🍁🍗 Stuffing fans are going to LOVE these easy Stuffing Stuffed Chicken Breasts because every bite of juicy chicken is filled with stuffing! This meal feels elevated enough to serve during the holidays without the work of making turkey. You can use homemade, boxed, or leftover stuffing.
Easy Stuffing Stuffed Chicken Breasts Recipe
- My daughter is a stuffing fanatic! Without a doubt, it’s her favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal. So I thought why not bring a little bit of Thanksgiving into other times of the year – like now!
- These stuffed chicken breasts are stuffed with stuffing so that you can enjoy the flavor of stuffing whenever you have a craving for it.
- Even though I personally don’t usually make stuffing outside of Thanksgiving, I’ve come to learn that many of you do, especially for Christmas Eve and Christmas meals. This stuffed chicken recipe feels elevated enough to serve for holiday parties or entertaining, for Thanksgiving in lieu of turkey, or for Christmas dinner.
- The chicken is tender and juicy, while the savory stuffing perfumes the chicken with thyme and sage and it smells and tastes like the holidays. You can make my 5-Minute Chicken Broth Gravy if you’d like – no turkey drippings required.
- Tip: You can use any type of stuffing for this recipe including homemade traditional, stovetop stuffing, slow cooker sausage stuffing, cornbread stuffing, boxed stuffing (here’s lookin’ at you Stove Top stuffing mix), or leftover stuffing you have to use up. I’ve got other Thanksgiving Leftovers ideas too!
Ingredients in Stuffed Chicken Breast
- Stuffing: As I mentioned above, any type of stuffing is fine. If you’re making stuffing for this recipe for quickness and ease, a box of Stovetop or your favorite store bought stuffing is the quickest and easiest. Or make it like I outline in the recipe card below with sautéed onions and celery, garlic, dried bread cubes, chicken broth, herbs, and Parmesan. It’s a hybrid twist on my classic stuffing and my stovetop stuffing.
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken breasts that are on the larger side. You need pieces that are big and thick enough to actually stuff. For this recipe, I recommend picking out the pieces you want from the butcher case at your local grocery store. If that’s not an option, buy the biggest pieces you can in a 4-pack.
- Seasonings: Olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, paprika, salt, black pepper.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How To Make Baked Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Stuffing
- Stuffing: Make the stuffing according to package directions if using a box of stuffing, or according to the directions in the recipe card below, or use leftover stuffing.
- Slice: Slice each chicken breast lengthwise about 3/4 of the way around, creating a pocket. Do NOT accidentally slice the chicken into two pieces.
- Stuff and Season: Put a generous amount of stuffing in the pocket of each chicken breast without over stuffing them. If desired, you can use toothpicks to hold them together better. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the top of the chicken breast with herbs.
- Bake: Place the stuffed chicken breasts in a large baking dish and bake covered for about 25 minutes in a preheated oven. Uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is 165F degrees.
- Broil: Optionally, broil for 1-2 minutes if you want the edges of bread of the stuffing a bit more crisped, taking care not to burn the chicken. Rest the stuffed breasts for a few minutes before serving.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Stuffing Stuffed Chicken Breasts
🍁🍗 Stuffing fans are going to LOVE these easy stuffing stuffed chicken breasts! This meal feels elevated enough to serve during the holidays without the work of making turkey or for a chilly night when you're craving something warm and comforting. You can use homemade, boxed, or leftover stuffing.
Ingredients
Stuffing
- 2 cups stale French bread, cubed into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces (I recommend day old French bread or day old sourdough; a strong and hearty bread is what you want, no sandwich bread)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup white onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme, or 3/4-1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried sage, (or 3/4-1 teaspoon fresh sage, finely minced)
- ½ cup chicken broth, (I use reduced sodium)
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
Chicken
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, I recommend 8 to 10 ounces each, if possible select them from the butcher case at your local market
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Prep and Preheat: Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish, 2.5 to 3-quart casserole dish, or similar sized baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; set aside.
- Stuffing: If you're using boxed stuffing like Stovetop, make according to package directions or if you're using leftover stuffing, take it out of the fridge and zap it in your microwave for about 30 seconds. Skip ahead to Step 6. If you'd like to make stuffing for this recipe, see the next step.
- Bread: I recommend cubing the bread and setting it out on a baking sheet, exposed to air, overnight. Or slice bread cubes from a stale or day old loaf of French bread or a baguette. Tips – Do not use sandwich bread; it's way too soft and will disintegrate. I've never tried making this recipe with store bought dried bread cubes (the small and very hard bread that's like croutons).
- Saute: To a large skillet, add the butter, onions, celery, and saute over medium-high heat to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, thyme, sage, and saute for 1 minute. Stir continuously.
- Combine: Place the stale bread cubes into the skillet, evenly drizzle the broth, sprinkle the Parmesan, parsley, and mix with a wooden spoon to evenly coat the bread. Set aside momentarily.
- Chicken: Slice each chicken breast lengthwise about 3/4 of the way around, creating a pocket. Tips – Go down into the chicken to create a pocket but make sure not to accidentally slice through it! Slice it like you are butterflying it but don’t go quite as deep. You still want to be able to fold over the other half to hold the stuffing in.
- Stuff: If you followed the stuffing recipe here, you'll divide it between each of the four chicken breasts. If you're using boxed stuffing or leftover stuffing, use a generous amount without overstuffing. Stuffing the Chicken Tips – Because the sizes of all pieces of chicken vary, the depth and size of the pockets vary, the fluffiness or denseness of the stuffing itself, it's hard to give an exact and precise amount. I'd say use about 1/3 to 1/2 cup stuffing per chicken breast, but go by how it looks rather than a set amount. Stuff them full but not to the point of exaggerated overstuffing. If they get a little too full, you may pin the top edges together with toothpicks.
- Season: Place the stuffed chicken breasts in the prepared baking dish and evenly drizzle with olive oil and then season with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Bake: Bake covered with aluminum foil for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for about 12-15 minutes, or as necessary, so that the internal temp of the chicken is 165F. Tip – Do not guess! Make sure to take the temperature since these are big, thick pieces of chicken. If it takes more time to cook them through, bake as long as is needed.
- Broil, optional: If desired for extra crispy stuffing, you may broil the chicken for 1-3 minutes, taking care not to burn it. Keep a careful eye on it since broilers can burn food in under 1 minute.
- Garnish: Optionally garnish with fresh herbs including parsley, thyme, sage, etc.
- Serve: Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving. Optionally, if you have gravy these are great with gravy. See the Notes section below for my easy gravy recipe.
Notes
Stuffing: You can use any type of stuffing for this recipe including homemade traditional, stovetop stuffing, slow cooker sausage stuffing, cornbread stuffing, boxed stuffing (like Stove Top stuffing mix), or leftover stuffing you have to use up. I’ve got other Thanksgiving Leftovers ideas too!
Gravy: If you’d like to serve this with gravy and have leftover gravy, that’s great. Store bought gravy works or make my 5-Minute Chicken Broth Gravy, no turkey drippings required.
Storage: Chicken will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2-3 months, noting the texture of the stuffing will change during the freezing and thawing. Reheat gently in the microwave as needed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 584cal, Carbohydrates: 68g, Protein: 40g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 93mg, Sodium: 1658mg, Potassium: 702mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 7g, Vitamin A: 515IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 164mg, Iron: 6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This is an excellent recipe!! Quick and easy to get in the oven and sooo delicious! It’s in our family meal rotation almost every week. This is a meal I grew up with, but always struggle with the cooking time and getting the seasoning right when I just wing it. The seasoning is way more than I would normally sprinkle on top of chicken. I am really glad I followed your recipe, because it is perfection. We use a little less salt and substitute Justice blend from Penzeys for the garlic. We have not tried your stuffing yet, so far just low sodium Stove Top. Thanks for sharing this gem!!
Thanks for letting me know that this is a recipe that you grew up with and that my version turned out perfectly for you! I love hearing that! And I’m glad to hear that a box of stove top did the trick as well, that’s great!
Recipe needs to be updated. The seasoning for the chicken state garlic powder 3 times.
Thanks for the catch. Updated and fixed. Not sure what happened there but I appreciate the heads up.