Lasagna Hasselback Chicken
Say you want lasagna but you don’t want to eat something carb-heavy. Say you have some chicken breasts, but don’t want to resort to yet another basic (and maybe boring) chicken dinner. This recipe happens to solve both of those problems at once. Hasselback chicken is a great way to literally get flavor into a chicken breast and in this case, it borrows classic lasagna flavors with some spinach-cheese stuffing and zesty marinara sauce. (Oh, and guess what? It’s done in thirty minutes or less!)
“Hasselback” is a style of preparation where you’re slicing into something in order to stuff some tasty ingredients into it. In this case, it’s chicken breasts, and you want to make about five slits in each one. You can lay a wooden spoon handle next to the chicken as a guide while you cut to keep you from going all the way through – you want the chicken to stay attached at the bottom.
The chicken itself gets seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning and then a mixture of spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella gets stuffed into each crevice.
The whole thing gets coated with some marinara and a little more mozzarella and heads into the oven to bake…
… and when it comes out you have moist and juicy chicken where every bite is accompanied by soft and melty ricotta and earthy spinach.
It’s quick. It’s good. And it’s a great way to get some yummy and filling lasagna flavor without all the noodles.
Lasagna Hasselback Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup baby spinach
- 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated and divided
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 450°F and grease a baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Make horizontal slices across each chicken breast, stopping 1/4-inch from the bottom.
- Coat chicken breasts with some of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder. Rub into meat. Set aside.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add spinach and cook until wilted, 3-5 minutes. Remove spinach to a bowl and allow to cool a bit.
- Stir in ricotta and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, season with salt and pepper. Stuff mixture into slits in each chicken breast.
- Place chicken in prepared baking dish, spoon marinara over the top and top and bake for 15 minutes.
- Top with remaining mozzarella, return to oven, and cook until chicken is cooked through and cheese has melted, about 5 more minutes. Enjoy!
All the lasagna love without the noodles.