Wednesday Night Dinner: Jessica's Broccoli-Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Garlic Butter

One of the first chicken recipes I ever made was this allrecipes submission titled "Garlic Lemon Double Stuffed Chicken." Although that recipe is wonderful, I have decided to completely tear it apart and redo it... my own way. I forgot to take pictures of this one guys, so you're gonna have to trust me on this one. My rendition of the recipe is more like this Barber Foods broccoli cheese stuffed chicken on STEROIDS:

There are a few technical things I also changed: Like I don't pour the garlic butter on the chicken until it has already been baking for 20 minutes... in my experience, this makes the chicken a LOT crispier... not so soggy. This dish is amazing with honey dinner rolls and mashed potatoes... VERY decadent and great for company. I think it was one of Charles' favorite meals. I made 8, so there are plenty of leftovers. These heat up great in the microwave on high at 1 and a half minutes, or you can re-bake them at 270 degrees until warm again. Okay, so here we go.

Jessica's Broccoli-Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Garlic Butter

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Oil, for greasing pan

8 Boneless, skinless medium to large sized chicken breasts, excess fat trimmed off

1 8 oz. Block of cream cheese, room temperature

1 8 oz. Block of Vermont cheddar (I use Boars Head.. kinda pricy, but definitely worth it), grated by hand

 15 fresh small broccoli florets, cooked in the microwave according to bag instructions

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

1 cup butter

1 tbl minced garlic

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two large shallow baking dishes with oil.

2. Combine the cream cheese and cheddar. Remove the stems of the small broccoli florets and crumble. Add broccoli to the cheese mixture, evenly distributing the broccoli.

3. Working one at a time, sandwich the chicken breasts between a large piece of parchment paper. With a meat mallet, pound each breast to 3/4 inch thickness. Butterfly each breast by cutting in the center of the breast horizontally, but do not cut through completely.

4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of broccoli cheese mixture into the center of each butterflied breast. With your hands, press to seal the edges of the chicken breast. You shouldn't need to roll the breasts up or toothpick them. 

5. Whisk eggs and 1/2 cup milk together. Also mix the plain and seasoned breadcrumbs together. Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, and then in the crumb mixture. Cover each breast thoroughly, do not double dip chicken. Pat additional crumbs onto the top of each breast.  Arrange the chicken on the baking dishes, and put it in the oven.

6. While the chicken is in the oven, in a small saucepan, melt butter into the minced garlic. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice and pepper. Let simmer on Low for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

7. Drain the butter mixture of the garlic chunk, set garlic butter aside. When the chicken has been in the oven for 20 minutes, Drizzle garlic butter evenly over each breast. Let bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.