Creamy Gouda cheese and sweet apples make these stuffed chicken breasts a winning recipe! Pair with roasted sweet potatoes for a sheet pan supper that will make everyone happy.
Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: It’s delicious, and clean up is easy!
How long it takes: 45 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: sheet pan, oven, sharp knife, mixing bowl
Servings: 4
Sweet apple pairs perfectly with creamy Gouda cheese, stuffed into a tender chicken breast. Sweet potatoes not only add a great pop of color, but thanks to the smoked paprika, they impart a fantastic smoky element that gives depth to the entire meal.
About these Apple Gouda Stuffed Chicken Breasts
This recipe combines two of my favorite things: stuffed chicken + sheet pan dinner.
Stuffed chicken, first. EASY. Looks fancy. Win win. Everyone thinks you’ve created this show-stopping chicken recipe. And you were able to do it with very little effort. What could be better?
Next, sheet pan dinner. My favorite kind of dinner. One pan dirty, one oven temperature, but a complete meal. Check out lots more sheet pan dinner recipes, if you like sheet pan dinners as much as I do.
How to stuff Chicken Breasts
Begin with boneless skinless chicken breasts. Use the sharpest knife you have to slice each piece horizontally, but not all the way through, and open the chicken like a book. This is also called butterflying. Take a look at the photos below for a visual demonstration.
Arrange sliced apples on one half, then Gouda cheese, and sprinkle with fresh thyme. Close the chicken by carefully folding the unstuffed half over the stuffed half. I usually do this whole process right on the sheet pan so you don’t have to transfer the stuffed breast, decreasing the risk of anything falling out.
I like to throw together a quick tossed salad to serve on the side for crisp, fresh green elements.
Enjoy!
PS: Next time, should we add bacon? I think so.
Stuffed chicken tends to be less dry because the stuffing keeps it flavorful and moist. Cook chicken in a fairly hot oven (425°F) until it’s just done. Use an instant read thermometer; for chicken, the internal temp should be 165°F.
I love these butterflied stuffed chicken breasts because both the stuffing and the chicken cook quickly. You won’t have any contamination issues that may occur when you stuff a whole chicken with warm stuffing.
Because the stuffing is enfolded into the chicken breast, there’s no need for toothpicks. If you happen to use too much stuffing, a toothpick will secure the chicken while it bakes but by the time the chicken is cooked, the toothpick can be removed and the chicken will stay together.
Stuff the chicken breasts and store in a covered container in the fridge up to a day ahead. Dice the sweet potatoes, cover with water, and store in the fridge up to a day. Drain well, pat dry, and continue with recipe as directed.
More Stuffed Chicken Recipes
Apple Gouda Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
For Chicken:
- 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (approximately 10 oz. each)
- 2 ounces Gouda cheese, very thinly sliced
- ½ large apple, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (reserve a few sprigs for garnish)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For Sweet Potatoes:
- 2 large large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray a large sheet pan or shallow baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Split each chicken breast across but not through and open like a book (be careful, you can easily cut yourself doing this!). This is also known as butterflying. Refer to the post for photos.
- On one side of the chicken, arrange 7 to 8 thin apple slices followed by 4 to 5 slices of cheese. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon fresh thyme. Fold over and drizzle with ½ teaspoon olive oil. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Repeat with second chicken breast.
- Place the chicken breasts on sheet pan and top with another sprig of fresh thyme, if desired.
- In a bowl, mix diced sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon thyme leaves and sea salt until evenly coated. Arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer around chicken breasts.
- Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, and stir sweet potatoes.
- Continue to bake until the juices run clear from chicken and internal temperature of chicken registers at 165°F, about 10 additional minutes. Sweet potatoes should be fork tender.
- Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Carefully cut each chicken breast in half vertically to make 4 servings. Serve with sweet potatoes on the side.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
This was so, so good! The potatoes came out creamy, almost mashable, which I wasn’t expecting, but they were great. And I did a horrible job of butterflying the chicken, but it still worked. I’m already imagining a dozen variations to try. Thanks so much for this great recipe.
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts, Stephanie. It means the world to me!
PS: Butterflying is so tricky! Mine aren’t always pretty either.
I cooked this today for my co-workers and the chicken was very bland.
Sorry to hear you didn’t love the recipe! It definitely has more subtle flavors than some of my other recipes but not everyone likes strong flavors. You might prefer these stuffed chicken breasts or this slow cooker chicken.
This looks great! Would you cook bacon before stuffing the chicken?
Should be fine raw :) the chicken has to cook through so the bacon should cook fine as well.
Omg! I just made this! I admit at first I was skeptical about apples, Gouda, and, chicken… But this is absolutely AMAZING! I’m obsessed!!! Absolutely obsessed! And while it cooked, I cut up some extra apple and sweet potatoe and cooked it down for our 9 month old boy! Such and easy and delicious dish!!! Thank you so much!
So glad you liked it! I love hearing your feedback and that your son benefited as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. :)
Made this for dinner tonight and was absolutely amazing. Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be making this again
So glad you liked them! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
This looks delicious! I will have to try it. One question though – After cooking these for a half hour in the oven doesn’t the cheese kind of melt and disappear from inside the chicken?
Some of the cheese will run out, yes (you can see that happening a bit in the photos), but much will remain inside. If you’d prefer, you could lay a slice on top in the last couple minutes of cooking.
I really want to try these. Could these be wrapped in foil and grilled ? Looks delicious!
I haven’t tested them that way but I think they would work! You’d want to make sure to spray the inside of the foil really well to prevent sticking.
Looking forward to making this for dinner! The boyfriend doesn’t like sweet potatoes though. Any thoughts on other sides that would compliment this dish? Preferably a starch and a green? Thanks!
Hope you guys love it! Regular potatoes would be great with the same seasoning on them and would roast in the same way as the sweet potatoes. It would be great with a green salad or you could throw some asparagus on the sheet pan with everything else in the last ten minutes of baking.
Thank you for the suggestions! I was about to ask the same question since my 2 year old loves Gouda and green apples but won’t touch sweet potatoes.
I might need to try it both with regular potatoes and the asparagus.
I dipped my gouda and apple stuffed chicken in flour, then egg, then panko. Made it super moist and added a very yummy crunch!!
Oh yum! What a great idea! Thanks for coming back and telling us…I love hearing stuff like this :)
This dish was a major success…..so excited to prepare it for guests. I added some balsamic vinegar to it towards the end…..will continue to do so.
Thank you….fantastic recipe!
Oooh balsamic is a great addition! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!