Recipe Favorites: Chicken Stuffed with Green Chiles and Cheese

(Updated 12-07 I should have made this a recipe favorite a long time ago, since it's the absolutely favorite recipe on my blog for my neighbors Brooke and Russ. I'm very fond of it as well, and if you like Mexican food this chicken stuffed with green Anaheim chiles and cheese will probably become one of your favorites too.)

This chicken stuffed with a mixture of cheese, sour cream and green chiles is absolutely wonderful tasting. When I first made this recipe, a lot of cheese oozed out into the pan when it was cooking. Admittedly, that crispy, baked cheese tastes great, but in this version of the recipe I cut down on the amount of cheese a tiny bit and lowered the heat recommendation by 25 degrees. The only thing the least bit tricky about making this is rolling up the chicken with the filling inside. Be sure to pound the chicken breasts as thinly as you can; that will make them easier to roll. They should look something like this when you put them in the pan.

You might want to double the recipe and make eight chicken breasts. since this is something you could cook and then freeze the extras for times when you need something quick for dinner. If you do that, I recommend thawing them in the refrigerator all day rather than thawing in the microwave. I would reheat this wrapped in foil, in the oven or toaster oven. If you're only making four, freeze the extra green chiles for another time.


Chicken Stuffed with Green Chiles and Cheese
(4 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

Ingredients:
4 large boneless-skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar/jack cheese
(I used Kirkland four cheese blend from Costco which is relatively low fat.)
half of a 4 oz. can diced green Anaheim chiles with juice (or more, to taste, note these chiles are not jalapenos)
1/4 cup light sour cream (not fat free)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 cup 100% whole wheat bread crumbs, finely crushed

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a medium sized flat baking dish with nonstick spray. Pound chicken breasts until they are very thin, about 1/4 inch (see below if you're not sure how to do this).

In a bowl with a fork, mash together cheese, chiles with juice, and sour cream until barely combined.

Spread 1/4 of the cheese mixture over each chicken breast, avoiding the very edges. Roll up the chicken, starting with smallest end, and secure each chicken breast with 2 toothpicks. Combine Parmesan cheese and whole wheat bread crumbs on a plate. Roll each chicken breast in cheese/crumbs combination.

Place chicken in baking dish and bake about 30 minutes, until the chicken is firm, but not hard, to the touch. I cook this in my toaster oven, and I like to switch to the broiler for 3-5 minutes to brown the top once the chicken is done.

To pound chicken breasts: Trim fat and tendons from chicken and place one breast at a time inside a small heavy-duty Ziploc bag. Hit with meat mallet or any heavy object you have on hand until chicken is about 1/4 inch in thickness. Don't worry if some pieces of chicken kind of break apart; you can tuck them in when you cook the chicken and it will be fine.

Here is the original recipe if you're interested in seeing it. If you like this recipe, you might also like Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Basil, and Goat Cheese

Printer Friendly Recipe

South Beach Suggestions:
This would be phase two for South Beach, due to the bread crumbs, but you could replace those with more Parmesan cheese if you wanted to make this for phase one. I would serve this with a low-fat veggie option, like Georgette's Greek Zucchini or Roasted Broccoli with Garlic. For phase two or three add something like Lake Powell Spicy Rice.