This seared and baked chicken breast is stuffed with feta cheese, spinach, and sun dried tomato. This feta spinach stuffed chicken breast recipe will "wow" your friends and family with taste, tang, and moisture.
Feta and spinach stuffed chicken will easily become a family favorite recipe. Chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese and spinach is low carb, keto, and gluten free.
Tye Up Chicken Breast with Twine or Use Toothpicks
Check out my video below showing how to butterfly, stuff, and tie up chicken breast. Tying up chicken is a breeze once you know how to do it and get enough practice.
If this intimidates or frustrates you then stick toothpicks in to the edges instead to hold it together.
Variations on Feta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
Dairy Intolerant? Vegan Cheese also works.
Use any favorite or leftover ingredients for stuffing chicken breast. Here's some ideas that can be used with or instead of feta, spinach, and sun dried tomatoes:
- capers
- kalamata olives
- artichokes
- pepperoncinis
- dried figs
- Parmesan cheese
- Goat cheese
But remember that the more you put into it the harder it will be to tie up, so stuff in only as much in as the chicken breast allows or you'll get frustrated.
Tips For Feta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
You don't have to sear the chicken breast but taking the time do so will give it extra flavor and texture.
Buy skin on chicken if you don't want to mess with butterflying or tying. You can stuff the ingredients directly underneath the chicken skin instead of butterflying the chicken.
You can also use frozen spinach but will need to defrost and wring out any excess moisture. Or cook fresh spinach down for a couple minutes to make stuffing the chicken easier.
Make a pan sauce if you sear the chicken breast. Remove the chicken and deglaze the pan with ¾ - 1 cup white wine or chicken broth and reduce the sauce by half. Thicken it with a tab of butter after turning the heat off. Drizzle over the finished chicken breast.
Serve Feta Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast with:
- Lemon Dill Orzo Pasta
- Asparagus and Tomato Salad
- Easy Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes
- Easy Homemade Yellow Rice with Peas
Feta And Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
EatSimpleFood.com
This seared and baked chicken breast is stuffed with feta cheese, spinach, and sun dried tomato. This feta stuffed chicken breast recipe will "wow" your friends and family with taste, tang, and moisture.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop / Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Diet: Gluten Free, Keto, Low-Carb
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (~ 5 ounces each), butterflied
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 1 ½ cups crumbled feta
- 12 sun dried tomatoes, sliced
- 6 pieces of kitchen twine
~1 ½' long each
~1 ½' long eachInstructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400F.
- Butterfly chicken breasts. Butterflying is basically cutting the piece of meat in half but leaving the end portion uncut (making it look like an open book).
- In the middle (but more towards one side) of each piece of chicken breast lay down:
- a layer of fresh spinach (~½ cup)
- a layer of crumbled feta (~¼ cup)
- 2 sliced sun dried tomatoes
- Tie it up or toothpick it together.
- Lightly olive oil, salt and pepper each side and add any herbs you may like.
- Sear the chicken for 1 ½ - 2 minutes per side if desired on the stovetop (medium high pan with light layer of oil)
- Transfer chicken (make sure the pan is oven safe) to the oven for ~ 12-15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165F. Conversely, you can bake without searing ~ 20-25 minutes or until temp reaches 165F.
- If you want the chicken to brown, turn the broiler on in the last 2-3 minutes but watch it carefully.
- Let chicken rest 5 minutes before serving. Add salt to taste. Happy Eating! Beckie
Notes
- Buy skin on chicken if you don't want to mess with butterflying or tying. You can stuff the ingredients underneath the skin.
- Make a pan sauce if you sear the chicken. Deglaze the pan with ¾-1 cup white wine or chicken broth and reduce the sauce by half. Add a tab of butter off the heat to thicken it.
- You can also use frozen spinach but will need to defrost and wring out any excess moisture.
- Cook the spinach if that makes stuffing the chicken easier.
- Use any leftovers: capers, olives, artichokes, parmesan. Put only as much in as you can tie up!
- Dairy Intolerant? Vegan Cheese also works.
Things In My Kitchen:
- Meat Tenderizer - For poundin' the chicken thin.
- Kitchen Twine - For wrappin' up the chicken breast
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This is so easy, and looks amazing! I think searing it in the pan first is a good option, as you can make a quick pan sauce with the bits of goodness left in the pan while the chicken finishes in the oven.
So easy Suze. Skip the string if you don't have it. Makes a brilliant pan sauce. This recipe is also similar http://eatsimplefood.com/pistachio-parsley-stuffed-chicken/ - Thanks for your comment and the pan sauce suggestion! - Beckie
Good
I made this last night. It was so easy and the boyfriend loved it! I think next time I'll throw in a few more sun dried tomatoes, and there will DEFINITELY be a next time. Thanks!
So happy that you made it Amy! You can stuff nearly anything in chicken and it will be good 🙂 Try this next time - super healthy, moist, and yummy - http://eatsimplefood.com/pistachio-parsley-stuffed-chicken/ Substitute walnuts if pistachios are too expensive. Thank you!
Fresh or frozen spinach?
Hi Kaitlin, just updated it online. I use fresh, but I suppose frozen could work as well - just don't overwhelm it with too much frozen (a little goes a longer way than fresh)
This looks really yummy!!! Do you think I could use kale instead of spinach?
Absolutely Donna! You can stuff it with nearly anything you like and it will taste good 🙂
I don't love the flavor of chicken, but I'm trying to eat more of it. Do you think that one could marinate the butterflied chicken breasts for a short while, before stuffing, and cooking?
Hi Rachel. Marinating the chicken will steam it a little more and give it a different texture but it will be delicious. Instead of stuffing it, you could also put it over something you do like. It would be good over/unders beans & rice, turkey burgers, steak, Quorn (a meat substitute). Saute the spinach or treat it like a salad.
Has anyone tried chicken thighs instead of the breast? I'm not a fan of white meat - too dry for me.
Also is the spinach fresh or frozen?
Hi Julia. They would need to be big chicken thighs to try and stuff them but it can be done.
Spinach is fresh but frozen will work if you defrost and wring out any excess moisture before stuffing. Thanks!
i don't actually have a functioning oven, just a little toaster oven, would I be able to apply the same temperature and time or change it up?
Hi Liz. Toaster oven should work but you may only be able to fit two pieces in it. Cover it with aluminum foil if it starts to dry out.
I would use the same temperature and time, but check it before eating to make sure the juices run clear and it's done (or you could use a meat thermometer if you have one - should be 165F in the thickest part). Let me know - thank you for trying!
I have been doing this recipe for years minus the sun dried tomatoes. I'm not a fan of white meat either but it gets so juicy if you bake this. Which I do for 25 minutes at 375. I also mix the spinach ( frozen ) with the feta, plus EVOO, lemon, garlic and S and P to taste. and stuff away 🙂 This recipe is also great if you switch the spinach to diced tomatoes or the chicken to fish!
Thanks Cheryl - all excellent suggestions! slurp!
Does anyone nknow the calorie count on this?
Hi Tearshia,
I just put this into a nutritional calculator: - looks like ~ 254 calories per breast, but this does not include any oil or butter if you choose to sear it first. Thank you! Beckie
Ingredients Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar
Meat - Chicken Breasts Boneless Skinless, 32 oz 992 0 11 208 584 0 Ico_delete
365 - Feta Cheese Crumbles, 4 oz 240 4 16 20 1,480 0 Ico_delete
Fresh Express - Baby Spinach, 1 container (4 cups (85g) ea.) 60 10 1 8 220 2 Ico_delete
Tomatoes - Sun-dried, packed in oil, drained, 1 cup 234 26 15 6 293 0 Ico_delete
Add Ingredient
Total: 1,526 40 43 242 2,577 2
Per Serving: 254 7 7 40 430 0
I made this 6 weeks ago. We are having it again tonight. It was delicious!!!
Thank you Mary!
I made a "clean" garlic tzatziki sauce to accompany this....holy yum!
Sounds delicious Alyssa - thank you for the suggestion!
Your video of tying didn't work.....I did find this one helpful! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeK1yh7CjFk
Trying this recipe tonight. Looks wonderful 🙂
Excellent video Lisa! I've updated the website to include it - Thank you! Beckie
Excellent, easy and so tasty! My family hates tomatoes so I swaped for red peppers, and a little chopped onion. Also added a balsamic reduction on top. Perfection
Way to improvise and take it up a notch Taylor! Thank you!
MMMAAANNNNN look here.....this was amazing. I wish we could post pictures. One of the top three dinners I have cooked thus far. This recipe was awesome
MMaaaannn Kelis! Thank you for commenting and making my day. I would love to see pictures - I'm getting ready to update some things on my website and will ask if it's possible to do that in the future.
This sounds great! Can you use baby spinach?
Hi Kim! Yes- I like fresh baby spinach and use it all the time. If they come out the sides, just stuff them back into the chicken.
Made for hubby. He said I could make this anytime. I used breast for him and thighs for me (took the bone out, skin on). Also added artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes in olive oil. I also put mozzarella cheese on top. Yummmm.
Sounds delicious - way to modify! Did you put the stuffing under the chicken thigh skin? That's an easy way to get out of tying the whole thing up. Thank you for letting me know Holly!
Have you made these in advance and froze them? Would you just let them thaw then sear then bake?
Hi Brandi, I've frozen/defrosted/cooked the Pistachio & Parsley Stuffed Chicken and it worked excellent. The spinach will let go of too much water when defrosting so you would want to cook it down first before stuffing and freezing. Make sure to pat the chicken dry after defrosting if searing. Otherwise, skip the searing and just bake. Thank you!
Beckie I've tried your recipe exactly as you have it and it was amazing. ..perfect just the way it is...fresh spinach and all...Thank you I will definitely do this one again and again. ..
Thank you for letting me know Ginette - cheers!
Not healthy I know but could you wrap the chicken breast in bacon?
Hi Paula! Who says a little bacon is not healthy for you?! I cook my eggs in bacon fat nearly every morning 🙂 You will want to broil the dish in the last 3-4 minutes or until the bacon is crispy. YUM!
Awesome!!! Thanks!
Looks amazing!! This could be a silly question, but how long do you sear the chicken breast for before you bake it?
Hi Jessica - thanks for the question - not stupid at all & I will update the blog. Sear for ~ 1 1/2- 2 minutes per side. If you are using a nonstick pan you can gently lift up and check for the light golden brown color. If you are using a stainless steel pan, you will wait the same amount of time but know that is it is done when the chicken let's go of the pan naturally without any force from your spatula. Hope that makes sense!
I use Mediterranean seasoned salt on mine with a little thyme, basil, savory, marjoram,
oregano, sage, and rosemary
sounds delicious Brandon
There is no nutritional info...need this for counting carbs please
Hi Sandie, I'm sorry but I don't have calorie information or the web infrastructure yet (hoping to have it in the next year). I know people have used https://www.myfitnesspal.com/ to calculate calories. Thank you for your patience.
I made this tonite and it was magnificent. I forgot the twin in the store so had to use the good ol toothpicks lol.... I pan seared mine a little than placed them in the oven. So delicious!!
yea Keisha -thanks for letting me know!
This is one of our favs.