Broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken breasts is a delicious easy 30-minute meal. This Italian-inspired rollatini recipe is low-carb & yummy. These thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts are baked with alfredo sauce for a cheesy, creamy, & satisfying meal.
This easy recipe for broccoli & cheese stuffed chicken cutlets is simple enough for a weeknight dinner and fancy enough for special occasions. Pair it with crispy baked marinated artichoke hearts for a fantastic Italian meal.
If you love cheese, you will not be able to resist this chicken recipe. It has 3 kinds of cheese like my recipe for baked mac & cheese with bacon.
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Why this is a Family Favorite?
- Comfort Food - it's creamy, gooey, & rich
- Spiral Design - pretty & easy to cut versus thick breast meat
- Alfredo sauce - Kids (and adults) eat anything with alfredo sauce
- Vegetables - Sneak vegetables into the recipe for the kids
- Juicy - the chicken with the cheese stuffing remains moist
- Keto & Low-Carb - it is grain-free & only 3.1 net carbs!
- Shortcut Ingredients - premade ingredients for a quick prep
- Simple but Elegant - only 15 min prep for fancy stuffed chicken
- Make-Ahead - can be assembled ahead of time & baked later
Ingredients
Start with these ingredients. The easiest part of this recipe is the shortcut of using a store-bought jar of alfredo sauce. The chicken alfredo recipe works great with any brand like Classico, Bertolli, and others. For the nutrition information and steps, I used Trader Giotto's Alfredo Pasta Sauce from Trader Joe's.
- Thin Sliced Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Precooked Broccoli or Thawed Frozen Broccoli
- Egg
- Ricotta Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Jarred Alfredo Sauce
- Garlic Powder
- Paprika - optional
- Salt & Pepper to taste
See the recipe card for amounts & full instructions
How to Make Stuffed Chicken Breasts
It baked cheesy chicken casserole only takes 15 minutes to prepare so do not be intimidated by this recipe. You can make this and you will be so glad you did once you have a bite of this baked 3-cheese & broccoli stuffed chicken recipe.
Here are the easy steps for making this recipe.
- Mix the 3-Cheese & Broccoli Stuffing
- Stuff & Roll the Chicken Breasts
- Bake the Stuffed Chicken
Mix the 3-Cheese & Broccoli Stuffing
Preheat the oven to 425°. Also prepare an 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray. While the oven is heating up, start preparing the dish.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the filling ingredients. This includes the egg, pre-cooked or defrosted frozen broccoli, 3 kinds of cheese, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.
Stuff & Roll the Chicken Breasts
This recipe uses thinly sliced chicken breasts cutlets. If you cannot find those at your store, buy regular boneless skinless chicken breast. Then use a meat mallet or tenderizer to thin it out.
How to Pound Chicken Breast Thin: Between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap, place the chicken breast. With a mallet, gently pound the chicken breasts using both an up/down motion along with a press & spread motion. If you do not have a mallet, use a rolling pin.
Next, spoon on the filling atop each chicken breast leaving a bit at the end without the filling.
Then roll from the filling end to the end where there is no filling. This is what the chicken cutlets all rolled up will look like. This method is inspired by rollatini recipes common in Italy.
Place the rolled chicken breast one by one with seams facing down in a greased glass baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. You can now bake these or wrap, refrigerate, & bake later.
Bake the Stuffed Chicken
Place the baking dish in the oven. Bake it for 20 minutes. Finally, top with the alfredo sauce and the remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake an additional 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer reaches 165° (the minimum for chicken!) Let it rest about 5 minutes in the dish as you plate your side dishes. Place one on each plate and slice to expose the cheesy spiral design inside.
Substitutes & Variations
Here are some great recipe variations & ingredient substitutions that can be made. Add, omit, or use one of these alternatives for other delicious recipe ideas. These may help you enjoy this recipe even with dietary, health, or personal nutritional preferences.
- Frozen Broccoli - Use steamed fresh broccoli instead
- Broccoli - use an alternate vegetable such as asparagus, spinach, or squash.
- Chicken Breasts - use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead.
- Sharp Cheese - use a combination of shredded mozzarella and shredded sharp cheddar for a bold combination.
- Ricotta Cheese - use cream cheese instead if you want an alternative for ricotta.
- Alfredo Sauce - use marinara sauce if you want some tomato instead.
- Bacon - add ½ cup of crumbled cooked bacon to the cheese mixture.
This recipe is already gluten-free, low-carb, keto, diabetic-friendly, & nut-free as written.
What to Serve with Chicken Alfredo
So many side dishes are good to eat with chicken alfredo. Since this recipe is a ketogenic chicken alfredo, I would suggest sticking with some other low-carb or gluten-free sides. Try any potato, salad, or vegetable; for example my favorite is just some simple Instant Pot Cubed Sweet Potatoes.
I also suggest these recipes:
- AMAZING ROASTED GREEN BEANS WITH EVERYTHING BUT THE BAGEL SEASONING
- KETO CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
- BUTTERNUT SQUASH, APPLE, AND KALE SALAD WITH HONEY DIJON VINAIGRETTE
Product Recommendations for this Recipe:
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FAQ
If you wish to butterfly and stuff thick chicken breasts instead of rolling these up, it can be done. I prefer this method since I find it holds the cheesy broccoli mixture better without it all melting and spilling out. It is also so much prettier when you slice & see a pinwheel of ingredients.
Unlike other recipes, this stuffed chicken does not require any pan-searing before it goes in the oven. Just bake & enjoy.
Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients
- 1.5 pds thin boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets 6 total
- 1.5 C mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ C ricotta cheese
- ¼ C parmesan cheese grated
- 1 egg
- 1 C precooked broccoli diced small
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- black pepper & paprika to taste
- 1.5 C prepared alfredo sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°
- Oil or spray with nonstick spray a 11x7 baking dish
- Pound thin the chicken breasts using a meat mallet. If you cannot find thin chicken breasts, you can slice regular breasts horizontally and then pound thin. 3 large breasts will then make 6 thin breasts.
- In a medium bowl combine 1 cup of the mozzarella with all remaining ingredients through the garlic powder. Stir to mix evenly.
- For each thin breast, top with the cheese mixture and leave one end of the chicken plain to use at the end and bottom seam.
- From the cheese end of the breast, roll towards the plain side and place in a baking dish with seam side down. Roll all 6 and then add salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Bake 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with the alfredo sauce and the remaining ½ cup of mozzarella. Put back in the oven for an additional 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165°.
- Let rest for about 5 minutes for the cheeses to set before plating. Enjoy!
Notes
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 6 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 332 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 16.1g | 21% |
| Saturated Fat 6.8g | 34% |
| Cholesterol 155mg | 52% |
| Sodium 467mg | 20% |
| Total Carbohydrate 3.5g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 0.4g | 1% |
| Total Sugars 0.6g | |
| Protein 41.8g | |
| Vitamin D 3mcg | 13% |
| Calcium 174mg | 13% |
| Iron 2mg | 9% |
| Potassium 359mg | 8% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
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Caroline P says
Short Order Cook-I would make this. Question-do you recommend a particular meat mallet? I never seem to pound it even, resulting in holes and thicker sports. .grr!!! I have tried to put in between wax paper or towels. Let's not forget the time a part of my tile fell on the floor in the spot we pound the chicken the most lol! TIA love the pics btw
Angela says
Great question Caroline. Funny you mention how to use a meat mallet because I plan to include short "How to..." videos on this site in the coming months. I will make sure to include one on pounding meat with a meat mallet and how to avoid destroying your counter in the process. Thanks for the laugh and kitchen comedy. In the meantime, you can ask a good butcher to do it for you or have a dinner party where everyone gets a task to help out and pick a lucky winner to do it if you are still worried on doing it. I do use wax sheets that I buy at Smart & Final and a wooden cutting board. I also make sure my motion is not all up and down but as I hit the chicken I also sort of push/slide to the outside edge of the meat and work my way around. I cannot wait to hear how this develops.
Erika says
This looks great. I love chicken and cheese, so the two together look pretty magical.
Angela says
It is cheesey chicken goodness for sure.
Morgan says
This looks amazing! I can see why your whole family loves it!
Pauline says
Delicious!! I am doing the keto thing and I hate making seperate meals. I bet the kids would love this.
Angela says
It is a winner for our entire family. I have a Pasta Primavera recipe that is a "TWO WAYS" recipe. It is regular and gluten-free thanks to zucchini noodles. I plan to do more of these TWO WAY recipes where small tweaks can alter the recipe to a paleo/glutenfree/keto etc diet. Check back for more.
Angela Greven | Mean Green Chef says
Love this idea, a great option to replace noodles! I can see why it would be a family favorite! 🙂
Beth says
Alfredo sauce has always been one of my younger son's favorites since his picky-eater days. He's an adult now but I'll be he'd love it still. Looks like a great birthday idea for him. I look forward to anything you post about a meat mallet, too!
Melissa says
Chicken, broccoli, and cheese...three of my family's favorite things. Have to try this!
Caroline Parrott says
Gonna make this old fave tonight. Going to use cheddar cheese for a twist tho.
Angela says
Delish! Let me know how that variation turns out, sounds great.