Recipe Rewind: Jason’s stuffed schedule turned into a recipe for “Unstuffed” Chicken

Unstuffed Chicken Breasts

Do you ever find yourself with grand, ambitious plans, and then have to pivot or reduce those plans due to time constraints or some other factors? Whether it’s working out or cooking, being flexible is key. That came into play last weekend.

I had these grand plans of making stuffed chicken breasts with a Parmesan almond crust, but then I also had three acres to mow, a workout to do, and two loads of laundry to wash, dry, and put away.

Something had to give. I decided in the moment that my ambitious plans of stuffing, pinning, and coating each chicken breast was unnecessary. Sure, it looks good on the plate, and might even make the end result a bit tastier, but I would be saving time and calories by omitting those steps.

Turns out it was just as good, and it got me in the mower seat an hour ahead of schedule. It’s good to remember that even if the schedule doesn’t leave the station on time, goals can still be hit.

So my stuffed and coated chicken breasts became flat, topped and naked. It made for a much easier cook and even was a bit lighter on the calorie count, while still looking like a fancy, complicated endeavor.

Using birds that get to actually grow up walking around and not go from chick to broiler size in 3 weeks is key. The Godzilla sized mutant breasts that populate the mega-marts is hard to pound down to the level of thinness needed. Source some smaller, natural chicken for this one, as they will already be fairly thin to start with, and much more tender and juicy.

If you make this, don’t let on about how much time you saved. Maybe someone else will volunteer to mow since you were in the kitchen so long making a healthy and tasty meal. No one has to know.

Un-stuffed chicken breasts

Ingredients:

4-5 free range chicken breasts, pounded flat

Organic fresh baby spinach leaves

4 ounce block grass fed cream cheese

4 ounce Parmesan cheese, shredded

3 slices cooked bacon

1/2 tsp sea salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder

Instructions:

Prep a cast iron griddle with non-stick and sprinkle some sea salt in the grill grooves for easy clean up later. Place in a cold oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Place each chicken breast in a gallon zip top bag and hit with a small cast iron skillet until flat. Season each side with the salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder:

Wilt the spinach in a large saute pan. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted, and then add the shredded Parmesan cheese. You can also add a pinch of salt and pepper if desired:

When the oven hits temp, carefully remove the griddle and add the chicken breasts. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove, flip, and then coat the cooked sides with an even amount of the spinach mixture and cook another 10 minutes. If you would like it more golden brown and crunchy, I then set the broiler on high for about 2 minutes to give it a nice texture: