Smothered Chicken with Creamed Spinach, Bacon, Mushrooms - a delicious way to cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts! Your chicken is guaranteed to be moist and tender.
Comfort food and healthy ingredients all in one dish! This smothered chicken recipe is gluten free, low carb, packed with protein and vegetables.
If you love stuffed chicken breasts, you'll love this easier "smothered" version of the stuffed chicken. The assembly is really easy: just put the creamed spinach, bacon, mushrooms and Pepper Jack cheese on top of seasoned chicken breasts and bake everything uncovered to perfection. This chicken dinner recipe is anything but boring!
How to make smothered chicken:
Generously season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, lemon pepper seasoning and a small amount of paprika. 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, covered, until the spinach is thoroughly heated through and start 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 minute. Season with salt to your taste. Remove from heat.
In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add sliced mushrooms and cook on high-medium heat for 1-2 minutes until mushroom caramelize. Do not salt mushrooms or it will prevent the caramelization.
Remove the chicken breasts from the oven (you baked them for 15-20 minutes). Top (or smother) each chicken breast with the creamed spinach:
Continue smothering the chicken with cooked and chopped bacon on top of chicken (make sure to cook the bacon in advance - I cooked it in the oven):
Add cooked mushrooms on top:
Add broken slices of pepper jack cheese (Monterey Jack cheese with Jalapenos):
Bake the chicken in the oven, uncovered for 15-20 more minutes, until chicken is cooked through, no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear. Broil for the last 2-4 minutes, if desired, being careful not to burn the cheese on top.
Smothered Chicken with Creamed Spinach, Bacon, Mushrooms
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1.5 lb chicken breast skinless, boneless (4 small chicken breast or 2 large chicken breast, halved)
- salt
- ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
Creamed spinach:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 10 oz spinach fresh
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ⅔ cup half and half
- ⅔ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Other Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 oz mushrooms sliced
- 4 slices bacon cooked, chopped
- 4 slices Pepper Jack cheese or Monterey Jack Cheese with Jalapenos
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Butter the bottom of the baking dish (I used an oval casserole dish measured 13 inches x 9 inches x 4 inches deep).
- Generously season chicken breasts on both sides with salt, lemon pepper seasoning and a small amount of paprika. Place the chicken breasts, flat side down, into the greased baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 F.
How to make creamed spinach:
- In the mean time, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add spinach and cook for only 1 or 2 minutes, covered, until the spinach is thoroughly heated through and start 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 minute. Season with salt to your taste. Remove from heat.
Cook mushrooms:
- In a separate pan, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add sliced mushrooms and cook on high-medium heat for 1-2 minutes until mushroom caramelize. Do not salt mushrooms or it will prevent the caramelization.
Smothered chicken assembly:
- Remove the chicken breasts from the oven (you baked them for 15-20 minutes). Top each chicken breast with the creamed spinach, chopped cooked bacon, cooked mushrooms and broken slices of pepper jack cheese. Bake in the oven, uncovered for 15-20 more minutes, until chicken is cooked through, no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear. Broil for the last 2-4 minutes, if desired, being careful not to burn the cheese on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
When making the creamed spinach what is the half and half we have to add
Hi Trish, half-and-half is pretty much half milk, half heavy cream.
If you are having guests and cocktails first, Can this be assembled ahead of time and finished off, just before being ready to serve?
Hi Kathy, I would pre-prepare some ingredients (such as creamed spinach, cook bacon, cook mushrooms, etc.). Keep the chicken breasts refrigerated (in the original store packaging) until ready to cook. Then, assemble everything in a casserole dish and bake.
the flavors are a wonderful blend and the dish tasted great. I am keeping the recipe for the ingredients and the option I have of adding more sauteed finely chopped vegetables, such as carrots and bell pepper. One adjustment I made was to simplify he steps. The negative is that there are too many steps to this recipe. An additional problem is adding cheese to hot milk, even when removing it from heat it still curdled. I threw it out and made a basiic white sauce instead, let the milk cool for 5 minutes then added cheese and all other ingredients There was excess liquid on the bottom of the finished dish. I solved that problem by substituting the thickened white sauce. Perhaps adding some GF flour or cornstarch to the recipe would take care of that.
Sorry to hear that the cheese curdled and thank you for sharing your fix for that.
Oh my gosh … just made this tonight for my husband and I…followed the recipe exactly, it was truly a Restaurant Quality meal!! I cannot wait to make it again!! Your directions were easy to follow!!
Thank you for such a WONDERFUL recipe!!!❤️
Kay, you are very welcome! Thank you for such a great review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
Excellent dish!! I will certainly make again, and easy to do for a dinner party. I substituted kale (from my garden) for the spinach and added sliced onions to the mushrooms part. I do agree with previous comments that having the components done ahead of time is key to putting everything together at the end. I served with over a yellow rice.
Thank you, Kelly, for your wonderful review! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it with kale instead of spinach and love that you served it with yellow rice!
BEST EVER!! I promise this dish will NOT disappoint you or family!!
It is very tender, moist and SO VERY YUMMY-O ❣❣❣❣
Thank you, Carla, for your review! 🙂
Recipe is fabulous. The chicken is very tender and the topping is delicious. I would advise having everything ready before begining the cooking to make it easier.
Thank you for such a positive review, Marilyn! 🙂
This is a fantastic chicken dish, and the creamy spinach is to die for and this is definitely going on my Pinterest favorites board!!
I will definitely be making this again and again!!
Thank you, Debbie, for taking the time to share your rave review on my website - it means so much to me! 🙂
Not only is it packed with protein and vegetables, it is packed with flavor. Absolutely delicious.
Love it so much I want to make extra and freeze it. Have you tried to freeze it?
Kim, I am so glad you enjoy this recipe! 🙂 This should be fine to freeze even though I personally am not a fan of freezing anything creamy but in this recipe, it should work fine since there are so many veggies in the mix.
I want to sincerely thank you for sharing these recipes. I am a cancer survivor and have lost most of my esophagus and stomach. My diet is limited. No red meat or anything too dense. Chicken is tolerable. I have tried a few of your dishes and I am so grateful. Thank you!
Barry, I am so glad you find my recipes helpful! I am so sorry to hear about your health issues, glad you survived cancer, and I am wishing you the very best!
It was easy to make, and the dish was fantastic. It surprised our dinner guest.
Annette, I am so glad this recipe was a hit with your guest! ❤️ Thank you for your review and the 5-star rating! ❤️
I served this to 15 people for my Chanukah party. Everyone loved it. It was an economical delicious dish to serve to a large group. I’ll have to try your recipes for next year’s holiday celebration.
Roni, thank you for trying this recipe - so glad everyone at your party loved it! ❤️ I hope you like my other recipes as much as this one. 🙂
Made this last night! It was fantastic. Hubby said it was a keeper. Served it with yellow rice and stuffing. Yummy!
Diane, I am so glad you both enjoyed it! ❤️