Impress your guests with these surprisingly easy Grilled Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breasts! Goat cheese adds a fantastic tangy flavor to the stuffing. Thank you to Albertsons/Safeway for helping me share this recipe with you.
There are certain dishes that seem to baffle the heck out of family and friends, and inevitably, they involve stuffing something. Stuffed chicken breasts, stuffed sugar cookies, stuffed pork loin. It looks so fancy that your guests will be certain that you came straight home from collecting your culinary degree to cook for them. And yet, the process of stuffing chicken breasts (or any other meat) is dead simple.
And the beauty of stuffed dishes is that you can let your imagination go wild when dreaming up stuffing combinations. Cheese, veggies, prosciutto, bacon, herbs, spices…the possibilities are endless.
For these stuffed chicken breasts, I was inspired by the classic game day favorite, spinach artichoke dip. Instead of cream cheese, I opted for O Organics® goat cheese, which I found at my local Safeway. Be sure to bring the cheese to room temperature, which makes it much easier to mix with the chopped artichoke hearts and spinach. And since it’s summertime, it only seemed right to throw in a handful of fresh basil leaves.
When stuffing chicken breasts, there are a couple of routes to go with preparation and cooking method. For these stuffed chicken breasts, I chose the easiest method, which involves cutting a two- to three-inch pocket along the long side of the breast. While I was at my local Safeway, I picked up a couple of packages of the O Organics Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, which are fantastic to work with because are beautifully trimmed (no extra pieces of fat to cut off!). I always makes me feel better when I cook with organic meats and I appreciate that the Safeway and Albertsons O Organics line is such a great value.
Alternatively, place the chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap (or in a resealable plastic bag) and pound with a meat mallet until thin. The pocket method requires a couple of toothpicks to hold it all together while the second method involves rolling the flattened chicken breast around the filling. The choice is yours!
Since it’s summertime and it’s all-things-grilling around here, I chose to cook these stuffed chicken breasts on the grill. If you prefer, brown the chicken breasts on the stovetop, then finish them off in the oven. Just be sure to use an oven-proof skillet. On the grill, the chicken cooked over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes per side. Just be sure to check that the chicken is done before pulling it off the grill.
My local Safeway had everything I needed for this recipe. Both the O Organics and Open Nature® line are available exclusively at Safeway and Albertsons stores. The O Organics line includes USDA certified organic chicken and beef, and the Open Nature line offers premium grass-fed, free range and natural beef that is vegetarian fed and free of antibiotics or added hormones. Not only do I appreciate the health and environmental benefits of these lines, but they have such great flavor, which makes them a joy to cook with. Plus, my local Safeway is just a few minutes away from our house and I always find what I need within minutes when I’m in the store. Convenience is key when I’m trying to get dinner on the table!
If you don’t have a Safeway in your area, you can find the O Organics and Open Nature line of products exclusively at all Albertsons family of stores, including ACME, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Shaws, Star Market, United Express, United Markets and Carrs/Safeway.
Grilled Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
The Filling:
- 4 ounces O Organics Goat Cheese chevre, room temperature
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ cup lightly packed O Organics Spinach leaves, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup chopped canned artichoke hearts
- 4 basil leaves thinly sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
The Chicken:
- 4 5-6 ounces each O Organics Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
The Filling:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the goat cheese, garlic, spinach, artichoke hearts, basil, salt and pepper. Combine by pressing down on the mixture and stirring with the back of a fork.
The Chicken:
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Soak 8 toothpicks in a bowl of warm water. Lightly grease the grill.
- Insert a knife into the thickest part of each chicken breast and cut a pocket 2 to 3 inches long.
- Stuff each chicken breast with ¼ of the filling.
- Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Using 2 toothpicks for each chicken breast, close the pocket opening.
- Grill until the chicken breasts are cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. If the chicken breasts are larger than 5 ounces, they will take longer to cook. Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Safeway/Albertsons. All opinions are my own. This post contains links to my Amazon affiliate page. Any revenue made from sales through these links helps to support this blog. Thank you!
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
Spinach and artichoke is just the BEST flavor combo! These are the perfect weeknight dinner!
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
Why don’t I stuff chicken breasts more often?!?
Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles says
Stuffed is always good around here, and especially if it involves goat cheese. Beautiful dish, Dara!
Tricia @ Saving Room for Dessert says
Wow this looks wonderful with all that creamy goat cheese – my family would flip for this chicken dish! I’ll have to try it for one of our Sunday suppers. Ii also love the artichoke hearts and spinach – the perfect filling for tender, juicy chicken.
Carolyn says
Did I ever tell you how amazing these look???
Dara says
Thank you, friend! I promise that they taste as good as they look. 🙂