Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Breasts

This Asparagus-stuffed Chicken is a great, simple dinner that’s easy enough for weeknights, but looks good enough to serve for company when you need something foolproof and delicious.

Hey, it’s asparagus season! Here in California, asparagus season runs about February through June, and in celebration of this happy time, I’m sharing one of my favorite easy asparagus recipes: Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Breasts.

This is a great, simple dinner that’s easy enough for weeknights, but looks good enough to serve for company when you need something foolproof and delicious.

It’s also one of those dishes that you have to work really hard to mess up.

As long as you have an instant-read thermometer and remember to check on your chicken so you don’t burn or over-cook it, dinner’s going to be great.

Ingredient Notes

• Small-to-medium boneless skinless chicken breasts: Stick with smaller chicken breasts for this recipe, about 8 ounces. If using large chicken breasts, your asparagus will burn before the chicken cooks all the way through.
• Thin asparagus spears: This recipe calls for thin asparagus spears, as that’s my personal preference. You can use medium/average size spears if that’s what you can find, but stay away from the really thick spears. They make the chicken awkward to cut and eat and don’t have the best texture.
• Panko: If you don’t usually cook with panko, you can typically find it at the grocery store near the breadcrumbs. It has a fantastic crispy crunchy texture that is *so good* on chicken, but if you want to use regular bread crumbs, you can substitute them here. 

How to Make Asparagus Stuffed Chicken

1. This recipe starts with butterflied chicken breasts (watch this video if you’ve never butterflied chicken breasts before) dipped in whisked egg to act as a binder and rolled in a combination of toasted panko, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. In the oven, it will crisp up and form a crispy, crunchy coating on the chicken.
2. Place chicken on a baking sheet and stuff each breast with thin asparagus spears and mozzarella.
3. Bake until cooked through, and enjoy! (Scroll down for the full, printable recipe.)

Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Recipe Notes

• Toasting the panko in this recipe is optional. It produces a nicer golden-colored crust, and the flavor is a little toastier, but the chicken still tastes great with untoasted panko. To be honest, I usually do this step for guests but skip it when I’m making it on a busy weeknight.

FAQ

Can I make this recipe in advance and bake it later?

I don’t recommend it, as the panko will get soggy. Instead, you can prep all the ingredients in advance (toast the panko, shred the cheese, trim the asparagus, butterfly the chicken, etc.) and then assemble everything right before baking.

If all your ingredients are prepped, the chicken can be assembled and oven-ready in about 10 minutes.  

What to Serve with Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Breasts

Asparagus chicken goes very well with orzo (I always serve it with my fav Parmesan Orzo) or rice. You can roast additional asparagus and serve alongside or pair with a different green veggie like Roasted Broccoli, Roasted Green Beans, or Butter and Garlic Green Beans.

My panko keeps burning when I try to toast it. Help!

Don’t worry, you’ve got this. There are a couple tricks to toasting panko without burning it. One, toast it over just medium heat (any higher, and it will burn fast), and once it starts to look like it’s toasting, watch it like a hawk and stir it to keep it moving.  Two, cook it only until about 70% of the panko looks toasted and then remove it from heat and transfer it immediately to a bowl.

If you wait for every single piece to look perfectly toasted or leave it in a hot pan for too long before pouring it out, it will burn on you. The panko will continue to brown in the oven, so don’t worry too much about getting every single piece golden brown. 

Can I halve/double this recipe?

Absolutely. To change the recipe yield, hover over the number of servings in the recipe card (or click if you are on mobile) and slide the slider.

More Easy Chicken Recipes

• Salsa Chicken
• The Perfect Roast Chicken
• Chicken Francaise
• BBQ Baked Chicken Thighs
• Pesto Chicken Pasta
• Creamy Asparagus Chicken Pasta

Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Breasts

This Asparagus-stuffed Chicken is a great, simple dinner that’s easy enough for weeknights, but looks good enough to serve for company when you need something foolproof and delicious.

5 from 3 votes

Print Pin

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings (Hover or Click to Change Yield): 4 chicken breasts

Calories: 389kcal

Author: Tracy

Ingredients

Special Equipment

• ▢ Instant-read thermometer

Asparagus-stuffed Chicken Breasts

• ▢ Cooking spray or cooking oil
• ▢ 1 cup panko *
• ▢ 4 small to medium (about 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ▢ 1 to 2 eggs *
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 16 thin asparagus spears washed and trimmed
• ▢ 1 cup (4oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly grease a baking sheet.

Toast Panko (Optional)

• Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Lightly grease with cooking spray or a couple teaspoons of cooking oil. Add panko and toast, stirring almost constantly once it begins to brown, until about 70% of the pieces are lightly golden in color, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer panko to a medium container large enough to dip a chicken breast into and set aside.

Prepare Chicken

• Butterfly each chicken breast by placing one hand flat on the top of the breast and slicing horizontally almost all the way through, so you have thin, even pieces on the top and bottom and you can open it like a book.
• In a medium container, large enough to dip a chicken breast, crack and whisk egg, set aside.
• Into the panko, stir Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
• Dip closed chicken breasts first in the egg then in the panko, coating the top and bottom, and place on prepared baking sheet. Don’t discard any extra panko.
• Open chicken breasts and place 4 spears of asparagus inside of each and top each with ¼ cup of cheese. Close chicken breasts and sprinkle any remaining panko over the top.
• Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads 165°F. Allow chicken to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

*You can also use regular bread crumbs. If using bread crumbs, skip the toasting step and go right to coating the chicken.

*Start with one egg and only add the second one if you need it.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Tag @BakingMischief or hashtag it #BakingMischief.

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