Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach & Bacon Chicken

By gilligan1963

This chicken dinner is perfect for a meal where you want to do the prep work ahead of time. Make the spinach mixture ahead and keep refrigerated until you are ready to bake the chicken.

Ingredients

• 4 small chicken breasts, or 2 large chicken breasts, halved
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Italian Dressing mix (half the packet)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained of oil, chopped into smaller bites
• 4 slices bacon, cooked
• 4 slices of pepper jack cheese (Monterey cheese with jalapenos)

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from juliasalbum.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Use 4 small chicken breasts or 2 large chicken breast, sliced horizontally in half.

Butter the bottom of the baking dish. Season chicken breasts from both sides with the Italian salad dressing mix. Place the chicken breasts, flat side down, into the greased baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 F.

In the mean time, make the creamed spinach. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add spinach and cook for only 1 or 2 minutes until it is heated through and starts to wilt. Remove from heat. Add minced garlic and half and half. Bring to boil. Add shredded mozzarella cheese and keep stirring, on high heat, until mozzarella cheese starts to melt – about 30 seconds. Reduce heat to simmer and keep stirring until you have a nice, smooth creamed spinach – about 30 seconds or 1 more minutes. The creamed spinach should be pretty thick in texture, not watery. If watery, bring to boil again and cook off extra liquid, constantly stirring. Season with salt. Remove from heat.

Remove the baking pan with chicken breasts from the oven (you baked them for 15-20 minutes). Top each chicken breast with creamed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil and chopped into smaller bites), chopped cooked bacon, and broken slices of pepper jack cheese. Bake in the oven, uncovered for 15-20 more minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through, no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear.

Your chicken dinner is ready to serve!