Cajun-spiced chicken breasts stuffed with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and melted zesty pepper-jack cheese. This easy dinner is bursting with flavor! Serve plain, with rice, or over buttered pasta.
This recipe has all the goodness of cajun chicken pasta, without the pasta. Of course, you can serve it with buttered pasta, or you can skip the carb loading and serve it up with veggies or a salad as shown. Either way no one is going to complain about that gooey cheese oozing out of the middle with mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion all stuffed inside a deliciously seasoned chicken breast.
MAKE YOUR OWN CAJUN SEASONING:
Cajun seasoning can be bought in the seasoning section of the grocery store. Each brand will be slightly different in their ingredients and proportions. We like to save the money and make it ourselves. Bonus, you also get to control the flavor and spice level. Mix it up in a ziploc bag or small jar, and if you want to make a big batch to store, just change all the measurements to tablespoons.
- 4 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
If you don’t have white pepper, you can replace the white pepper with black pepper for a total of 2 teaspoons black pepper.
Cheese Options:
Donโt love the zing of pepper-jack cheese? You can use shredded cheddar cheese instead, or any other good melting cheese like mozzarella or monterey jack.
How should I cut my chicken so I can stuff it?
There are a few different ways to stuff your chicken. You can butterfly it (slice lengthwise and fold it out into butterfly wings). You can pound it out thin, using a meat mallet, or even a rolling pin. You can also slice a little pocket into it.
How can I keep the stuffing from falling out while the chicken bakes?
Use toothpicks to secure the chicken and help keep all that delicious stuffing on the inside. Slide the toothpicks right through the chicken vertically to pinch the chicken together. Just be sure to remove the toothpicks before serving.
Spice Level:
By making your own cajun seasoning you can control the amount of spice. Simply reduce or omit the cayenne pepper in the cajun seasoning to make this recipe more mild.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other amazing recipes using cajun seasoning:
Watch the video below where we will walk you through every step of the recipe with a video demonstration.
My family and I loved this recipe. Thanks!
I tried it. It’s so easy and really yummy. Everyone loves it and emptied their plates. It’s in our dinner list now.
This was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. This is a new family favorite – for those that do not like it as spicy, I just put less of the Cajun seasoning and it is still scrumptious. Thank you very much for the recipe and the Cajun seasoning recipe!
Yay! I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment.
I tried this with chicken thighs and 40 minutes was not enough. I also substituted zuccini for mushrooms. Other than that, it looks good. I am adding an extra 15 minutes to brown the meat.
Good call on adding more time. Chicken thighs always require a longer cooking time than boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Do you cut the chicken to get the stuffing inside?
No. If you watch the video you’ll see I actually pound mine out thin and fold them. I’ve tried lots of different methods to stuff chicken breasts and this is by far my favorite. It deems to allow a lot more filling without everything falling apart. It’s also in the instructions but sometimes it is easier to show you in a video.
That works too but what works better for me is butterflying the chicken breast and put all stuffings on one side of the breast and then just simply lay the other side of the breast over the stuffings to close
I tend to buy chicken breasts from a butcher that are regular sized and don’t lend well to butterflying. Even when I buy oversized chicken breasts I have found that my method allows you to fill it with more of the filling because the toothpicks hold it in. And I definitely love a lot of the fillings!
No you just fold the chicken over.
But you don't mention when or where to add the cpices and the butter. Could you explain, please?
put the spices on top of the chicken just be fore you put it in the oven. Do the same for the pat of butter
Oh wow. These look absolutely scrumptious. I really like the extra spice to stand up to the pepper jack cheese.
Oh wow. These look absolutely scrumptious. I really like the extra spice to stand up to the pepper jack cheese.
I have always thoroughly enjoyed stuffed meat dishes when I have gone out to eat. This chicken looks super yummy. From the looks of the picture, I thought that you'd have to cut out the core of the chicken breast. If I gathered correctly from your article, you simply fold over the chicken breast.
http://www.saladmenu.com/avocado-stuffed-chicken/
I absolutely LOVE spicy foods and have never seen a Cajun stuffed chicken breast – These look SO good – Cannot wait to try them!
6/24/17: Made this last night. Abso-bloomin’-lutely delicious! And I’m not a whiz in the kitchen. But this recipe is so easy.