Spinach Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Almond & Quinoa

This gluten free healthy spinach cheese stuffed chicken with almond and quinoa makes a delicious, easy family friendly dish. Requiring minimal preparation this dish is ready to eat in less than 45 minutes.

Today I am sharing a recipe for easy, healthy spinach cheese stuffed chicken breast.

There are endless ways of making stuffed chicken breast recipes.  Chicken is extremely versatile and tastes delicious with a huge range of ingredients.  One of them is spinach.  It’s healthy, delicious and super quick to prepare, perfect for a fuss-free, family friendly meal.

The stuffing also includes ground almonds, which not only add a lovely, nutty flavour but also bind the stuffing mixture, making it light and fluffy.  The almond flakes sprinkled on top add a pleasant, nutty crunch to the entire dish.

How to stuff chicken breast

In addition to being delicious and appealing to both adults and children alike, family friendly meals should be easy to make.  This dish is!

First of all, I used a really simple method to prepare the chicken.  Instead of using the traditional method of cutting the meat from the side I cut it from the top, which is easier to do so there is less chance of getting it wrong.  You only need to remember to slice 2/3 of the way down.  Then simply fill each piece with a generous amount of the stuffing and the dish is ready to go in the oven.  It’s really that easy!

Easy spinach cheese stuffed chicken traybake

In addition to the chicken, this easy traybake recipe includes quinoa and on-the-vine tomatoes.  For me traybakes are some of the best, fuss free family meal ideas.  And if you choose your ingredients carefully they can be not only delicious but also healthy and gorgeous looking!

Not to mention there’ll be less washing up to do!

How to make spinach cheese stuffed chicken with almond and quinoa

Start by preheating the oven and spreading the quinoa over a large baking sheet or shallow casserole dish.  Cut each chicken breast through the middle 2/3 of the way down and place on top of the quinoa.  Make the stuffing by briefly heating up the spinach until it wilts and pureeing it with the other stuffing ingredients.  Spoon generous amounts of the stuffing into each chicken breast, place the tomatoes around the chicken, scatter over the almond flakes, drizzle a little oil and bake for 30 minutes!

The top of the quinoa gets lightly toasted around the edges while the middle remains moist and fluffy thanks to the juices from the meat and the oil drizzled generously over the dish.  The tangy sweetness of the juicy tomatoes adds zest and colour to this dish and really brings all the flavours together.  This recipe wouldn’t be the same without them!

This spinach cheese stuffed chicken breast recipe is full of healthy, lean protein, veggie goodness as well as bright, gorgeous colour! It’s also gluten free so more people can enjoy it.

If you like this recipe try also my easy 6-ingredient Mushroom Crusted Chicken Recipe as well as Cauliflower Crusted Chicken.

BRITISH POULTRY & RED TRACTOR RECIPE CHALLENGE

I am entering this spinach stuffed chicken breast recipe in the annual British Poultry & Red Tractor Recipe Challenge to develop a family friendly recipe using British poultry plus a minimum of 3 non-meat Red Tractor ingredients.  In addition to Red Tractor approved chicken breasts I also used fresh spinach, on-the-vine Piccolo Tomatoes and Hillfarm extra virgin cold pressed rapeseed oil. (See photo below)

If you live in the UK you can find the Red Tractor sign on a wide range of seasonal British ingredients across all supermarkets.  The Red Tractor sign shows that the ingredient has been produced to responsible standards and is traceable back to independently inspected assured farms in the UK.

For more information on Red Tractor, Red Tractor approved products and where to find them go to the official Red Tractor website.

#RedTractorPoultryChallenge

You may also like this Cauliflower Bulgur Wheat Casserole with Honey Chicken and Peaches.  It won the Red Tractor Challenge last year.

Check out also this collection of 13 healthy, easy one pot chicken recipes!

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Spinach Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Almond & Quinoa

This gluten free Spinach Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Almond & Quinoa makes a delicious, easy family friendly dish. Requiring minimal preparation this stunning dish is ready to eat in less than 45 minutes.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Dinner, Easy Meal

Cuisine: International

Keyword: quinoa, spinach, stufffed chicken

Servings: 6 people

Author: Monika Dabrowski

Ingredients

• 6 small chicken breasts, skinless or 3 large, halved
• 3 cups cooked quinoa
• 200 g fresh spinach
• 6 tbsp ground almonds
• 3 tbsp almond flakes
• 250 g on the vine tomatoes/cherry tomatoes
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 5 tbsp rapeseed oil, or another good quality oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 F/ 190 C/ gas mark 5.  Place the quinoa on top of a large non-stick baking tray or shallow casserole dish, spreading evenly, without pressing down. Season lightly and set aside.
• Cut the top of each chicken breast through the middle slicing 2/3 of the way down. Place the chicken on top of the quinoa.  Season each piece and set aside.
• Heat up a non-stick pan and fry the spinach for 1 minute or until it wilts (do not cook it). The spinach will release a small amount of water. Transfer both into a blender, add the butter, cream cheese and garlic, season to taste and blitz for a few seconds.  Stir in the ground almonds.
• Spoon a generous amount of the mixture into each chicken piece. Don't worry if the mixture is a little runny, it will set as it cooks. Any leftover mixture can be drizzled over the quinoa.
• Scatter the tomatoes over the quinoa in between the chicken, then sprinkle the almond flakes and drizzle the oil over the whole thing.  Bake on the middle oven shelf for 30 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and serve.

Notes

Quinoa can be cooked ahead and, once cooled, refrigerated (for up to 2-3 days) until you are ready to make the recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 0g | Carbohydrates: 0g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 0mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 0g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg

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RECIPE LINK PARTIES

I am sharing this healthy spinach and cheese stuffed chicken recipe with #CookBlogShare.  Our guest host this week is Glutarama.  Also sharing with G2BGF, hosted by Gluten Free Alchemist.