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Asparagus and cheese stuffed chicken is a complete meal in itself!
Complete Meal Bundle
This asparagus stuffed chicken is a complete meal all by itself. How easy is that?
Pretty darn easy if you ask me and the best part is there’s no extra dishes to wash from preparing side dishes. You’ve got it all right here in these neat little bundles.
The chicken stuffs easily and the filling stays put because the asparagus doesn’t melt out; well, it can’t but that’s another conversation. The chicken breasts wrap very easily around it so there’s no frustrating work involved.
The recipe is very simple yet very tasty.
Choose Your Cheese
You can get creative with these stuffed chicken breasts just by varying the cheese.
I used Monterrey Jack since I had a package already open. You want to have a cheese that melts for obvious reasons so very hard cheeses such as Parmesan and Romano are out for that. However, they make a great addition when added as a flavor enhancement to a melting-type cheese.
Cheddar would be an excellent choice for this too. I would tend to use a milder cheddar if you’re serving young children. Reserve the sharper varieties to please adult tastes.
And here’s an idea if you’re going to serve this just to adults with adventurous tastes–try Stilton, Bleu or Gorgonzola cheese!
Asparagus: Fresh Or Frozen
As far as the asparagus goes in this recipe, it’s always best to use fresh. Now that asparagus seems to be available year round, this isn’t a problem.
However, frozen is good too. A high-quality brand of frozen asparagus will work very well. While I’ve never made this with the frozen variety, I think I would not thaw it before cooking. It would be easier to assemble and wouldn’t overcook. Mind you, I can’t state this with any certainty–it’s just an educated guess.
The Recipe
Asparagus and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 4 large chicken breasts
- 1 tbs lemon zest
- 12 asparagus stalks
- 1 cup shredded Monterrey jack cheese
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbs olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
- Cut the chicken breast in half, length-wise, leaving it intact on one side (creating a pocket to stuff). Season the inside of the chicken breast with salt and pepper and a pinch of lemon zest. Lay shredded cheese and 3 to 4 stalks of asparagus in the center of each chicken breast and fold over, enclosing the filling.
- Season the outside of the chicken breast with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
- Heat a large, oven safe skillet over medium-high heat and add the 1 tbsp olive oil, swirling around to coat the bottom of the skillet. Cook the chicken top side down, for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken easily releases from the pan and is golden brown on top. Flip the chicken over and cook an additional 3 to 5 minutes to sear the bottom side. Carefully cover the skillet with tinfoil and place in the preheated oven. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 155 degrees.
- Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and let sit, covered, for about 5 minutes. The temperature of the chicken should rise to meet 160 degrees
Angelina says
My family will love this, and it’s also company worthy. It looks as though you fussed, yet didn’t. We have a large Italian family, & do a lot of entertaining, so I’m always on the lookout for easy, but impressive recipes. As for being a complete meal, I can’t see putting only these on the table for dinner. I plan to serve them with some type of a potato, and a salad. Thanks for another great recipe.
Judith Hanneman says
You might like the potatoes I have going up Sunday–fancy but easy!!!