Healthy Baked Chicken Recipe - Parmesan Herb Stuffed Chicken

Fresh herbs and parmesan cheese come together to make a delightful Parmesan and Herb Stuffed Chicken. This recipe tastes like something from a restaurant, but easy enough for any weekday night. Thanks to the fresh herbs and parmesan cheese, it has tons of flavor but it's light on calories and fat. In less than an hour, you can have a crave-worthy meal that will please the entire family.

My Parmesan Herb Stuffed Chicken recipe is baked, gluten-free and healthy but it is also drool-worthy. Even your most picky eater beg for this meal to become part of your weeknight rotation. It tastes fancy enough that you could also serve it for a dinner party, date night or any other special occasion. You could also make this dish ahead of time. You would just stuff the chicken breasts ahead of time and refrigerate the uncooked chicken until about an hour before serving. Let the stuffed chicken breasts come to room temperature before cooking.

One of my favorite kitchen tools is my rice cooker. It is programmable so I can schedule it to come up to 10 hours ahead of time so your food is cooked when you are ready. You can use a rice cooker to cook just about any grain. In this recipe, I could cook my quinoa in the rice cooker if needed.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 tablespoons of minced fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon of minced fresh basil

1 tablespoon of minced fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon of minced fresh spicy oregano

1 tablespoon of minced fresh lemon thyme

1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed

½ cup of grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbs of grated Parmesan cheese

salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Start with lots of herbs, whatever ones that you like... I chose cilantro, basil, rosemary, spicy oregano and lemon thyme. These are the herbs that I have currently in my garden. Chop them finely and mix with parmesan cheese and fresh garlic.

Cut a pocket in each chicken breast, fill with herb parmesan mix and secure with tooth picks. Then spray a 3 quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or extra virgin olive oil. Next place stuffed chicken breasts in the baking dish and top with parmesan cheese. Then bake chicken for 35-40 minutes or until juices run clear.

I would suggest that you serve this dish with quinoa mixed with the same fresh herbs and a simple green salad. This would keep the dish gluten-free, full of protein and very healthy! You could also serve with brown rice or with gluten-free or whole wheat pastsa.



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