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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.
Made this tonight and it was amazing. Followed the recipe exactly.
MAKE THIS ! You will not be sorry!
this is amazing----ABSOLUTELY ---A MAKE AGAIN!
OMGoodness, Julia ... this is absolutely fabulous! i had neither lemon pepper nor bacon but it was still deeeelish and looked just like yours (without the bacon). thank you so very much! have a SPECTACULAR day!
Great recipe! To cut down on the dishes and layer some flavors I cooked the bacon in a large oven safe skillet, set aside, sauté the seasoned chicken in the bacon fat until nearly done, set aside with the bacon, cooked the mushrooms in the same skillet then added to the plate with the bacon and chicken, then cooked the creamed spinach...all in the same skillet. Then push the spinach aside to make space and layer and complete as directed. Delicious and only one pan to clean up!
Great tips! Thank you! 🙂
Made extra creamed spinach and mushroom for my vegetarian son and served it with rice like a casserole. No complaints here
Your vegetarian version of this dish sounds delicious! 🙂
I made this tonight and it was so very good! I didn't measure anything and it was perfect. Will for sure make this again. Great recipe!!! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Kathy, so much! I am glad you enjoyed it! This kind of recipe (when you layer everything on top of chicken) is the kind I love the most: you're absolutely right, there is really not even a need to measure, just a guidance of what to layer on top! 🙂
What on earth is
'half and half" ?
half and half (1/2 and 1/2)== half milk and half cream
Correct! You can approximate half & half by combing half milk half heavy cream.
Hi Julia,
Hard to find Monterey Jack cheese in Aus but will find a substitute ( hopefully with the jalapeños), but we don't use the term 1/2 and 1/2 - is that another type of cheese? Look forward to making this!
How many net carbs per serving?
I loved this! I found this recipe by doing a search for ingredients. I only had chicken tenders, so baked them about half the time. Had no fresh spinach, so had to use frozen... had no mushrooms (so sad) and only had heavy whipping cream and shredded pepper jack, but even with all of those substitutions, the dish was fabulous (and especially quick)! I can't wait to make it for the family as posted!
Made half quantity for 2. Easy to make and looks just like the pictures. Tastes delicious and is filling. Served with new potatoes and carrots. Will definitely be cooking this again!
Make this tonight and it was amazing; very tasty. I followed the recipe exactly, however, I did have a lot of watery liquid in the baking dish after cooking that I drained off as it did not look attractive. Any idea why this happened?
Delicious recipe. Didn't follow directions. Did it my own way. Yummy. It's almost impossible to screw up. Girlfriend freaked out and licked her plate. Highly recommend using young chicken thighs instead of breasts.
I couldn't agree more: it's hard to go wrong with this recipe. Just pile everything on top and bake until the chicken is cooked! Thank you for leaving your comment - I really appreciate it! 🙂
Out freaking standing! I used Swiss instead of pepper jack. It was awesome
Thank you, Jim, I am glad the recipe was a success for you! Swiss cheese sounds delicious!