HAM AND CHEESE STUFFED CHICKEN
This delicious Ham and Cheese Stuffed Chicken simply must make your post-holiday menu. It is a great way to use up leftover ham and it tastes like a gourmet meal! Perfectly seasoned chicken, butterflied and stuffed with diced ham, melty swiss cheese, and fresh chopped spinach!
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups cooked ham, diced
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 ½ cup Swiss cheese, grated and divided
Chicken
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoons paprika
Instructions
Filling
- Melt butter over medium heat in a saucepan.
- Add flour and salt; cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Pour in the warm milk in 2 batches, whisking constantly until smooth and boiling.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce starts to thicken.
- Add in spinach and cook for 1 minute, just until wilted.
- Add ham and 1 cup of Swiss cheese and stir well. Set aside.
Chicken
- Wash, dry, and butterfly chicken breasts. (To butterfly put your chicken breast on a chopping board and, with your hand flat on top of it, use a sharp knife to slice into one side of the breast, starting at the thicker end and ending at the thin point. Be careful not to cut all the way through to the other side.)
- Season chicken on both sides with garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of the filling into the center of the butterflied chicken.
- Close the chicken and secure with a toothpick.
- In a skillet, over medium heat, add oil and butter and cook until it starts to sizzle.
- Add chicken to skillet and cook 5-6 minutes on each side, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Top with remaining grated swiss cheese.