Description
Need an easy Sunday night dinner? Stuffed Chicken Pepperoni Pizza Bake checks all the boxes: quick, easy and a gourmet feast!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 4 chicken breasts
- 3 cups of spaghetti sauce
- 30-35 pepperoni slices
- 4 slices mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Don’t forget to watch my video that shows all the step-by-step instructions.
- Butterfly all the chicken breasts. Using a knife, cut down the side of the chicken lengthwise without cutting the chicken all the way through. My video shows this well. See notes below about pounding the chicken a little thinner if you want/need to.
- After all chicken is butterflied, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning on both sides. Rub with a drop of olive oil on each side.
- Add one slice of mozzarella cheese to each chicken breast. I found it was easier to break the slice in half.
- Add four pepperoni slices on top of the mozzarella – you can add more or less, it’s your call.
- Spoon on a tablespoon or so of spaghetti sauce on top of the pepperoni.
- Fold the chicken breasts over. This might get a little messy, but you’ll be okay.
- Brush a little olive oil in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish/pan. Add 2 cups of spaghetti sauce to the baking dish/pan and spread evenly. Place the chicken breasts on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce on top of the chicken. If you are serving this with pasta you may need to have more sauce on the side.
- Add the mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top of the chicken – make sure you distribute evenly.
- Add more pepperoni slices on top of the cheese.
- Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes - uncovered. Internal temperature of chicken should be 165 degrees before consuming. Ovens are different so yours may take longer to cook.
- Serve on its own or with a side of pasta, garlic bread or a salad! Enjoy! See NOTE 1 below about portions!
Notes
- There are four chicken breasts total for this recipe. You can serve four people one breast each which is a large portion. However, you could also stretch this to 6-8 servings if you’re serving this with pasta and garlic bread or a side salad. Each piece could be cut in half and HALF of the chicken breast could be one portion.
- Normally when I stuff chicken, I do cover the chicken in plastic and pound it out a little thinner before stuffing. But for this recipe I was trying to cut time and make it a faster and easier meal to get on the table. So yes, it was a little messier to fold them, but I liked that a little time was saved. Also, I do understand that chicken breasts can sometime be what I call "mutant sized." Anyone else notice that chicken breasts are getting enormous?? If they are of the huge, thick variety, it might be a good idea to pound them thinner.