Diabetic-Friendly Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken

Looking for a healthy and delicious meal that will impress everyone who tries it? Then, check out this stuffed chicken breast recipe. It’s one of my favorites to make because the “yums” and “mmmms” this dish elicits will make you feel like a star chef.

Meanwhile, the entire meal is diabetic-friendly and is chocked full of everything your body needs to heal and rebuild so you can reverse your Type 2- or just get healthy in general. The skinless chicken breasts are full of protein and Vitamins B, D, A and C. They also have lots of calcium, iron, zinc. The spinach has Vitamins A, C and K plus iron, folate and potassium.

But the real star here is the Feta. Now, I love cheese and when I first decided to cut out fats, I was worried that I’d really miss cheese. But, there are cheeses that are actually super foods and among them “Feta is betta.” It’s full of protein, phosphorus, iron, manganese, selenium, zinc, potassium and Vitamins B6, B12, and A. It also has antibacterial and antitumor properties. Most of all, it has helpful probiotics, which is the bacteria that lines your gut and improves your digestive system – something that’s incredibly important when reversing Type 2.

So, let’s get into it.

Timing: 70 minutes, including prep and cook times.

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients: 

Serves: Three, double everything if you want delicious leftovers.

• Three skinless, boneless chicken breasts

• 1 cup of crumbled Feta cheese

• 1 large onion

• 2-3 cups fresh spinach

• 1/3 cup chicken broth

• Salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, rosemary, thyme

• 2 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil or butter substitute

• Tooth picks (plain, no plastic ribbon)

Instructions:

Step One: Rinse and pat dry your chicken breasts. Remove any extra fat. Set them in a salt water brine (a bowl of room temperature water with 2-4 tablespoons of salt. Cover and put them in the fridge. This helps ensure your chicken is juicy.

Step Two: Chop your onion and add it to a skillet with one tablespoon of Olive Oil or butter substitute. Sautee on high for 2-3 minutes.

Step Three: As the onions begin to soften, add the spinach and mix it in well. Once the spinach begins to shrink, add the feta cheese and combine them well.

Step Four: Add the salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary and thyme to taste and mix well. Turn the heat off.

Step Five: Remove the chicken from the brine and pat them dry. Slice them down the length of the breast and make the cut as deep and centered as possible.

Step Six: Spoon in the spinach, feta and onion mixture.

Step Seven: Seal up the chicken with toothpicks. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt, pepper and paprika. (Paprika has no taste, but it’s a browning agent; it will give the chicken a beautiful color.)

Step Eight: Add the remaining Olive Oil or butter substitute to the pan and heat to high. Brown both sides of the chicken breasts, be careful to keep the mixture in the breasts. You just want to get a nice scald on the chicken for color and flavor.

Step Nine: Add the chicken broth, cover and cook on medium for around 45 minutes or until the chicken reaches a temperature of 165. Once the chicken is done, take it out of the skillet and tent it in foil.

Step Ten: For the sides, I recommend: Broccoli and radish. You can replace the broccoli with green beans, if you prefer. Add the chopped vegetables to the same pan and sauté for 5-6 minutes. Be sure to mix all the flavors in the pan into the veggies.

Remove the toothpicks from the chicken and serve with the veggies. You won’t believe the “mmms” and “nom noms” you will hear on this one!