By Gina Grad
January 9, 2019
I’ve recently become obsessed with Hasselback-ing chicken. (And no it has nothing to do with football players or conservative women from The View).
When you Hasselback potatoes, you basically cut them accordion-style. But when you Hasselback chicken, you cut several slits into the chicken breast and fill the slits with various veggies, cheeses and other deliciousness.
I found inspiration for this particular recipe from THIS RECIPE - but, as always, changed a couple of things.
Changes:
- Instead of just stuffing the chicken with spinach and ricotta, I added sautéed onion, mushrooms, garlic and mini bell peppers. (Also I found I needed a lot more spinach. That stuff REALLY shrinks!)
- While sautéing the veggies, I added Italian seasoning and a bit of poultry seasoning.
- I cut up a small bunch of fresh Basel lengthwise and added it to every slit.
- I swapped out cheddar cheese for Parmesan for a bit more Italian flair.
- I sprinkled the top with smoked paprika instead of regular paprika because I just like it better!
Otherwise I stayed pretty close to the original directions BUT I ended up needing to cook the chicken a little longer than the suggested 20-25 minutes. Remember - poultry ALWAYS needs to have an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees!
Highlights:
- Sauté all the veggies
- Mix in ricotta until it’s all melt-y.
- Place chicken breast on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cut slits about 3/4 of the way down and about 1/2 inch apart.
- Stuff the mixture into each slit.
- Sprinkle cheese and paprika on top.
- Bake 20-35 minutes (depending on your oven) until the cheese is nice and golden and the chicken is 165 degrees at its meatiest part.
- Let cool for a few minutes and serve!
