Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin, rolled up with herbed Boursin cheese spread and basil, coated in a Parmesan bread crumb crust, and baked.
Recently my father was inspired to make chicken breasts stuffed with Boursin cheese from a recipe he found online. If you are unfamiliar with Boursin cheese, it is essentially an all natural soft cow’s milk cheese dressed up with garlic and herbs.
You can easily make your own herbed cheese with cream cheese and herbs; using something like Boursin saves a step.
We are taking chicken breasts, pounding them thin, stuffing them with Boursin, and basil, and rolling them up tightly. Then coating them with breadcrumbs and Parmesan and baking!
Stuffed Herbed Chicken with Boursin Cheese Recipe
- Yield: Serves 2-4
We are using chicken breasts instead of already cut chicken cutlets for this recipe because when we pound the breasts thin, they will spread out sufficiently for us to roll them up.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, 1/2-pound each
- Fresh basil leaves (or other green – beet green, swiss chard, spinach), enough to cover each chicken breast
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped toasted walnuts
- 2.5 oz Boursin garlic and herb cheese (or 2.5 oz of herbed cream cheese recipe, see below), room temperature
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg, beaten well
- Salt
- Pepper
Herbed Cheese
- 2.5 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 teaspoons fresh parsley, minced
- 3 teaspoons fresh chives, minced
- A pinch of cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black peppercorns
- A pinch salt
Method
1 Pound the chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness: Preheat oven to 350°F. Put each chicken breast between two layers of plastic wrap, on a chopping board, and use a meat mallet to pound until 1/4-inch thick.
2 Blanch the basil: Dip each basil (or other bitter green) leaf in boiling water, drain and set aside.
3 Mix walnuts into Boursin or cheese mixture: If you are not starting with Boursin herbed cheese, make your own by mixing together the Herbed Cheese ingredients mentioned above. Mix the walnuts into the cheese mixture, set aside.
4 Layer chicken with cheese and basil, roll up: Lay the chicken breasts flat, season each side with salt and pepper. Spread the cheese-walnut mixture over each breast, covering the surface of the breasts. Layer on the basil leaves. Starting at the shortest end of the chicken breast, roll up as tightly as possible and tuck in the ends to form a neat roll. Secure each breast with 2 toothpicks.
5 Dredge in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs: Put flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs combined with the Parmesan cheese on to 3 separate flat dishes. Dredge each chicken breast roll first in the flour, then the egg, and finally the Parmesan bread crumbs. (Skip this step if you are going low carb and/or gluten-free.)
6 Bake: Transfer chicken breasts to a greased baking dish, seam side down. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes, depending on the size of the breast, until the internal temperature is 165°F, the juices run clear, and the chicken is slightly browned.
Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
