Do you ever have one of those new recipes that’s easy and a huge hit in your house?? What a feeling, right?! You feel like you just conquered a demon. Well, for me it came a week or so ago. We got our half beef for the year back in August and then later picked up our dried beef! T has been on a kick to use the dried beef in ways other than sandwiches (just bread, butter, and dried beef for me) or dried beef gravy (chipped beef gravy) over mashed potatoes. I haven’t been quite so determined, but he has been so I decided to appease him.
I decided that I was going to use it to make some sort of stuffed chicken breast. The dried beef has such a strong salty flavor that I was convinced it would liven up chicken. However, now I had a second challenge. T is not really a fan of boneless, skinless chicken breasts because he says they get too dry and don’t have any flavor. (Me on the hand could eat them every meal.) I also wanted to keep the recipe simple and easy to make because that’s how I roll in my busy life. It’s got to be easy or it will only happen once! Here’s what I came up with!
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed.
- 1/2 container of vegetable cream cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded mozarella
- dried beef, chopped
- 1 package Extra Crispy Shake & Bake
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- Begin by cutting your chicken breasts in half to make a nice “pocket”. I created a flap so to speak with mine.
- In a small bowl soften the cream cheese and stir in the cheese & chopped dried beef.
- Using your hands, split the cream cheese mixture into three even amounts and “stuff” your chicken breast “pocket”.
- Open the Shake & Bake packet into a dish and bread your chicken, careful to not let your stuffing come out.
- Spread the olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish and place breaded chicken breasts in dish. Cook 20-30 minutes or until chicken is done (Bake according to the Shake & Bake directions)
Cooks Notes
You’ll notice right away that I didn’t put a quantity of chopped dried beef into the recipe because it’s completely up to you! The first time I made this, T thought it had too much dried beef in it (and I had loaded it up pretty well), so we tone it down a bit now. I also opted to cut a “flap” of chicken (as you can see in the photos) instead of a true pocket. My goal was to make it easier as well as cook more thoroughly and evenly. I found the Shake & Bake to keep the chicken extra juicy and added more flavor! Thankfully, once cooked and completely analyzed, T gave it rave reviews and told me I could make it again! WOOHOO!
This recipe has been a great find for us as I get to eat more chicken and T is happy because we’re “getting rid of the dried beef”! Give it a try and let me know what you think!
And the meatballs?
Patience! I only have so many hours in the day!
They were just SO GOOD! I want to make them.
Lol! You’ll get the recipe!
That looks amazing and I love the dried beef/chicken combo. I have a recipe from years ago that uses this combo and I had forgotten about it. Using chicken breasts and the shake and bake makes this recipe perfect. Definitely going to be trying this one. Thanks!
Thank you! My website had put this comment in my spam folder! :-O Good thing I think to look through there every so often! I hope you and Mr. Diamond like it!!
This looks fantastic and really easy to make!
Thank you!