Smoky Broccoli Beer Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
This smoky broccoli beer cheese stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon gets an oozy surprise from the broccoli and spicy beer spread cheese stuffed inside it. This is quick and easy to make, yet don’t let that fool you. This is one flavorful gourmet, tasting dish!
Looking at this meal, it may surprise you that the chicken prep time was five minutes. The prep on the Easy Smoky Rice was less than that! The oven and the rice cooker did all the work. I first made this a few weeks ago, and we had it again last night. If you’re tight on time, this is the perfect four-ingredient recipe for a busy weeknight that delivers a mouth-watering taste in every bite.
Cooking and making dinner are two very different things in my brain. ; ) I’ve compared it to a race car driver driving to work. One is your passion, where you have a skill you’re building upon, and the other, sometimes, you need to get dinner on the table after a long day.
Yet I’ve learned that making dinner can produce as delicious a meal as cooking from scratch all day. It’s all in the ingredients. Quality comes first, and for us, fewer additives and chemicals is an important part of the equation. Instead of my freezer being full of frozen meals, it’s full of various cuts of meat and vegetables. The night before, we decide what type of protein we want and put it in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. The next day we pull a few ingredients together, and there you have it, a homemade meal in nearly the same time it takes to prepare a premade frozen meal.
Smoky Broccoli and Beer Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 2 8 ounce chicken breasts skinless - boneless
- 4 tbsp spicy beer cheese spread heaping
- ¾ cup frozen broccoli florettes roughly chopped
- 6 slices bacon Smoky with a medium thickness. Both Landes and Neuske's brand smoked bacon are ideal.
- 4 toothpicks
Rub
- 1 tbs[ smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper freshly ground
- 1 tbs[ maple sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Line a quarter sheet pan with aluminum foil.
- Cup the chicken breast with your hand to plump it up. (goal is a ball versus a flat piece). With a sharp knife, slice vertically through the breast from top to bottom, ensuring not to slice through the bottom of the meat. Open it up a bit, then make another slice, running the knife horizontally to the counter from the top to the bottom of the breast, being careful not to slice the outside of the meat. You should have a cavity of the left side. Repeat on the right side.
- Now you can plump it up and open it like a rubber coin purse (lol, remember those!) You should have a round cavity to fill. Divide the chopped broccoli evenly and stuff it into the two cavities. Top with the heaping tablespoons of the spicy beer cheese spread, pressing it into the broccoli
- Gently form the stuffed meat into a football shape, pressing the two sides together so they meet on the top. Place a toothpick through each side to hold them together. Slide a second toothpick overlapping the first pick to form an "X" pattern. The "X" pattern helps keep the two sides from pulling apart. Repeat with the second stuffed chicken breast.
- Starting from the underside, wrap a piece of bacon around the top. Tuck the end under the breast. Repeat with the remaining two slices covering the entire breast. Try to tuck the ends around the top and bottom of the breast so all the meat is covered. Repeat with the second stuffed breast.
- Generously sprinkle the rub on top of the bacon pieces. You want the smoked paprika to cover the bacon slices completely. This will add to the smokiness and give it a beautiful deep color.
- Bake a 375 for 25 minutes or until bacon is crisp and a thermometer reads 165 °F when inserted into the meat portion of the stuffed breast.
- Remove and let rest for five minutes. Serve warm as is or on top of a bed of rice.
Kitchen Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
De Froid Tip: Layer Up!
Days can be busy. Yet there are simple things you can do to make a weeknight meal feel special. Layering is one of those tricks. Take a plate and set it on top of a cutting board. Layer a white rice-filled bowl on top of a black dinner plate. Let your creativity flow as you open your cabinet and pull together a duo that will add interest and texture to the table while you purposefully set the mood of quietly celebrating your time together.
Welcome to Foodie de Froid!
If you love real food, take pleasure in eating, and strive for mouth-watering flavor, you have come to the right place. Here the star of the show IS the food, presenting it in a way that makes it shine.
Tasting Experiences
We feature many appetizers and individual-sized recipes as a purposeful way to experience and share food.
Our mouth reacts to flavors in a transitional way. That first taste creates an exciting experience with the food’s intense flavors, textures, and visual appeal. Yet after the first few bites, our mouths and minds adjust, and that experience deadens.
Thus, the tasting experience! We served 14 consecutive courses at my last tasting party. Each was purposely selected to bring new flavors, textures, and presentations, creating surprises and wow moments throughout the night.
The Recipes
The recipes are documented with ingredients we love. Yet my greatest hope is to have you understand why the recipes work and eventually make them into your personal version using your favorite ingredients and presentations.