For the last few days we were in Nashville and all we did was eat out, so when we got home all I wanted was a home cooked meal—something simple and full of flavor.
And of course something that wasn’t complicated or fussy in design or prep. That’s so not me.
That something is what you see here. The chicken is stuffed with a simple rice and spinach mix and I decided to encase it all in some puff pastry for added flavor and dimension.
Now here’s the best part, I didn’t care to make these roulades. To avoid rolling and tying everything together, I just smashed two pieces of chicken flat, and then used an offset spatula to spread some of the rice stuffing on top of one piece of chicken and then placed a second one on top of that and sealed it all together. After some baking, I wrapped it all up in puff pastry. Done.
Puff Pastry Stuffed Chicken
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup thinly sliced leeks
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 garlic clove minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 cup fontina cheese
1 teaspoon ground mustard
salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. spinach
11/2 cups cooked rice
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 large chicken breast (9 oz. each), flattened to a 1/4 inch in thickness
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed according to instructions
1 egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)
Instructions
Place butter in a large skillet and melt over medium high heat. Add in leeks and onion and cook until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add in garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add in flour and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Whisk in milk and and simmer, stirring, for about 3-5 minutes or until thickened. Add in cheese and stir until melted and combined. Add in ground mustard, salt and pepper. Stir in spinach, rice and parsley.
Salt one side of chicken and layer with rice mixture, leaving a 1/4 inch border all around. Place second piece of chicken on top. Press chicken edges together to seal. Rub outside with olive oil and and lightly cover with salt and pepper. Turn assembled stuffed chicken over and repeat oil and salt and pepper rub. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes.
Wrap puff pastry all around chicken. Brush egg wash all over. Transfer to a parchment lined bake sheet and and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before slicing.
Fork, knife and a coke – it was all gone in minutes. So make sure you make you make plenty or eat alone.
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Holy cow…this looks delicious, Matt! And wouldn’t you know it…I was in Nashville last weekend. We almost could have bumped into each other there! (I mean, Nashville is small enough that we would have seen each other…I’m certain of it.) #WolfpackEats
Double stuffed? That’s totally winning at life! Love it. And I agree – whenever I’m traveling at some point all I want to do is come home and eat my own food.
This sounds great Matt! Love the puff pastry shell… I want all my foods to now have a puff pastry around them. And of course, #putaneggonit. This is a legit dinner!
So true that travel makes you appreciate home cooked food even more! This looks just amazing, Matt. Love your trick to skip the rolling step – love it!
Oh man, this is glorious! I am relatively new to puff pastry but I pretty much want to wrap everything in it–and this chicken is no exception. What an awesome idea! Love the flavors here 🙂
This one looks fantastic and anything in puff pastry, be it sweet or savory, is right up my alley. Beautiful photos, too! There’s nothing like a home cooked meal, right?
Nashville is only 3 1/2 hrs from me. It’s a FUN town, and it’s really become a ‘foodie’ town, but you’re right, Matt, there’s nothing like home cooking. This is great and I love the pastry.
I love that you managed to avoid the rolling and tying! The stuffing sounds amazing, and I just know my other half is going to love this. The best part is I bet leftovers taste awesome on a sandwich (carb on carb on carb action 🙂 )
Thanks for sharing!
Matt, this is brilliant yo. . puff pastry is magical!! love the chicken and the fontina!!! I wish I could’ve been there in Nashville too to meet you and Naomi! 🙂
Really Matt, your stuff is so good and you photograph it so well, that it’s hard to come up with new phrases to comment with… how about I use an olde but goodie — YUM!
Hi Matt, this looks delicious. I wondered if you need to protect the pastry with any pancakes to stop the moisture making the pastry soggy, or does the rice soak it all up?
Ummm you are truly truly talented, and you and Naomi are so so so blessed to have each other! God bless y’all for reals. Beautiful children and both amazing photographers+cooks, whoa. 🙂 This is so genius because of the way you avoided the rolling, and I can imagine how amazing the contrast is between the components. Puff pastry is one of the yummiest things ever…now if only it wasn’t so high in calories…:P Ps: I’ll stop talking after this and call me nosy, but I’m really curious about how you and Naomi do the cooking thing throughout the week. Do you take turns regularly or just do it whenever inspiration hits?
So nice of you, thanks Ellie! How do we cook throughout the week? It’s pretty crazy in our little kitchen most of the time, but somehow we make it work. I usually make quick and easy meals while she loves to bake. And she bakes A LOT. Our oven is rarely off. And in the midst of it all, we have 3 boys, one is 5 months old, so lots of rotating in and out of the kitchen. We talk about ideas all the time, run to the store every day. Come to think of it, I don’t know how we do it, but we do and it’s so much fun.
I love the way you decided not to roll the chicken. What a pain! And who even has twine on hand ever? Not me. Your method is much better. And puff pastry makes everything delicious! Pinned x 3. 🙂
I am doing pretty well, Matt! I’ve been taking iron the last week or so to combat anemia (just found out I had it, that’s why I nap so often….). But my nausea is gone and other than being tired, I’m in good spirits. I’m looking forward to mid-January when the baby is here, though, for sure! My son is in a preschool-type program for kids with speech delays and I have attend too, so that takes up about 20 hours per week of my time… so between that and trying to keep up on the blog, I really need a maid service. 🙂 But all is well! I can’t complain!
This is awesome, Matt! I want to run in the kitchen and make some because I can practically taste it just from the photos! This is a great way to avoid rolling the chicken and trying to keep it together. Plus, adding puff pastry is always the best in my book 🙂
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99 comments to " Puff Pastry Wrapped Stuffed Chicken "