Panko Crusted Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Wow, this recipe has been sitting around as a draft for like 2 months.  Why it took me this long to blog about it, I'm not sure.  It was really good!  I came across this recipe on the blog For the Love of Cooking.


You'll need:


1 cup of ricotta cheese
small handful of baby spinach, roughly chopped
small handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs Parmesan cheese
1 tbs fresh basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
2 chicken breasts
Panko bread crumbs
2 tsp olive oil


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


Combine the ricotta cheese, spinach, tomatoes, Parmesan, basil, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl, set aside.


Take the chicken breasts and cut a long horizontal slit along the center of the thin long edge of each chicken breast.  Don't cut the whole way through, though.  Fill the cavity with the cheese mixture.  Season each side of the chicken with more salt and pepper.  Dip the chicken in the Panko bread crumbs until both side is evenly coated.  Carefully seal up the open slits in the chicken with toothpicks.

Heat the olive oil in an oven proof skillet on the stove over medium high heat.  Once the pan heats up, put the chicken in the pan for 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.  

A little messy...

Flip it over and put the skillet in the oven.  Cook for an additional 2o minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before digging in.  Enjoy!  Also, if you happen to use colored toothpicks, like I did, don't be alarmed when some of the color ends up transferring to the chicken.  It's harmless. =)