Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Bacon Chicken recipe - the chicken breasts are seasoned with dry Italian salad dressing mix, smothered with the creamed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and bacon, and baked to perfection! The best baked chicken ever!
If you want to know how to cook the best chicken breasts, this is the recipe for you! No more boring, dry chicken. A lot of people prefer to bake their chicken vs. frying it on the stove top, and in this recipe the chicken breasts are baked in the oven and are very juicy and moist and flavorful thanks to all the stuff on top!
This Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Bacon Smothered Chicken is one of the best chicken breast recipes I ever made! It's just like stuffed chicken, instead you put everything on top and bake!
How to make Sun-Dried Tomato Spinach Bacon Chicken:
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:
Then, top with sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil and chopped into smaller bites):
Next, top with chopped cooked bacon:
Next, top with the broken slices of pepper jack cheese.
Bake in the oven, uncovered for 15-20 more minutes, until the smothered chicken is completely cooked through, no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear:
These are really some of the best baked chicken breasts I ever made!
Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Bacon Chicken
Ingredients
Baked Chicken Breasts:
- 1.5 lb chicken (4 small chicken breasts or 2 large chicken breasts sliced horizontally in half)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 0.5 oz Italian Dressing mix packet (half the packet)
Creamed spinach:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 6 oz baby spinach fresh
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ⅔ cup half and half
- ⅔ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Other ingredients:
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes drained of oil, chopped into smaller bites
- 4 slices bacon cooked
- 4 slices Pepper Jack cheese or Monterey cheese with jalapenos
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- 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.
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 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.
Smothered Chicken Breasts:
- 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.
Video
Nutrition
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 dish tonight and it was delicious. Keeper for me!
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to share your positive feedback! 🙂
This is my second time preparing this recipe. My husband tells me it’s a hero. Thank you for the recipe.
Dawn, I am so happy you've made this recipe twice and enjoyed it! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a positive comment - I really appreciate it!
I rarely leave comments but this time I had to. I have made this twice and it is amazingly good!! I serve it with linguine and a caesar salad. I feel this is a special recipe, one I am eager to make if we have dinner guests. Served with a glass of white wine, what can I say, except thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Wow, your comment made my day, Gertrude! I am so flattered to hear that this is a special recipe for you. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share such a positive comment! 🙂
I am an Australian and am not familiar with half and half. Is it milk of different fat content? Thanks Ann
Yes, half-and-half is a milk product that we have here in the US. It's a mixture of half cream, half milk. It's thicker than milk, but not as thick as cream. Somewhere in the middle.
Soo delicious, omitted the sun dried tomatoes as my girlfriend doesnt like them, doubled the spinach and it came out incredible with angel hair pasta nests and pesto garlic bread.
Ryan, so glad you liked it! Love the idea of serving this over angel hair pasta!
Are you using boneless chicken breasts? The recipe doesn’t specify.
Yes, boneless skinless chicken breasts.