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.
Just made this recipe for my husband and I for dinner and it was wonderful. Nice change up to grilled chicken. Looking forward to trying some other recipes.
Ruth, I am so glad this recipe turned out well! 🙂 I hope you explore and try some of my other recipes!
I jist noticed I for lots to cut chicken breast in half. What do I do? They been in there 20 minutes so far???
Tina, if your chicken breasts are on the thicker side, just bake them longer, until they are cooked through. Thicker chicken breasts might take 10 or 20 minutes more.
Today was the second time I made this entree. It's so so good!!! I made a few changes this time. I increased the creamed spinach (we love spinach and this recipe is perfect) and increased the toppings. My husband loves bacon. All of the ingredients come together to perfectly. This recipe is a keeper.
Thanks Julia
Quincella, your comment literally made my day! 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to share such a positive comment. ❤️
WOW!! This chicken recipe is tremendous!! I did add a little extra mozzarella to thicken up the spinach as I used 2% carnation milk in place of heavy cream!! This is a keeper! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Gigi, thank you for your raving review! 🙂 🙂 So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Do you think this could be adapted to a crock pot?
Thanks. It looks delicious
Carol, I haven't tried it in a slow cooker, but the recipe can probably be adjusted for the crock pot.
Can this be used with chicken thighs?
Katie, you can use this recipe without any changes with skinless boneless chicken thighs.
Whats half and half. Half and half of what ?
Linda, half-and-half is half milk, half cream. So 1 cup of half-and-half = 1/2 cup regular milk + 1/2 cup heavy cream (about 36 % fat content).
I just made this amazing recipe! Never in my life did I ever dream I could make something so wonderful. Thank u very much for them and also being so detailed in the recipe it makes it easy for even the most amateur person to follow. (That would be me- haha)
Diane, your comment really made my day! Thank you for this super positive and thoughtful comment - I really appreciate it! 🙂
I have chicken thighs instead of chicken breast, would this substitute work okay?
Nicole, if you use skinless, boneless chicken thighs the cooking times would be very similar to cooking skinless boneless chicken breasts. I would not use bone-in chicken in this recipe.