Pancetta wrapped chicken starts with chicken cutlets pounded thin in this recipe with a meat mallet. Fill the thin chicken with cooked spinach, onions, and garlic. Wrap / drape the chicken with pancetta and hold it together with toothpicks.
Whats the difference between prosciutto and pancetta? Prosciutto is similar to ham, is dry cured, and is eaten uncooked. Pancetta is similar to bacon and should be cooked.
Buy 8 small chicken cutlets or 4 breasts that you will cut through horizontally (like a book) to make 8 thinner pieces.
Wrap the chicken with the pancetta and pan fry the pancetta until it's golden brown and finish cooking the chicken in the oven.
Don't want to pan fry the chicken? Turn up the heat to 400F and bake in oven ~ 18-20 minutes, checking occasionally to see if pancetta is burning.
If it's still not browning then broil for a couple minutes but watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn. You will also want to make sure the chicken is cooked through or until internal temperature reaches 165F.
Serving Suggestion
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Things In My Kitchen:
- Meat Mallet - good for getting some aggression out and also making meat paper thin if needed.
- Toothpicks - affordable and a touch decorative.
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Pancetta Wrapped Chicken Cutlets
EatSimpleFood.com
Chicken cutlets are pounded thin in this recipe with a meat mallet, filled with cooked spinach, onions, and garlic, & wrapped in pancetta and held together by toothpicks.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop / Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 8 chicken cutlets (4 chicken breasts)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 8 ounces spinach
- ½ cup onion, diced
- 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
- ½ cup Parmesan
- 8 slices pancetta
- ¼ tsp salt
- pinch pepper
- 16 toothpicks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Bring a large pan to medium high heat and add the oil. When hot, add onions and cook ~ 3-4 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Lower heat and add spinach. Move around with tongs and cook for 3-4 minutes or until nearly wilted. Add parmesan, mix, and set aside.
- Lay cutlets on a cutting board and place a piece of plastic wrap over the top. Pound 8 chicken cutlets thin with a meat mallet (come on - get out that aggression!) and season with salt and pepper. Lay chicken out & evenly divide the spinach mixture.
- Roll up chicken tightly and gently wrap a piece of pancetta around each cutlet. The pancetta may not be big enough to wrap around the whole cutlet - that's ok - just secure it with two toothpicks.
- Add oil to lightly coat a large pan. Sear chicken (pancetta side down) ~ 2 ½ minutes or until brown. Flip and cook an additional 1 ½ minutes. Transfer to a baking pan or sheet and cook in the oven ~ 5 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165F and juices run clear.
- Rest 5 minutes before eating. Add salt to taste. Happy Eating! Beckie
Notes
Don't want to pan fry the chicken? Turn up the heat to 400F and bake in oven ~ 18-20 minutes, checking occasionally to see if pancetta is burning. If it's still not browning then broil for a couple minutes but watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn. You will also want to make sure the chicken is cooked through.
Jeanne says
Can you offer any tips on how to reheat leftovers of this dish without drying out the meat?
beckie says
Great question Jeanne, - If you use the microwave, try a power level of 6 or 7 for a couple minutes and cover the dish with a vented plastic lid (making sure the meat doesn't touch the plastic). If you don't want to use the microwave, I would still cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven at 350F ~ 10 minutes or until warm. Hope that helps. Chicken breast is difficult to warm up, especially with the pancetta.