Let's call this.. Ricotta stuffed chicken with basil

This one looks super fancy, but it's not really. It only takes a handful of ingredients and I am serving it with a baked potato and a salad. Well one potato for each person but you know what I mean!

You need (all amounts are pretty much approximate... I cook by taste, smell, look and feel more than measurements)

Don't ask me why this picture is upside down. It seriously will not let me flip it. I've changed it 12 times. Ideally you are reading this on a tablet and you can just turn that upside down to look. 

• 8 oz ricotta. (fat, skim or if you want it to be really decadent go for whole milk.. you won't be sorry.)
• Basil. Only fresh. Seriously. Dried basil should be illegal. Just go buy a bunch. Right now. I'll wait.
• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. These were thin cut so perfect for what I wanted.
• A couple Tblsp Parmesaen cheese
• A couple Tblsp Bread crumbs (Panko.. I poured them before I took the picture)
• Roasted garlic (1 clove or so to taste.. you know what you like better than I do) mince. I forgot to include it in this pic. Poor garlic, feels so left out. I'll make a post on roasting garlic for it soon.
• Salt
• Pepper
• Tblsp or so of olive oil
• TOOTHPICKS

Really that's it.


Preheat your oven to 350, throw in a potato per person if you are making baked or you know, make whatever sides you want and plan accordingly.

Mix your bread crumbs and parmesan cheese together til combined. Set aside.
I forgot to take a picture of that step, sorry.

Ok, so chop up your basil. I use this cool thing I got from Pampered Chef. No, they don't pay me for this, but I've had this for 15 years the blades are still sharp and I <3 it. I seriously never realized how much I love my Pampered Chef kitchen stuff until I started this blog. You can dice it with a knife if you aren't lucky enough to have one. If you need a PC rep let me know I have a good one... again not endorsing, just a fan.

My kitchen smells AMAZING right now.


This is how it should look.

Now, mix your basil and your roasted garlic with 8oz or so of ricotta (Half the small container) until blended.

It should look sort of like soft serve mint ice cream or something.

Now take your chicken and if you don't have thin cut, you will need to pound it out with a mallet or you can do it with the back of a spatula if you are improvising. I had thin cut and I still did, it just makes it better. You want it about ¼" thick. 
Random kitchen hint... I always do this on my cutting board on top of parchment, then when I have this all assembled I can just transfer the whole thing to my baking sheet!

Salt and Pepper your chicken. I used a tiny bit of garlic as well.

These are approximately 5½-6 oz chicken breasts, give or take.
Divide up your cheese stuff into equal parts and spoon a portion onto each breast.

Now, this is the part where I realized that I did not in fact have the toothpicks or skewers I absolutely should have had and that they must have been used for some type of craftapalooza. Why I am shocked by this I am not sure, but I did have to get creative, and thankfully I had something. It's also when I added toothpicks to the ingredients list. So make sure you have something.

Now, roll it from one end to the other, kind of squish any extra cheese that leaks out back in and skewer it together. See?

 Ok, good. Now, brush just the tops with olive oil. If you don't have a pastry brush, it's ok to just drizzle.

Sprinkle them with your cheese and panko mixture.

Transfer your parchment and chicken to your baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes. (It's going to depend on how thick your chicken is, how many you made etc. You'll know when it's done. 

Ok, that's it. Pretty simple overall and everyone raves about it. You can premake them, wrap in parchment and freeze, or make ahead the night before. 

Serve with your sides and enjoy.

Leftovers make GREAT lunch the next day too. You know, if you have any leftover.