How to Stuff a Chicken Breast

Posted on August 24th, 2009 by Marck

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Chicken breast is an excellent ingredient that you can use for many light, hearty, yet healthful dishes. Stuffed chicken breasts are worth a lot of money in many high-end restaurants, but you can prepare the same recipes at home for a fraction of the cost. Here are some ways to prepare a stuffed chicken breast.

Preparation

Chicken breasts may be found in sanitary packages and already come prepared in the supermarket, or may come fresh from butcher’s shops and specialty stores. You need to clean and prepare chicken breasts safely to avoid contamination and infection from dangerous bacteria like salmonella. Make sure to work with clean plastic chopping boards, and disinfect your cutting and food preparation tools after use (see Kitchen cleaning tips).

It may also be helpful to remove the skin from the meat. Chicken skin contains many calories, fats, and other substances that may not be healthy for you, or dangerous for people who are watching their fat or calorie intake. Without skin, though, your chicken breast may end up dry. Make sure to have soup, stock, or gravy in your recipe to introduce moisture into the meat.

Pocket Stuffing

One way to prepare stuffed chicken breast is to create a pocket in the meat where you can place stuffing ingredients like bacon, cheese, or vegetables. Follow these steps to create a stuffing pocket on a chicken breast:

Using a sharp fillet knife, trace a shallow cut along the side of the chicken breast.
Continue the cut deep into the meatiest part of the chicken breast. Make sure that you’re creating a pocket deep enough to hold stuffing. Do not cut through the other sides of the meat, or else you’ll end up with a butterflied chicken steak.
Wash the inside of the chicken breast, and stuff it with the ingredients required in your recipe.

Roll Stuffing

Another way to prepare chicken breast for stuffing is to butterfly it, tenderize the meat, and create a roll. The method is perfect for such dishes like chicken cordon bleu. To prepare chicken breast for a roll, follow these steps:

Trace a shallow cut along three sides of the chicken breast using a fillet knife. The meatiest part of the chicken should act the “hinge” of your butterflied steak.
Cut the chicken and lay the fillet on a plastic chopping board.
Pound the fillet with a kitchen mallet until you get the desired thickness.
Stuff and roll the meat in the manner prescribed by your recipe.

Chicken breasts can be stuffed with just about any recipe you can find from cookbooks. With these steps, you can prepare the perfect chicken breast for hundreds of recipes, or experimental ones you can make yourself. If you enjoy learning from this article, you’ll surely be interested in reading how to truss a chicken