Summer has just begun, and my grill is already getting quite a workout! 😀 I had some leftover ingredients to play around with, along with some chicken breasts in the freezer, and a few boxes and jars of pastas and sauces begging to be used from the pantry!
I had extra ricotta cheese and spinach from my recently made Stovetop Manicotti that had to be used right away, so I whipped up an easy, cheesy filling that would go nicely with the chicken.
I thawed what I thought was a package of three chicken breasts, but they were huge and there were only two in there. But that was fine. There’s just the two of us anyways. 😉 So you can do two, three, or possibly even four small ones using the same amount of filling.
Since I pretty much suck at pounding chicken, I just slit them open and butterflied them. So you can pound away or cheat like me. 😉
We aslo had an open package of Canadian bacon from a quick homemade pizza, so that was a nice surprise addition!
If making more than 2 of these, you’ll need a few slices more , of course.
This looks like too much filling, but trust me, it wasn’t. 😉
Then just tie them up by wrapping a little cotton string around them. Keep it simple, though, so that it can be easily removed later.
One always does funny, but don’t worry, they don’t have to be perfect. They grill up beautifully!!! And funny thing is, the ugly one actually turned out to be the pretty one later! 😀 So you can’t go wrong! 😉 😀
I heated the other side of the grill, and placed these over INdirect heat rather than right over the flames, because I wanted to “bake” these slower.
The one thing that I forgot to do – – was remove that string before I topped them with the fresh mozzarella cheese!!!! oops.
But it actually came off easily when we ate it, so it wasn’t a biggie. But do remember to remove it first before topping, especially if you’re planning on serving this to guests.
I just continued to bake the chicken on the cool side until the cheese melted, about another 5 minutes.
These turned out so gorgeous! I was so very happy with them! 😀
And they ended up perfectly done. A little browning and not dry one bit! 😀
Since I had a “collection” of pastas and sauces, I served these beauties with some of Barilla’s Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce and twirled angel hair pasta. But this would also be lovely served with a nice wild or brown rice pilaf, or just a simple garden salad!
My hubby isn’t a big “ricotta fan”, but raved and raved over this! So if there’s someone in your family that you’re worried about not liking this, they may surprise you! If they absolutely refuse to give this a try, you could always try making this with cottage cheese if that’s an option.
So if you’re looking for something impressive to make, without a lot of fuss, I think that you’ll really enjoy this! I’m not sure what to tell you about how many servings this is, though, because my hubby ate all of his, and mine lasted me three meals! So just use your best judgment and keep in mind appetite sizes!
Hope you enjoy and keep on grillin’! 😀
*If making 3 smaller ones, you'll need more Canadian bacon, and thick-sliced fresh mozzarella. The filling should be plenty, however.
Cheesy Grilled Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Canadian Bacon & Walnuts
Ingredients
For Spinach Filling:
Instructions
Notes
**Grilling times will be less for smaller, thinner chicken breasts.