Happy Tuesday, friends! It’s Madison again from Wetherills Say I Do.
Do you ever try something at a restaurant and know that you have to make it at home sometime? Well that’s how this dish got started in our house. We went to a local restaurant called J.Peppers where I had the most divine meal ever. As you probably guessed, it was a chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and pesto. Within a week probably, I redid the meal at home. Now it’s become one of our favorites!
We eat chicken a lot in our house and I love how easy it is to dress up chicken by stuffing it with some of your favorite ingredients. The other night I bought some goat cheese for another recipe and knew it would be a perfect weekend dinner to do our favorite stuffed chicken recipe!
I used chevre goat cheese, which has a similar consistency to feta. Sometimes you get chevre that is softer and sometimes it’s a little harder and more crumbly. Either way, chevre doesn’t tend to melt a ton, but it will become a little more creamy when cooked. I stuffed the chicken breast before I started cooking them in the oven to allow both the chevre and pesto to melt a little.
One of my favorites sides in general, but especially for this dish is a helping of butter and garlic french green beans. You can make these by boiling a pot of water and cooking the beans until they start to turn a bright green (you can also test one to make sure they’re as crunchy or soft as you prefer). Then drain the beans and in the same pot melt about two tablespoons of butter. One the butter is melted, add minced garlic until it begins to turn brown. This will probably only take about a minute as the post is already heated up from the beans. Add the green beans back in and toss to coat with the butter and garlic mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste!
This dish is really simple, but I love the complexity of the flavors in each bite of the chicken. The melted goat cheese and pesto together is just incredible. I definitely can’t take credit for this amazing pairing, but I was so thrilled when I realized it was easy to replicate the restaurant version of this recipe at home.
Goat cheese is one of those staples for me. I love trying different varieties and realizing all the things that this lovely cheese can go with. What are some of your favorite uses for goat cheese? Have you ever made a great copycat recipe?
Ingredients
- For Chicken:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 3-4 tablespoons pesto
- 2 tablespoons goat cheese (chevre or other)
- For Green Beans:
- About 1 lb of fresh, French green beans
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- For chicken: Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray glass baking pan
- Make slice down vertical center of chicken about 2/3 through the chicken
- Add goat cheese into slice, then add pesto
- Bake chicken for 23-26 minutes, depending on thickness. Slice open chicken to see if all the pink has cooked out.
- For green beans: Add green beans to pot of boiling water
- Cook for 5-7 minutes or until beans are bright green and to desired cook level
- Drain beans
- Add butter to same pot, melt butter then add minced garlic.
- Cook until garlic is just turning brown.
- Return beans to pot, toss to coat beans.
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