Goat Cheese and Lemon Stuffed Chicken

On days when you want a no-fuss, but elegant meal, Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken is your new best friend. With only six ingredients and minimal prep, it’s the perfect weeknight dinner.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Chicken gets a bad rap these days. It’s so often associated with boring flavorless meals, I think we often forget the beauty of a perfectly cooked piece of poultry. At its best even when simply seasoned with a little bit of salt and pepper, it’s juicy, moist, and everything I’m looking for in a piece of protein. I know it’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to chicken but I think I’ve done a pretty good job at keeping things interesting the last couple of months (examples here, here and here), and this Goat Cheese and Lemon Stuffed Chicken is one of my favorite recipes to come fruition yet.

It’s not overly fancy by any means but it is ridiculously easy to throw together and the entire meal requires six ingredients, which makes it a chicken dinner worthy of any busy weeknight.

We typically cook with boneless skinless chicken breasts but my true love lies within a bone-in, skin-on chicken breast for three reasons. First, the bone keeps the meat irresistibly moist. Two, it’s cheaper. Three, crispy chicken skin – obv.

Sometimes I treat the bone-in chicken breast like a roast chicken and heavily cover it in butter and herbs, and other times, I simply roast it with olive oil, salt and pepper and serve it with pasta or a roasted veggie of some sort. This time however, in another Ina Garten inspiration, I combined the two methods and stuffed the chicken with plenty of goat cheese, thinly sliced lemons and a few leaves of fresh basil.

Using an entire lemon might seem a little odd, but as it slowly cooks with the chicken, the peel takes on an almost candied-like consistency, giving the perfect amount of sweet and tart in each bite.

Ingredients in Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Chicken. We use a bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. They’re perfect for nestling goodies under the skin and because of the bone, they typically stay super moist through the cooking process.

Cheese. As the name implies, goat cheese is what we stuff our chicken with. (See substitutions below.)

Herbs. We pick fresh basil to use here. I love the big leaves and strong flavor it infused into the chicken.

Lemons. Lots of lemon! I truly don’t think there is a better pairing with chicken than lemon.

Asparagus. So many veggies can work here but our favorite is crisp asparagus.

Olive oil. We need just a touch to roast the asparagus and crisp up the chicken skin.

Let’s make Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Stuff the chicken. This isn’t the most fun job but it’s easy and so worth it. Use your fingers loosen the skin from each chicken breast, but be sure to not detach it. Gently nestle the goat cheese under the chicken skin and in between the meat. Lay basil leaves on top. Lay a slice of lemon on top.

Cook the chicken. Season the top of the chicken skin liberally with salt and pepper. Place chicken on a large, rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 25 minutes.

Prep everything else. This meal is all about efficiency so while the chicken cooks, trim the asparagus. Take one piece of asparagus in your hand and gently break off the tough end of the asparagus. Chop the asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces. Toss the asparagus with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and a little freshly cracked black pepper.

Finish it all off. After about 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Scatter the asparagus and remaining lemon slices around the chicken. Place back in the oven and cook until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve!

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Substitutions

• In my opinion, goat cheese works best here, but if it’s not your cup of tea, you could use a savory cream cheese, feta or boursin.
• Same thing goes for the herbs, I used basil because it’s so readily available now but if you can’t find it, fresh thyme or sage would also work.
• Use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in place of breasts
• If you don’t want to use skin on, you could use a boneless chicken breast. Splice the chicken breast horizontally without cutting through the meat to create a pocket. Stuff with the cheese, lemon and basil and secure with toothpicks.
• Along with the asparagus feel free to add in cherry tomatoes or any other seasonal vegetables.

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Of course, a bone-in, skin-on chicken breast is only worth it if you have crispy skin, so to achieve that, I like to roast the chicken at a super high temperature to get the skin to start sizzling, and then reduce the temperature to ensure the meat stays nice and moist. It’s generally hard to overcook a bone-in piece of meat, but just to be sure, I use a thermometer to read the internal temperature, which should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

To turn a simple roast chicken into a well-rounded meal, about 15 minutes shy of cooking I toss some asparagus on the pan, and let it cook with the chicken. And again, use whatever veggies are on sale or in season in your neck of those woods – really anything would work here! You may just need to adjust the cooking time depending on what it is.

Serve alongside some buttery pasta, fluffy couscous, or hearty quinoa and dinner is ready to go.

For more easy chicken recipes, check out these posts:

30 Minute Mushroom & Leek Chicken: Foodie Crush
Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa: Joyful Healthy Eats
Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken: Cooking Light