Creamy and cheesy Spinach Stuffed Chicken is so juicy and tasty. Searing on the stove then finishing it off in the oven ensures it is perfectly cooked in the center. Watch the video tutorial and see how easy it is.
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Spinach Stuffed Chicken Video
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Why You Will Love Stuffed Chicken Breast
We love stuffed chicken breast recipes from Stuffed Chicken Parmesan to Easy Chicken Kiev, and let’s not forget Chicken Pesto Roll-Ups. If you are looking for new chicken dinner ideas, this Spinach Stuffed Chicken is a must-try!
My brother-in-law Vitalik shared this Spinach Chicken with my husband and we lost no time in recreating the dish. Tender chicken stuffed with cream cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, and fresh chopped spinach. It was love at first bite! The filling becomes super creamy and cheesy in the oven and it keeps the chicken breast really juicy.
Ingredients for Stuffed Chicken
The key to making great stuffed chicken breasts is to use even-sized pieces. This way they all finish baking at the same time.
- Chicken Breast – we use 3 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts totaling about 1 3/4 to 2 lbs.
- Seasoning – salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika to season the outside of the chicken.
- Cream Cheese – use 4 oz of cold block-style cream cheese
- Mayonnaise – makes the filling extra creamy so it melts easier without curdling. Mayo makes many things better!
- Garlic – adding fresh garlic cloves to the filling is a must. We use a garlic press for this.
- Spinach – freshly chopped spinach works great. See our notes below on substituting with frozen.
- Cheese – the combination of mozzarella and parmesan adds the perfect balance of saltiness and melty cheesiness.
How to Make Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Make Filling – use a fork to mash together cream cheese, mayo, minced garlic, and salt. Mash in chopped spinach, shredded mozzarella, and parmesan.
- Cut slits in chicken – lay chicken breast flat and use a sharp knife to cut a slit about 3/4 of the way into the chicken.
- Stuff chicken – fill each chicken breast with 1/3 of the mixture then seal edges with toothpicks.
- Sear chicken – heat a large 10″ oven-safe pan over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil and saute chicken 4 minutes per side until browned.
- Bake – transfer your hot skillet to the preheated oven at 425˚F for about 10-15 minutes (depending on chicken thickness), or until a thermometer inserted in the deepest part of your chicken registers 165˚F.
Pro Tip: Make sure you don’t cut all the way through the chicken so the filling is less likely to leak out. If you do, no problem, just seal the other side with a toothpick.
Common Questions:
Some very large chicken breasts will have a strip of chicken tender meat attached. Remove tenders and use them to make Crispy Chicken Tenders.
Chicken thighs are more difficult to seal and require a little more trimming of fat, but it would work to stuff thighs. Follow the method we used on our Stuffed Chicken Thighs Recipe.
Frozen spinach works if thawed and squeezed dry to remove the excess liquid.
If you cut three chicken breasts in half, you can easily serve 6 people with about 5 oz of chicken each. You can also use 4 small chicken breasts for 4 generous portions, just be sure to reduce the cooking time accordingly with smaller chicken breasts.
Serving Tip: Some of the fillings will escape and turn into tasty pan drippings. Spoon that yummy pan sauce over your chicken when serving.
How to Reheat Stuffed Chicken
Chicken breast is a lean protein so it can be challenging to reheat without it getting tough or having that reheated chicken taste. Stuffed chicken is best served fresh, but it does reheat well. Be sure the chicken reaches 165˚F in the center on a thermometer.
- Oven – this is the preferred method. Preheat oven to 325˚F, cover with foil to prevent drying out, and bake 10-15 minutes until hot.
- Stove-top – place in a lightly oiled skillet over low heat, cover, and saute until hot. Flip chicken at least once.
- Microwave – this is the least desirable method, but if you insist, cut chicken in half so the heat penetrates better. Sprinkle water and any pan juices over your chicken, heat on 50% power, and check at 30-45 second intervals until steaming hot throughout.
Cream cheese and spinach stuffed chicken breast is adventurous and tastes like a restaurant-quality dish, but it’s really easy to prepare. I hope you absolutely love this recipe!
More Chicken Recipes to try
If you love this Stuffed Chicken then you won’t want to miss these easy chicken dinner ideas.
- Lemon Chicken
- Spatchcock Chicken
- Instant Pot Whole Chicken
- Classic Chicken Parmesan
- Air Fryer Chicken Wings
Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
For the Chicken Breasts:
- 3 large chicken breasts, boneless, skinless (1 3/4 to 2 lbs, even-sized pieces)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
For the Filling:
- 4 oz cream cheese, cold
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F with a rack in the center. In a mixing bowl, mash together cream cheese, mayo and garlic with a fork then stir in mozzarella, parmesan and chopped spinach leaves until combined.
- Lay chicken on a flat surface and cut slit 3/4 of the way through without cutting all the way through. Stuff each chicken breast with 1/3 of the mixture and seal horizontally with a toothpick (make sure the chicken breast can lay flat on the sides for searing.
- Season the outside of the chicken breast all over with 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp paprika, or season to taste.
- Heat 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil in an oven-proof pan such as cast iron, or large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and sauté for 4 minutes per side until golden brown on each side.
- Flip a second time and immediately transfer skillet to preheated oven. Bake at 425˚F for 10-15 minutes until thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers at 165˚F. Rest chicken 5 minutes before slicing. Spoon pan juices over chicken to serve.
Nutrition Per Serving
Hi there! My son is allergic to eggs, is there a substitute for the Mayo or should I leave it out completely? Thank you, we LOVE so many of your recipes!
Hi Diana, I haven’t tried any substitution to advise. One of our readers shared this “I made this when I was tired and had to double recipe for family. I forgot the mayo but still came out great. I added extra parm and stuffing on top” Hope that helps.
Looks delicious and I’ll be trying this tonight. Can I substitute broccoli for the spinach?
Hi Sharilyn, we prefer this with spinach, but broccoli will work. I hope you love it!
got chicken breasts on sale at Costco doubled the recipe, put a little more spinach and stuffed 7 large breasts kept 2 out and froze the rest. Did exactly what you said only I added a bit of cream to the pan drippings and made a gravy. Froze well, my only comment is make sure you defrost on a deep plate as the filling gets a little watery after it has been frozen, I just dumped the liquid in the fry pan just before putting it in the oven and all was good!
Thank you for sharing, Sherry!
I made this stuffed chicken recipe last night and I agree with your husband, it was excellent and I would love to be served this chicken at a restaurant or just make it at home myself! Soooo good!!!
So glad to hear that!
I made this tonight for my husband and I! We absolutely loved it!!
Great to hear that you all loved it!
THANK YOU, Natasha, for providing straightforward, easy recipes for meals to elevate our dining experiences. Waiting for you COOKBOOK! I want to make this stuffed chicken for company ( 8 guests). If I brown it on the stove, can I transfer it to the oven in a big casserole dish to bake? Can I put said casserole dish in a hot oven? My cast iron pan can’t hold this much chicken at one time.
Hi Catherine, if your casserole dish is oven sage, then that may work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I browned my chicken on the stove and transferred 5 big pieces to my 9×13 pan and the result was perfect. Guests went home with the recipe. They loved it so much.
Yay that’s great feedback! Thans for sharing.
What did you serve with it for your guests? It looks delicious!
Thx
The filling was so easy to make. I didn’t have cream cheese (someone forgot to put it on the grocery list 🤔) but I did have Boursin cheese. I didn’t add any spices to the filling and the result was delicious. Again, another Natasha success for me.
Hi Lynn! I’m so glad it was another hit! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Natasha for an amazing recipe and easy to follow instructions/video! My family couldn’t believe I made this dish because it was so DELICIOUS!!! In our top 3!!!
That’s wonderful, Erika! I’m so glad it was a hit.
Hello I was just wondering if I can also make this with out putting it in the oven?
I don’t recommend skipping the oven but you can experiment with it. You need to cook the chicken through until it reaches 165 degrees internally.
My husband loved it! (I’m not a huge fan of chicken breast), but I thought it was really good, the filling was perfectly balanced. The package I got came with 2 large chicken breasts, it was just too much meat for me. I think 3 medium ones would be better. I served with risotto and thought that went together perfectly. I highly recommend rice or risotto with this dish. Thank you for the recipe! Pictures and video are very helpful.
I’m so glad he loved it and that the video is helpful! Thank you for your great review, Al!
Thank you for an amazing juicy chicken entree recipe! My husband cannot eat spinach so I substituted baby kale. I have made this many times!
Hi Deb! You’re very welcome. I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipe!
Made this tonight for dinner. It didn’t disappoint. It’s very rich but very tasty. We had it with steamed spinach, green beans and roasted potatoes. Yummy!
Hi Janice! That’s great to hear. So glad it was enjoyed!
Instead of adding the chicken to the over and I put it in the air fry?
Hi Katherine, I haven’t tried this in an air fryer, but here’s what one of my readers wrote, I hope it’s helpful: “Prepared half recipe and it was delicious. Wrapped bacon around chicken and secured with toothpicks. Used Air Fryer. Preheated 3 minutes at 400 F and cooked for 15 minutes, flipping once. Perfect.
I have made this recipe several times now. Hard to improve on this one. This time I used butcher’s twine to seal the chicken breast. 3 times around and it worked like magic. The cheese stuffing is so delicious, next time I am going to double the recipe and warm the extra in a saucepan and put some on the plate with the chicken. Hope it works! Yum
Sounds great, Charleen!
I will be making this for dinner tonight, but I will be wrapping the chicken breasts in bacon, you know, to reduce the spillage of filling.
Sounds amazing, Charles! Thank you for sharing. I hope you love it.
Okay, so I am literally twelve years old, and I have made this for my family about six-million times. It is easy, fast, good, and delicious! Awesome job!
Hi Ciara! That’s amazing. I’m so glad your family loves the recipes!
And it makes it soooo tasty. My granddaughter happened to make these last night and I’m hooked. I’ll be trying it this week.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Linda!
This recipe instantly went on rotation when I made it for dinner one night. Though I haven’t made it perfect every time, it didn’t matter cause it tasted amazing! I usually pair it with some pan fried potatoes and some sort of vegetable, like Broccoli, or Asparagus. Tonight we’re having it with some brussels sprouts. I’ve even done a variation where I turned the filling into a sauce and tossed chicken and pasta. Perfect recipe Natasha, keep up the excellent work!
Thank you, so glad that you loved it!
This was fabulous. So easy although I made it in steps. Filling in morning, refrigerated. Afternoon stuffed and fridged then cooked right before we wanted dinner. Husband loved it. Served with mashed potatoes and salad.
Thank you for another delicious dinner.
That’s great, Diane! Thank you for sharing with us. 🙂
Looks wonderful but 3 pieces won’t help me much. We are 2 people so I’d want 4 pieces. How much would I have to enlarge the stuffing for four?
Hi Judy! The recipe calls for 3 large chicken breasts that can weigh between 1.75lbs- 2lbs. That is enough to serve 6 people. If you wanted to increase the recipe to 4 large chicken breasts, you can increase the serving size at the top of the recipe card to 8 people.
This is sooo delicious!!! Thank u so much natasha for sharing this recipe..my husband and i love this soo much..i dont have an oven safe skillet so what i did was i transferred the chicken and the sauce to my baking pan and it was still baked beautifully…i was hesitant though but it all turned out perfect. This will surely be on our list in prepping food for our guest at home 🙂
That’s great, Joy! I’m so glad you liked the recipe, thank you for sharing your experience. 🙂