The first time I made this dish for Jay, I’m pretty sure he realized we were going to get married (*we do joke about this all the time). This was also the recipe I’d share with guy friends during college when they wanted to make dinner for a girl they wanted to impress. It’s that good.

I’m not sure where the original recipe came from, but I know that I’ve modified it over the years from something my mom gave me, via telephone, when I was maybe… a sophomore? in college. It hasn’t lead me wrong yet, although I don’t make it terribly often (I don’t want to spoil how awesome it is by making it too much, and it’s also not really that healthy). Oh, sorry. Did you think this was a healthy dinner? It’s not… not really. Too much butter, and there is the heavy whipping cream…

Are you intrigued yet? 

I’ve also modified this recipe to be gluten free, for Jay, but that just means swapping out the appropriate breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 tbsp organic butter, softened
1 lb baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped/minced
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

Step 2. Chop your mushrooms (I used my food processor, but you could also use a knife or slap-chop).

Step 3. Melt 4 tbsp (reserve the last 1 tbsp) of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and add the mushrooms.

You’ll notice that they release liquid as they cook—that’s good. We want to cook the mushrooms until they’ve released their water and also absorbed the butter/ the water has evaporated away. Stir occasionally.

Step 4. Once most of the liquid has disappeared from the mushrooms, add in the pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Stir to combine. Remove the mushroom mixture from heat and set aside.

Step 5. Trim the fat from your chicken breasts and slice in half (we want to keep their horizontal width the same, but reduce their thickness by half).

Step 7. Sandwich the chicken breasts between plastic wrap (or, in my husband’s case, a repurposed ziplock bag), and pound with a meat mallet (or similarly firm, sturdy object). You want the chicken to end up between ½’’ and ¼’’ thick.

Step 8. Now that the mushroom mixture has cooled slightly, stir in the breadcrumbs a little at a time, until the mushrooms clump together and have a slightly firm (but not dry) texture. You should have at least a couple of tbsp of breadcrumbs left over. Now it’s time to stuff the chicken breasts!

Step 9. Spoon (or grab) 1.5-2 rounded tbsp of the mushroom-breadcrump mixture, and place it on the rough (cut) side of a chicken breast. Roll the meat up around the filling, and make sure the “seam” ends up on the bottom. Place into a lightly greased baking tray. (Note: I like to actually do this rolling part in the pan I’m planning to use—a 9×13 pyrex dish should hold all 8 chicken breasts just fine.)

Step 10. Once all of the chicken breasts have been stuffed, sprinkle any remaining filling around them in the pan (you really don’t want this to go to waste).

Step 11. Melt the remaining 1 tbsp of butter in a small dish, and drizzle it over the tops of the chicken breast. Sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumbs.

Step 12. Pour the chicken stock (first) and then the heavy whipping cream in around the chicken. Throw the pan in the oven and roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove from the oven and be really, ridiculously excited.

Here’s what it looks like:

Step 13. Devour. The sauce made from the remaining filling, chicken stock, and heavy whipping cream is delicious after baking. Make sure you top your chicken with it when serving, or you’re doing yourself (and your guests) a disservice! Here’s Jay’s dinner plate (I was already eating mine…)

Enjoy! Please let me know if you try this out, and what you think!

Thanks for reading!

– Kaitlin