Green Chile Baked Chicken

Vicki in CT's Note:

Chicken stuffed with cheese and chiles.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 4 chicken breasts
• 7 ounces canned green chilies, whole
• 1/4 lb monterey jack cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/2 cup grated breadcrumbs
• 6 tablespoons margarine

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breasts in half; bone and remove skin. Place waxed paper over each chicken breast and flatten to about 1/4 inch thick, using a meat mallet.
2. Drain, rinse and remove seeds from the canned chiles. Cut chiles and the Jack cheese into 8 pieces. Put a piece of chili and a slice of cheese on each chicken breast. Tuck in sides and roll.
3. In a shallow bowl, combine Parmesan cheese, chili powder, garlic salt, cumin, lemon-pepper seasoning, and the dry bread crumbs. Blend well. In another shallow bowl place the melted margarine.
4. Dip each rolled chicken breast carefully into the melted margarine then into crumb-cheese mixture. Place, seam-side down, in a 9 × 13-inch baking pan; keep chicken breasts from touching. Drizzle with remaining margarine.
5. Refrigerate, covered with foil, 30-45 minutes (this is a very important step!). Bake, uncovered, in preheated 400-degree oven for 25 minutes.

Reviews

[WiGal]

Loved this! Easy, delicious, and a make ahead-my kind of recipe. Made this earlier in day so it fit right into our schedule and then washed up all the dishes ahead so we could enjoy some vino. The pounding of chicken is important so the ratio of meat to chile/cheese is right. The outside breading is very good. The only change I made was to use garlic powder instead of garlic salt as I try to omit salt whenever possible. Thank you Vickie for an excellent recipe!

[stonecoldcrazy]

Yum! I didn't have any lemon pepper so I dipped the chicken in lemon juice instead of butter before coating it. I also put some garlic slices inside. Delicious!

[Dr. Jenny]

This was a really tasty Mexican chicken! I used canned diced green chiles as that is what I had on hand and they managed to stay inside the chicken (which held together well) and we actually kind of liked that the jalapenos remained unseeded. When I was in the Cleveland area visiting my father-in-law I bought a goat monterey jack cheese from the Middlefield Cheese Co-op, which I used in this recipe and it worked really well. Also, I used panko for the bread crumbs, which was fantastic. I served with Mexican Spaghetti Squash Casserole as a side. We thought the chicken was moist and very flavorful. Thanks for another winner, Vicki!