Herb Cheese Stuffed Chicken Bundles

 

Do you cook chicken as much as I do?.... I’m always looking for a new way to cook chicken… I can’t tell you how many times I stand in front of the pantry or refrigerator trying to think of ways to use different ingredients to make a chicken dinner.

I surf the net for inspiration… or try old recipes with different ingredients… that’s how many of my new recipes are born.. that's how this recipe for Herb Cheese Stuffed Chicken Bundles came to be.

I saw a few recipes on the net for stuffed chicken breasts… but either I was missing key ingredients or they just didn’t sound quite what I was looking for.    So I set out to experiment ..  the result was excellent.. and what we call… a do-over!

TIPS

Many recipes use thicker chicken breast and slicing it on the side to create a pocket to stuff a variety of fillings in it .. that would work also here too…

You don’t need very much filling for each chicken breast… the heat during cooking will expand the filling… only one of mine oozed out.. it was a little smaller than the rest.  So adjust the amount if you have smaller slices of chicken breast in your package.

You can do the traditional, flour, egg and bread crumb technique to bread the bundles… or if you want.. you can take a short cut by using “Shake ‘n Bake”…. both ways do work.

If you want a more “fried” texture to the crust on the chicken.. just give it a quick spray with cooking olive spray before popping it in the oven.

I used chicken gravy on these… I used a dry mix packet.. I like Knorr or Pioneer brands for my dry mixes.. any brand will work…. You can use tomato sauce also.. but the filling is flavorful but …in my opinion.. it will still be over-powered by a tomato sauce… use which ever you prefer.

The filling recipe will fill about 6 thin sliced chicken breasts.. if you have more just adjust the ingredient amounts.

I served these with rice pilaf and a steamed veggie… we loved it.

Recipe:  Herb Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

All you need:

6 thin sliced boneless chicken breast cutlets

4 oz Philadelphia Cream cheese, softened

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon Italian Seasoning

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup flour, seasoned with a sprinkling of salt and pepper

Italian Seasoned bread crumbs

Olive oil cooking oil spray

Chicken gravy *See TIPS

All you need:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a baking pan with non-stick foil and give it a quick spray with olive oil cooking oil spray.

In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Lay the cutlets out.. in the middle spread about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture.  Flip one end over to the middle and then flip the other end over that.

Dredge the bundle in flour then egg then in the bread crumbs and lay it on the prepared cooking sheet.  Repeat the steps with each cutlet.

If you want them to be more like “fried” bundles.. give them a quick spray with cooking oil spray.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Serve with a little chicken gravy over them.