Lasagna-Inspired Chicken

Hey, y’all. Today, we’re going to make a chicken dish that’s inspired by one of my favorites, lasagna. You’re going to need two pounds of boneless chicken breast, or you could use boneless chicken thighs if you prefer.

Why You’ll Love This

It tastes like… almost like a lasagna, but then it’s got the flavor of the chicken in there. So good.

If you happen to be on low-carb or keto-friendly diet, this is quite low-carb, so that’s good too.

This is absolutely delicious. It’s easy to make. It goes together fast.

This is so good. It’s got lasagna flavor. It’s cheesy. It’s got all of this gooey cheese on the top, and then I like to serve it with pasta, and this is a meal that your family’s going to love. So easy, so delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast (or boneless chicken thighs)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
• 2 cups marinara (whatever your favorite kind of marinara sauce is)
• 15 ounces Ricotta cheese
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or 1 tablespoon seasoned Italian blend)
• ½ cup Parmesan
• ½ cup baby spinach (fresh, chopped)

Instructions

1. Put your mozzarella cheese that you’ve grated into a bowl, and to that, add the Parmesan. Mix it up really good, and then set it aside.
2. Take another bowl, and mix your ricotta. Mash that up until smooth and creamy.
3. Add half of the garlic (two cloves) to the ricotta and mix that up.
4. Add your Italian seasoning (a teaspoon of mixed Italian seasoning blend herbs, or about a tablespoon of the Italian blend). If you’re going to use the Italian blend, especially, remember, no salt.
5. After you get everything mixed in, go ahead and taste it and make sure that it’s got enough flavor for you.
6. Add about a full cup of spinach (chopped baby spinach) and mix that in really well.
7. Add half of your cheese mixture (Parmesan and mozzarella) and stir it up really well so that it’s all mixed up. Set that aside, and mix that up really well.
8. Spray a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with some no-stick spray.
9. Add just a little bit of sauce to the bottom, and spread that around.
10. Take the chicken breasts and place them in the pan.
11. Take the remaining two cloves of mashed garlic, and spread that on the chicken.
12. Give the chicken a light dust of salt.
13. Spread the ricotta mixture over the chicken. Put a little bit on each one of them first and then go back and add more.
14. Cover it with the marinara. Put a little bit on and then go back and add more if you need to. Spread that around a little bit, but be gentle because you don’t want to really mix the ricotta in there. You just want to cover it up.
15. Place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until you can put an instant read thermometer in it, and it’ll measure 160 degrees.
16. At that point, pull it out of the oven. Add the rest of the cheese to the top and put it back in the oven for just a couple of minutes until the cheese gets all good and melted and the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
17. Let that sit for just a minute to let the juices settle and let the cheese settle a little bit, and then plate it up.

Cooking Tips

I like to shred the cheese from a block because it melts much better, it tastes much better. Pre-shredded cheese has cellulose dust on it to keep it from sticking together. So if you can possibly do it, shred it from a block.

If you like spicy, try the arrabbiata.

I use whole milk ricotta because I prefer it. You can use the part skim ricotta if you prefer. That’s fine, whatever kind you normally use.

I just found these on, and they’re really cool. It’s frozen mashed garlic. You just pop one out, and that is a full clove of garlic. What I like about this is if I have garlic cloves sitting around, I may use all of them. A lot of times I don’t use all of them, and they go bad. If I have garlic in the refrigerator, the same thing happens. So this is kept in the freezer, and you just pop them out, and you can let them stand at room temperature for a few minutes to thaw. I put these in the microwave for 15 seconds, and that was about right, but watch them really carefully because I wasted the first four because I put them in the microwave, and then I walked away, and when I came back, they were all burnt, okay?

If you do that, don’t use salt because this is really salty.

My recipe on the blog doesn’t call for a lot. It calls for like a half a cup of baby spinach, I think. That’s because I have avid spinach haters in my family. If you don’t, you can certainly use more than half a cup, okay? You’re going to chop it up.

Cheese is cheese, so if you want to add a little bit more, that’s fine.

I usually use a little less cheese in this and a little more cheese on the top, but you do you. It’s fine, whichever way.

If you prefer to pound the chicken so you think it’ll be a little more tender or you want it to be even in size, you can go ahead and do that.

If you like… I’m not a big salt eater, I have to admit. And so if you are, and especially if you didn’t use the Italian dressing mix, then you’re going to want to salt the chicken right here.

I usually like to put a little bit on each one of them first and then go back and add more because I don’t eyeball things very well sometimes. So it’s just easier for me to add than it is for me to take away, right?

Your oven is going to be different. Different people’s ovens are going to do different things.

You can actually assemble it ahead of time, like the night before, and then just pop it in the oven before dinner.

Sometimes the chicken does not cooperate, so be sure to either give yourself plenty of time. Usually it cooks in about 30 minutes, but give yourself 45 just in case. If you don’t have 45 minutes, go ahead and pound the chicken thinner, and that should do the trick.

Serving Suggestions

A lot of times I will serve this with pasta, and if there’s extra marinara on it, you can just take a chicken breast and lay it on top of the cooked buttered pasta, and you’re good to go.

I’ve got my spaghetti ready, so let’s get some of this yummy sauce, and we’re going to put it right over the spaghetti. Then let’s grab one of these pieces of chicken. Ooh, look at that. And let’s put it right on top of that pasta. Does that look great? Look at that.

I like to serve it with pasta, and this is a meal that your family’s going to love.

I hope you’ll try it. I hope you’ll come back next week. I’ll see y’all next week. Love y’all. Bye-bye.