Seriously! This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to make super delicious and flavorful chicken breasts. By making slits in the chicken breasts (Hasselback) and stuffing them with tasty things like spinach and goat cheese, you’ll get a hit of savory cheesy goodness in every bite!
Spinach + Creamy Goat Cheese Hasselback Chicken- I ♥ you! You are my new favorite way to cook chicken.
Recently a video popped up on social media showing how to make hasselback chicken and I thought..wowza! that looks amazing and so easy I HAVE to try it out! and guess what? wowza! it was so EASY and I loved that you get a bit of all the “good stuff” (spinach + goat cheese) in every bite.
If you havent heard of “Hasselback” before it’s a technique originally developed at a restaurant in Sweden (called Restaurant Hasselbacken ( or so the story goes) where they made small slits in a potato (kind of like an accordion) and stuffed them with bacon and cheese. The results, crispy potato outside, soft potato inside and goodness (bacon and cheese) in every bite. These days you’ll see lots of things that have been cut “Hasselback” like apples, sweet potatoes and now chicken.
How to Make Hasselback Chicken:
Here’s how easy Spinach + Creamy Goat Cheese Hasselback chicken really is:
1.Start off by cooking the fresh spinach until it becomes slightly wilted (about 3-5 min) adding the goat cheese and a pinch of red pepper flakes if you want a bit of heat (totally optional) and cooking until the goat cheese melts (about 1 min)
2. Cut slits (about 1/2 inch apart) across the chicken breast, about 3/4 of the way through the breast(careful not to cut all the way through).
3. Stuff each slit with the spinach and goat cheese mixture.
4. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.
5. Add a little mozzarella cheese (or cheddar) and pop them in the oven for about 25 minutes. That’s it!
I switched my oven from bake to broil for the last 10 min. of cooking so the cheese would get extra bubbly and browned.
See…a bit of spinach and goat cheese in EVERY bite. My mind is going crazy with all the different things I can stuff into the next batch of Hasselback chicken! how about:
Apple, ham and cheddar
Bacon & Blue cheese
Wild rice and mushrooms
So many options! What will you stuff your Hasselback chicken with? (because I know once you try this you’re going to be hooked too!)
Roasted red pepper and Feta- UPDATE I made this version and smothered it with Spinach and Mushrooms! Get the recipe here
Looking for more easy chicken recipes? here’s a few to try:
- Skinny Orange Sesame Chicken
- Sheet-pan Chicken Fajitas
- 5 ingredient Skillet Pesto Chicken
- 15 min. Honey Paprika Chicken
- Healthy Chicken Ramen Bowl
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- ½ cup crumbled goat cheese (or feta)
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless (aprrox. 1.5 lbs.)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp paprika
- ⅓ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (or cheddar)
- Preheat oven to350 F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining with foil, set aside.
- In a large skillet add a splash of olive oil,cook spinach over medium until slightly wilted (approx. 3-5 min). Add crumbled goat cheese and continue to cook until cheese is melted (about 1 min).Stir in red pepper flakes (if using) Set aside.
- Place chicken breasts on prepared baking sheet. Using a sharp knife cut slits across the chicken breast about ¾ of the way through chicken breast (careful not to cut all the way through) about ½-3/4 inch apart (approx. 6-8 slits per chicken breast). Stuff each slit with spinach/goat cheese mixture.
- Generously salt and pepper top of chicken breast and season with paprika. Sprinkle ¼ of the mozzarella cheese among each chicken breast.
- Place chicken breasts in the oven and bake for 20-25 min. If desired switch oven from bake to broil for the last 10 min. of cooking (for more bubbly and browned cheese)
Hattie
What did you do for side items? Pasta? Veggies?
Susan
Hi Hattie…my personal fav sides to serve with this Hasselback chicken are a big green salad and some crusty french bread, but I think you could serve with lots of different things like, baby red potatoes, rice pilaf, spinach salad, sliced fresh tomatoes, green beans, you could even add some or your favorite veggies to the sheet pan while cooking and have a complete dinner (zucchini, broccoli, red peppers, sweet potatoes,cauliflower…whatever you like that takes approx. 20-25 minutes to roast would work) Hope that helps 🙂
Stacey Cataldo
Love this dish! My 2nd time making it, this time I added sun dried tomato spread. So good!
Susan
Thanks Stacey! love the idea of sun dried tomato spread!
Amy L Vigorito
How many grams of sugar is in the recipe? I’m building it in Weight Watchers to see how many points
Susan
Hi Amy…I updated the recipe card to include the grams of sugar. Super low for this recipe at 0.6g/serving.
Sandy Eimen
I made this dish last night almost according to the directions. I did add about a tablespoon of minced garlic to the spinach as it was cooking. I also added a little Parmesan on top of the mozzarella and did the broiler a few minutes at the end, like suggested. It was OVER THE TOP DELICIOUS! We will have this again and again, plan to serve it to some guests arriving in a few weeks. Thanks for posting this wonderful recipe.