Gnarly Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

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On the menu tonight: The best chicken you’ve ever had!

In my 20s I was never a big fan of chicken. Not sure if I was cursed from the raw chicken sandwich I had from a local chicken joint, or if it was because I had it dried out on the grill too many times. Either way, CHICKEN is tasting better and better!  I’m sure it has all to do with Gnarly Pepper (wink!) but a combination of that, the new copper chef pan and smashing it up with a meat tenderizer… Chicken is back on my menu 10x more — and this is one of the best recipes I have ever had. 

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

For this recipe, we used the leftover Spinach Artichoke Gnarly Pepper Dip as a sauce for the pasta noodles. The noodles were for our ‘side’ — but you can save the leftovers, and make any side you wish.
Yield: 4
CHICKEN:
  • 4 boneless , skinless chicken breasts (2 pounds | 1 kg)
  • salt and pepper to season
SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP:
OPTIONAL CREAM SAUCE:
  • Remaining spinach / artichoke dip
  • 1 cup milk (skim, 2% or full fat)
  • Sundried tomatoes
Instructions
For The Chicken:
  1. Place each chicken breast on a flat surface. Season both sides of each breast with salt and course pepper. With your hand supporting each piece, cut a slit or pocket about 3/4 quarter of the way through, being careful not to cut all the way. Once all 4 are sliced, place them in a gallon zip lock bag, remove the air – place on sturdy cutting board and hammer them up with the meant tenderizer. *Be careful to not hammer too much in thinner areas — aim mostly for the thicker parts.
For The Dip Filling:
  1. Squeeze any and all excess liquid out of the spinach. It will look like 1/4th the amount! Discard the water released. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the spinach, plain greek yogurt, Gnarly Pepper Like Mayo, Gnarly Pepper Onion Dip Blend, artichokes, mozzarella, parmesan, mix well to combine.
  2. Fill chicken ‘pockets’ with 1-2 tablespoons of the spinach artichoke dip, spreading evenly with the back of the spoon (or use your fingertips to press it down). Reserve the leftover dip for the optional cream sauce for the bed of noddles (you should have exactly half left over), or see notes for other ideas!
  3. Seal with two or three toothpicks near the opening to keep the dip inside while cooking.
  4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet (we used the copper chef pan, OMG <3) over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and fry until golden. Rotate and fry on the other side, covering pan with a lid, until cooked through, (about 7-8 minutes per side). Once cooks through, remove access oil/chicken run off from skillet.
For The Cream Sauce:
  1. Keep the chicken in the skillet and toss in cooked noddles and leftover dip.
  2. Turn the temperature down to low.
  3. Add in sundried tomatoes to the mix.
  4. Add in a few dashes of milk to cream it up.  If it becomes too diluted, add in Gnarly Pepper Like Mayo to thicken it back up. Let simmer.
  5. Stir until sauce is combined and thickened.

NOTES:
*Don’t like artichokes? Replace them with an extra 8 oz frozen and thawed spinach.
The cream sauce is optional! If you’re not wanting to make it, HALVE the DIP ingredients in the ingredients list to ensure there is no leftover dip! If you’re wanting to save the reserved dip for later instead of using it in a cream sauce, simply refrigerate it up to 4 days OR freeze up to 3 months in a plastic container. When ready to use, mix 1/2 cup milk or cream through to thin the consistency and cook in pot over stove top!

Recipe revamp thanks to Cafe Delites.

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