Chive & Garlic Chicken Two Ways: Stuffed Chicken Breast and Creamy Pasta Bake – two delicious meals that are perfect for anyone.
When making this week’s menu there was a request. I couldn’t turn it down as it was from my husband and it is our anniversary week. He requested Chive & Garlic Stuffed Chicken Breast something I hadn’t made in over a year. I put it down for Wednesday night not even realizing that was our anniversary night. Oh, so sweet right? Wrong, we had my mom coming over to watch the kids so we could go out. I didn’t even realize it until that night before when I got out the chicken from the freezer. (Laughing) So, what is pictured below is what I had for lunch. I mean come on if I was going to blog about this and not eat it…how dare me.
So I sat down once the kids were down for naps and enjoyed a quiet lunch date for one. Sigh, so nice. Then it dawned on me that my mom was now going to have to deal with the kids crying about eating the chicken with the green stuff (chives) and spinach (gasps). So I quickly turned the chive & garlic stuffed chicken breast into a pasta bake. YUMMY!
The hint of the chives and garlic made this a favorite of all seven of us and my mom. I prefer the pasta bake too over the chicken and spinach just because the pasta is so creamy!
One dish, two recipes. Two meals in one….that’s a winner! Bon Appetit!
How do you make Chive & Garlic Chicken Two Ways: Stuffed Chicken Breast and Creamy Pasta Bake?
-
Cut a pocket into the chicken breast, slicing it until you at ¾ of the way through. I like to cut at an angle that makes a deeper pocket. If this is your first time to do this, don’t worry you will find out what kind of pocket you like after you make a few – don’t fret if you don’t like what you do at first it will still taste good.
-
Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, inside and out.
-
In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese, chives, parmesan, and garlic. Stir until well combined.
-
With a spoon (use a different spoon for each breast, see note below) scoop in 1 1/2 tablespoons of chive and garlic cream cheese into the pocket of the chicken breast. Continue to stuff all the breast until mixture is gone. If you have some cream cheese left, great! It makes a wonderful spread! (See note)
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-
Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. Once oil is hot sear the chicken breast on each side, starting with the seam side down first, this will only take about 1 minute for it to get a nice golden sear. Fill and do it on the other side. Remove chicken breast from pan and secure and close seam with toothpicks, two per breast. Place back in pan and put pan into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through. I use a meat thermometer and wait until the temperature reads 165-167 degrees. Remove from oven and let it cool for a couple of minutes so that when you slice it the cheese doesn’t come running out. I usually only cut the kids and I serve the adult the whole breast.
-
NOTE: Make sure that you do not use the same spoon over and over again that you stuff the chicken with. Otherwise you will need to throw out the extra cream cheese as it has been contaminated from the raw chicken. I will use one spoon then put it immediately in the sink, and get another spoon to fill the next chicken breast. Repeating this process until all the breasts are complete. I do this because I love to eat the extra cream cheese on crackers.
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-
Spray a 9×13 dish or oval casserole dish, with cooking spray. Cook pasta as directed and drain.
-
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted.
-
Stir in half-and-half. Add Monterrey Jack, Asiago and parmesan cheese.
-
Stir in chopped chicken and toss gently to mix well. Serve immediately or spoon into baking dish sprinkled with additional cheese (any kind of cheese and as much as you want).
-
Bake uncovered about 15-20 minutes or until hot in the center and crusted on top.
Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board to save for later!
Chive & Garlic Chicken Two Ways: Stuffed Chicken Breast and Creamy Pasta Bake
Ingredients
Stuffed Chicken Breast
- 4-5 chicken breasts uncooked
- 1/2 cup chives chopped
- 1/4 cup parmesan
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1/4 cup parmesan
- 8 ounces cream cheese I used low-fat
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Chive & Garlic Creamy Pasta Bake
- 1 pound noodles any kind, cooked as directed
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 14.5 ounces chicken broth
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 1 cup Monterrey jack cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup Asiago cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated
- 2 baked Chive & Garlic Cream Cheese stuffed chicken breast chopped
Instructions
Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Cut a pocket into the chicken breast, slicing it until you at ¾ of the way through. I like to cut at an angle that makes a deeper pocket. If this is your first time to do this, don’t worry you will find out what kind of pocket you like after you make a few – don’t fret if you don’t like what you do at first it will still taste good.
- Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper, inside and out.
- In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese, chives, parmesan, and garlic. Stir until well combined.
- With a spoon (use a different spoon for each breast, see note below) scoop in 1 1/2 tablespoons of chive and garlic cream cheese into the pocket of the chicken breast. Continue to stuff all the breast until mixture is gone. If you have some cream cheese left, great! It makes a wonderful spread! (See note)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. Once oil is hot sear the chicken breast on each side, starting with the seam side down first, this will only take about 1 minute for it to get a nice golden sear. Fill and do it on the other side. Remove chicken breast from pan and secure and close seam with toothpicks, two per breast. Place back in pan and put pan into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through. I use a meat thermometer and wait until the temperature reads 165-167 degrees. Remove from oven and let it cool for a couple of minutes so that when you slice it the cheese doesn’t come running out. I usually only cut the kids and I serve the adult the whole breast.
- NOTE: Make sure that you do not use the same spoon over and over again that you stuff the chicken with. Otherwise you will need to throw out the extra cream cheese as it has been contaminated from the raw chicken. I will use one spoon then put it immediately in the sink, and get another spoon to fill the next chicken breast. Repeating this process until all the breasts are complete. I do this because I love to eat the extra cream cheese on crackers.
Chive & Garlic Creamy Pasta Bake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9x13 dish or oval casserole dish, with cooking spray. Cook pasta as directed and drain.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted.
- Stir in half-and-half. Add Monterrey Jack, Asiago and parmesan cheese.
- Stir in chopped chicken and toss gently to mix well. Serve immediately or spoon into baking dish sprinkled with additional cheese (any kind of cheese and as much as you want).
- Bake uncovered about 15-20 minutes or until hot in the center and crusted on top.
Kids review: They struggle to eat the chicken breast by itself. That is why I came up with the creamy pasta bake so that when the babysitter came over tonight (my mom) she didn’t have to deal with the whining. And it worked, they all even had seconds. Even my husband was eating it out of the pan as we are walking out the door to go to dinner, he loved it! But we weren’t going to stay at home as it was our anniversary!
