Get the Recipe: Baked Tuscan Chicken
Boneless chicken breasts baked with a creamy garlic, spinach, sundried tomato and cheesy topping. Effortless comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise (about 1 lb.)
- Olive oil, or oil from the sun-dried tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
- Pinch Red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Spinach Mixture:
- 4 cups fresh spinach, wilted in a saucepan with 2 cloves of minced garlic and a bit of oil
- olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (regular or light)
- 1/3 cup half and half cream, or heavy cream
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
Topping:
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped or about 1 Tbsp dried basil
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded + a bit of Parmesan
- 2-3 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F (not convection/fan-assisted).
- Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish (about 8x11-ish - just enough to hold the chicken laid flat.) Place the chicken pieces on the bottom of the pan. Drizzle the chicken with a little olive oil (or the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes). Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with some red pepper flakes (to taste). Scatter the minced garlic over top. Set aside.
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. When warm, add the garlic and the spinach and a sprinkling of salt. Using tongs, toss the spinach in the skillet until it wilts down, then remove to a cutting board to cool slightly. When cooled, chop the spinach (you can chop coarsely or finely, as you like). Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the spinach and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, cream, garlic, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Stir to combine well. Add the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and stir in. Season with some salt and pepper.
- Spread the spinach and cream cheese mixture on top of the chicken, covering the chicken completely. Scatter the basil over top of the spinach mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Loosely cover the baking dish with foil.
- Baked at 375F loosely covered with foil for 15 minutes. Remove the foil then bake for 15-20 minutes more uncovered. Switch the oven to broil and broil a couple of minutes to brown the topping. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
- Tip! As the chicken pieces are thin they don't need a long oven time, so be sure not to overcook them and end up with dry, chewy chicken. The cheese topping will not be browned after 30-35 minutes in the oven, but as long as there is bubbling around the outside the chicken is probably done (you can double-check the chicken with a thermometer. It should register 165F.) Switch the oven to broil and brown up the topping!
Notes
Recipe tips!
Salt as you go! There are a lot of great flavours in this dish but what really brings out all those flavours is proper salting. Salt the chicken. Salt the spinach. Add some salt to the cream cheese mixture.
Be sure to read the notes above this Recipe Card, for more tips on making this recipe.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 364kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 37g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 125mg, Sodium: 547mg, Potassium: 917mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 3570IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 326mg, Iron: 2mg
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