Cheesy Spinach Stuffed Chicken
with Lemony Rice & Garlicky Zucchini
- Milk
Sautéed spinach is combined with cream cheese, melty mozzarella, and Italian seasonings, then stuffed inside a tender chicken cutlet. You'll sear it to a golden brown, finish it in the oven, then set it over zesty rice with a buttery lemon-mustard pan sauce. Serve with a side of garlicky zucchini and a final squeeze of lemon juice.
Ingredients
1 unit
Zucchini
¾ cup
White Rice
2 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
2.5 ounce
Spinach
1 unit
Lemon
½ cup
Mozzarella Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 clove
Garlic
1 tablespoon
Italian Seasoning
12 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
2 teaspoon
Dijon Mustard
Not included in your delivery
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Cooking Oil
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
-
Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry produce.
-
In a small pot, combine rice, 1¼ cups water (2¼ cups for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender, 15-20 minutes.
-
Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
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While rice cooks, trim and halve zucchini lengthwise; slice crosswise into ¼-inch-thick half-moons. Peel and mince garlic. Zest and quarter lemon.
-
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over high heat. Add spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.
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Heat another drizzle of oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until zucchini is browned and tender, 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. (Reserve pan.)
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To bowl with spinach, add cream cheese, mozzarella, half the Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir until well combined.
-
Pat chicken* dry with paper towels. Holding your knife parallel to the cutting board, carefully cut a horizontal slit into the center of each cutlet, leaving 1 inch intact on the opposite side (be careful not to cut all the way through!). Open up each cutlet like a book; divide spinach and cheese filling between cutlets, then fold closed. Season outside of chicken with remaining Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper.
-
Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for veggies over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden, 2-3 minutes per side.
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Transfer chicken to a baking sheet. Bake on middle rack until chicken is cooked through, 10-12 minutes.
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Melt 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in pan used for chicken over medium heat. Add stock concentrate, mustard, ¼ cup water (½ cup for 4), and juice from half the lemon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened, 2-3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
-
Add lemon zest to pot with rice; fluff with a fork.
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Divide rice, zucchini, and chicken between plates. Top chicken with pan sauce; serve with remaining lemon wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Feb 2026- Flavor: Many loved the creamy spinach and cheese stuffing, though some found the overall dish a bit bland.
- Ease of prep: Stuffing thin chicken cutlets proved challenging for most; consider folding instead of cutting pockets.
- Suggestions: Try adding extra herbs or garlic to boost flavor. Cook zucchini while chicken bakes to serve everything hot.
- Leftovers: A few mentioned this reheats well, with one even packing it for lunch the next day.
- Portions: Some felt the chicken pieces were too small or uneven for proper stuffing.
Reviews from our home cooks
We loved the rice, the zucchini and the chicken - all of it. The spinach stuffing was so much that it squirted out when baked in the oven, but was delicious.
This meal tasted great but the timing of when each item was done seemed off to me. The rice and zucchini were cold by the time the chicken was done. I may still be slow at some cooking steps so this could just be how I worked through the recipe though.
Moist and delicious. Since my chicken breast's were already thin, I couldn't cut them in half so I folded the pieces in half to keep the spinach stuffing inside which worked somewhat.
Every element was delicious-the chicken, the stuffing, the rice with lemon zest, the zucchini, the sauce.
The Italian Seasoning detracted from the zucchini. Plus it was hard to keep warm. It should be cooked while the chicken is in the oven even if you have to use another pan. Cold soggy zucchini is not appetizing even warmed up in the microwave. The chicken was dry. It doesn't need to be cooked that long, and the sauce was too thin and acidic. The Italian seasoning also detracted from the filling. These vegetables have naturally good flavor. This heavy Italian seasoning just took away from that. The rice also needed butter, salt, and pepper. In my opinion, this recipe needs revising.
Everyone loved this! We ended up cutting the chicken thin and then baking it with the spinach topping on top... We easily split it among five people!
Delicious & elegant, however, there was NO WAY the chicken could be sliced to be stuffed. It was WAY too thin. Instead I spread it out, put the filling on half and fold the other half over top. Turned out great.
This was delicious, but the cutlets sent were way too thin -- there was no way to slice them horizontally to make a pocket. I ended up trying to roll the chicken around the filling instead, but it came unrolled and made a bit of a mess. With a thicker piece of chicken, this would be amazing, as everything tasted great, it was just messy.
I liked the flavors but the chicken breasts were not uniform and hard to butterfly for the stuffing. The results weren't pretty, but they were tasty.
Very good. I topped my chicken rather than stuffing it as I get concerned about it cooking through.
