Stuffed and Smothered Chicken
Okay, alright, so it doesn’t *look* that good. But this is comfort food. It tastes awesome, I promise. Don’t let the weird picture stop you from making this chicken.
This chicken is one of the first things I learned to make after Ameir and I got engaged. It’s stuffed with a creamy spinach stuffing that keeps the chicken incredibly moist while baking, and then smothered with a mushroom gravy. It’s based on this recipe from Kraft Foods, which I used to browse compulsively for something that didn’t look too hard. Over time, I’ve adjusted and enhanced it for my taste and it’s something I even make for company, to everyone’s great enjoyment.
Stuffed and Smothered Chicken
(about 12 servings, four of them larger than the rest, but everything cooks in the same amount of time. Don’t panic.)
For the chicken and stuffing:
Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts (full, i.e. 4 halves)
Ranch dressing
1 bag frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of all water
5 or 6 sundried tomatoes, diced finely
1 or 2 onions, diced
Lots of garlic
Pepperidge farm stuffing - the cubed kind, half a package (Look at the first one on the second row. It has to be cubed.)
Chicken broth
For the smothering….uh..gravy:
1 8oz pack mushrooms, sliced (or 2, if you’re feeling adventurous)
Garlic
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Rosemary
Milk (or broth)
1. Prepare the chicken: Cut each chicken breast half into three pieces, thusly: Cut apart the thicker part (about the size of your palm) from the thinner, flatter part. Now you’ve got two. Now, slice the thicker part through the middle (as if you were slicing a cake into two for layers) so you’ve got two thinner pieces.
Pound each of these until they’re about the same thickness. You’ll notice that one of the pieces (what was originally thinner) is bigger than the other two, but it’s okay - nothing will overcook. If some of the smaller pieces tear or are too much smaller than the others - it’s okay, I’ll tell you how to fix that later. (you could evade this whole process by getting butterflied chicken breasts or something, but hey - you have to work with what you have, and I usually have whole chicken breast).
Put the pieces into a bowl and marinate with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, dried herbs, and Ranch dressing. Make sure the dressing is coating all of the chicken. Let it sit for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
2. Prepare the stuffing: Sautee the onion, a few cloves of minced garlic, spinach, and sundried tomatoes until well combined and well flavored. Hit it with salt, pepper, and spicy red pepper if you want. Pour in a little bit of Ranch dressing (maybe 1/4 cup) to soften the spinach, making it less chunky and more smooth).
Mix the spinach with half the package of cubed stuffing. That’s all you’ll need to stuff the chicken breasts, even generously. That being said, leftover stuffing baked until browned on top is a really good accompaniment, so add more stuffing mix if you want.
Pour chicken broth over the whole mixture until quite soft, but not unrecognizably mushy or floating in liquid like cereal. It should be soft enough that the bread all absorbs the liquid and doesn’t stay crunchy. You should be able to kind of shape the mixture. The moister this is, the moister the chicken will be.
3. Stuff: Lay down a flattened piece of chicken breast and put a majorly heaping tablespoon (the eating kind, not the measuring kind) on one end. Then, add some more. Overstuff these babies - even if the stuffing falls out onto the sides, it gets baked and crispy and tastes awesome. Fold over the other side of the chicken and wrap it with butcher’s twine to secure. (Alternatively, you can soak toothpicks in water for 20 min and poke these through. You do have to seal this somehow. If you don’t, the chicken will open up and unfold as it cooks)
If you have some smaller pieces that are torn or too small, don’t panic! Make a chicken stuffing sandwich. Put one small piece, then some stuffing, then another small piece. Wrap with twine or toothpick it as you would for anything else.
4. Bake uncovered at 350 for 25-30 minutes. It should be pretty much completely done at 30, but I’ve even left it in the oven for a total of 40 minutes (after smothering) without it being overdone.
5. While it’s baking, prepare the smother: Sautee minced garlic and onions until soft. Pour in two cans of cream of mushroom soup and stir to remove lumps. Slowly add in milk until it’s a pourable gravy (I think I added 1/2 cup).
6. Ready? Smother!: Take the chicken out of the oven and pour the gravy on top of each piece, letting extra dribble into the pan. (Before I did this, I took it out of the baking pan and put it in a serving pan - but this is not necessary - you can transfer it later, too). Bake for another 10 minutes (This won’t really be cooking the chicken, just warming and softening the gravy).
Okay, okay, fine - it’s not really that good for you. But it tastes awesome!