Apricot Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken
In this recipe amounts will vary depending on how much chicken you want to make.
Try not to get those massive factory farms chickens, if you do you may want to slice them in half before you do anything or they will not cook through.
Ingredients:
Chicken breasts
Small handful of Dried Apricots cut small
¼ cup to ½ cup Goat cheese (plain or savory flavored okay!)
2-3 Garlic cloves minced
Zest and Juice from 1 lemon
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Onion Powder
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400*
Wash and pat chicken dry with a paper towel
Salt and pepper chicken and set aside while you make the filling
Cut dried apricots into small pieces and peel and mince garlic
Mix zest and juice of lemon into goat cheese until goat cheese looks more whipped than crumbled
Add apricots and garlic into goat cheese until mixture is even
Slice a pocket into the top of the breasts using a long sharp knife
this can be tricky, be careful not to slice all the way through the other side or your filling will all fall through
be careful not to slice into your hand too!
Using your hands stuff as much of filling as you can into the pocket of the chicken
Meanwhile heat an oiled pan on medium high while stuffing chicken so it is hot hot hot
Put chicken into hot pan and sear just a minute or two on either side before removing from heat and putting into an oven safe baking dish
Once all chickens are in the pan dust one more layer of salt and pepper over bc at this point you have been rubbing the previous coat off a bit, adding the paprika and onion pow at this time as well. Just a nice even sift over of each, not too much.
Bake at 400* for 20 minutes, making sure to check that they are cooked through
With the filling this can be slightly more difficult so cutting the whole breast in half would make it less pretty but still taste good and show you visually exactly if it is done or not
You can use a meat thermometer but make sure you aren’t letting it sit in the filling or the reading will be off.