there with me.
The chicken was delicious and easy to cook.
Turned out perfect mozzarella worked out well but not enough flavours for me. I did even add a smear of pesto inside. Think next time I’ll add some semi sundried tomato for extra flavour.
Hi Kerry, you might prefer this recipe: https://salesdock.info/sun-dried-tomato-spinach-cheese-stuffed-chicken-breast/%3C/a%3E N x
My husband made these and were DELICIOUS! Simple and mouth watering!
As with all of your recipes, this was delicious. All family members loved it. Thanks!
Made this tonight with the lemon, oven risotto you suggested. AMAZING!!
I have just made this for the first time, I thought it looked relatively easy and delicious. It exceeded expectations, beyond delicious. We had the left over spinach leaves with balsamic vinegar as a side with it. just another fantastic recipe from Nagi.
This recipe was absolutely fantastic moist delicious and so so tasty. Once again thank you for you’re amazing recipes!!
As usual absolutely fantastic recipe thank you so much!!
Thank you for every recipe on your site. You have turned cooking into a pleasure. Every single recipe is a winner. Please keep it up. (PS more aubergine recipes welcome)