READY IN ABOUT 1½ hrs

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta

Read Reviews (151)

"These chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta cheese, spinach, and wrapped with bacon are a sure-fire way to impress! Makes a beautiful plate!" — Kitty KaBoom

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook and stir until it begins to brown, about 30 seconds. Quickly stir in spinach, and continue cooking until the spinach has wilted. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, and set aside to cool.
Slice through the chicken breast horizontally to within 1/2 inch of one long edge, then open the meat like a book. Place each opened chicken breast in between two pieces of plastic wrap, and pound with a meat mallet to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
Stir the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and onion powder into the cooked spinach until blended. Evenly divide this mixture among the chicken breasts, then roll each into an oblong shape, like a burrito, tucking in the ends. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Wrap each breast with 2 strips of bacon, and secure with toothpicks. Place into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven until the bacon is brown and crispy, and the chicken is no longer pink, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before removing toothpicks and serving.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 30 mins
COOK 50 mins
READY IN 1 hr 25 mins

Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review

May 19, 2008

This was excellent! I made it last night and it was a hit! I added a few changes though. I flattened 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts and set aside. I chopped up a large onion and minced up 3 cloves of garlic. I sauteed them in about 3 tbsp of EVOO. Then I added fresh baby spinach (about 3 or 4 bags worth) to the pan and let it wilt down. Then I transferred it to a large bowl where I added the Ricotta Cheese, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, garlic salt, S&P, 1/2 cup of roasted red peppers that I ran my knife through first and I added about 2/3 cup of Italian Style Bread crumbs and mixed well. Then I took the chicken breasts and put the spinach mixture in the middle of the chicken breast and rolled it up. I wrapped 2 slices of bacon on each and placed them in the baking dish and baked at 400 degrees until chicken was down and juices ran clear and then broiled it on low until bacon got a bit crispy and the chicken browned a bit. I had extra stuffing and placed in a zip lock freezing bag and put it in the freezer for future use.

—InLoveWithMySoldier1026

See full review »

Most Helpful Critical Review

Apr 20, 2013

very bland

—ANGELAANDJAKERS

See full review »

192 Ratings

See other versions of this recipe!

Oct 12, 2008

This is delicious, but I put a metal riser sprayed with Pam in the bottom of the pan and the drippings catch underneath so that the chicken is not sittingi in all of the bacon grease.

—eileenwedin

See full review »

Apr 22, 2008

This recipe was really good and fairly simple. I wrapped the bacon all the way around the chicken breast (unlike the picture above) and turned them over about 30 minutes into the baking time to cook the bacon evenly on both sides of the chicken. Next time I make this recipe I think I will cook the bacon briefly in a skillet before wrapping the chicken to get a crispier texture. I also had a little bit of the stuffing mix leftover and ate it with crackers as an appetizer and it was delicious!

—meganfromseattle

See full review »

Oct 12, 2008

This is something I make frequently but have switched it over a bit to make simpler. I simply slice a "pocket" in the breast instead of pounding it, and insert brie cheese with course grain mustard and veg. If I'm feeling really lazy I leave out the veg and just have cheese(veg on the side). I have used turkey bacon and it is great. A lot of my work mates make this and we advise each other on new variations. A good basic recipe that you can do a million ways to suit your tastes. Not to mention it impresses company. :)

—momotate

See full review »

Dec 18, 2007

Very tasty, my picky husband loved it! Definitely rich but very good. I didn't have tooth picks so I just took the pieces of bacon and wrapped them entirely around the stuffed chicken and it worked quite well. It was actually a lot easier of a recipe to assemble than I initially thought and I will be making this again!

—April

See full review »

Oct 30, 2007

I decided to cook this dish for 12 people who were all bacon lovers, thankfully, because the amount of bacon that the recipe called for created quite an excess amount of bacon grease that filled half the pan. It does not present that well to serve the chicken in a dish full of grease so I would recommend removing them to a separate dish before serving and perhaps using the "pat dry" method with a paper towel to remove the excess. I also added chopped pine nuts in the olive oil with the garlic to give the creamy filling some crunchy variation which turned out to be great. Overall a tasty dish but a bit heavy. We all know that anything cooked in bacon fat = delicious, but this is not a low calorie meal.

—dclemmer

See full review »

Apr 16, 2008

Great recipe! I did change a few things though. I did not wrap the chicken breasts with bacon or roll the breasts, instead I made a more traditional stuffed chicken breast seasoned with some salt and pepper. For the filling mixture added cooked italian sausage, a little more parmesan cheese and some freshly grated romano cheese to the filling mixture. Everyone loved the filling! Thanks for the recipe!

—8ball

See full review »

Edit

Glad you liked it! Your friends will, too:

Did you tweak the recipe? Edit and save your own version of it!

Edit this recipe

More Recipes Like This See all

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Spinach Blue Cheese and Bacon

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ricotta and Artichoke-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Spinach and Bacon Chicken

Muenster-Bacon Stuffed Chicken Breast

Honey Glazed Stuffed Chicken

Stuffed Tomato Basil Chicken

Oven Roasted Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Pan-Fried Chicken With Spinach and Pine Nuts

Nutrition

Calories
601 kcal
30%

Carbohydrates
7.5 g
2%

Cholesterol
134 mg
45%

Fat
43.2 g
66%

Fiber
1.9 g
8%

Protein
44.5 g
89%

Sodium
1175 mg
47%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta

Serving Size: 1/4 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 601
Calories from Fat: 389

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 43.2g 66 %
Saturated Fat 15.1g 76 %
Cholesterol 134mg 45 %
Sodium 1175mg 47 %
** Potassium 820mg 23 %
Total Carbohydrates 7.5g 2 %
Dietary Fiber 1.9g 8 %
Protein 44.5g 89 %
** Sugars 0.7g
** Vitamin A 140 %
** Vitamin C 35 %
** Calcium 49 %
** Iron 37 %
** Thiamin 34 %
** Niacin 168 %
** Vitamin B6 50 %
** Magnesium 36 %
** Folate 85 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.