Eat Your Feelings – Hasselback Chicken!

Eat Your Feelings – Hasselback Chicken!

By Gina Grad
January 9, 2019

I’ve recently become obsessed with Hasselback-ing chicken. (And no it has nothing to do with football players or conservative women from The View).

When you Hasselback potatoes, you basically cut them accordion-style. But when you Hasselback chicken, you cut several slits into the chicken breast and fill the slits with various veggies, cheeses and other deliciousness.

I found inspiration for this particular recipe from THIS RECIPE – but, as always, changed a couple of things.

Changes:

  • Instead of just stuffing the chicken with spinach and ricotta, I added sautéed onion, mushrooms, garlic and mini bell peppers. (Also I found I needed a lot more spinach. That stuff REALLY shrinks!) 
  • While sautéing the veggies, I added Italian seasoning and a bit of poultry seasoning. 
  • I cut up a small bunch of fresh Basel lengthwise and added it to every slit. 
  • I swapped out cheddar cheese for Parmesan for a bit more Italian flair. 
  • I sprinkled the top with smoked paprika instead of regular paprika because I just like it better! 

Otherwise I stayed pretty close to the original directions BUT I ended up needing to cook the chicken a little longer than the suggested 20-25 minutes. Remember – poultry ALWAYS needs to have an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees!

Highlights:

  • Sauté all the veggies
  • Mix in ricotta until it’s all melt-y. 
  • Place chicken breast on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cut slits about 3/4 of the way down and about 1/2 inch apart. 
  • Stuff the mixture into each slit. 
  • Sprinkle cheese and paprika on top. 
  • Bake 20-35 minutes (depending on your oven) until the cheese is nice and golden and the chicken is 165 degrees at its meatiest part. 
  • Let cool for a few minutes and serve!