These Spinach Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups are filled with yummy ricotta, sundried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella then topped with marinara sauce.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Egg whites – whole eggs would also work but will increase the calorie count.
- Breadcrumbs – leave the breading off altogether for a low-carb meal option.
- Chicken cutlets – you could also use three chicken breasts sliced in half lengthwise.
- Olive oil – use any neutral cooking oil like canola or grapeseed oil.
- Ricotta cheese – leave this out and double up on the mozzarella if you don’t have any ricotta.
- Mozzarella cheese – or any other cheese of your choice.
- Mushrooms – feel free to swap out for another veggie of your choice.
- Sundried tomatoes – leave this out altogether.
- Spinach – feel free to swap out for another veggie of your choice.
- Marina sauce – an alfredo or light cream sauce would also be amazing in this recipe.
- Fresh basil – to garnish.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
How to make chicken roll ups
- Add the filling to the chicken cutlets.
- Roll up the chicken cutlets.
- Dip in the egg whites then the breadcrumbs.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Top with marina sauce and cheese then bake until cheese has melted.
- Garnish with basil and serve!
Chicken breading
For the breading, dip your chicken in egg whites and then in breadcrumbs. It's a simple combination that gives the chicken a chicken parmesan type of feel. If you only have eggs on hand and don't feel like separating the whites (I usually use a carton of egg whites for convenience), you can go ahead and just use eggs instead. The breading will be similar but may have slightly more calories.
To save time and calories, you can actually leave the breading off the chicken altogether. Once you've rolled up your cutlets and stuffed them, just pop them into the oven to bake. Easy peasy!
Frequently Asked Questions
For this recipe you will be using chicken breast cutlets – you can usually find them pre-cut along with other types of chicken. If you're looking to save money, you can use chicken breasts and then cut them in half lengthwise. Each breast will produce 2 cutlets so you would just need 3 chicken breasts for this recipe instead of 6 cutlets. I would not recommend using any other type of chicken because they won’t stuff as well.
The options are pretty much endless when it comes to what you can put in your chicken roll. I love the combination of spinach, sundried tomatoes and two different cheeses in this recipe, but feel free to switch things up. Just make sure you don’t add too many toppings.
There are 334 calories per chicken roll, so you’re getting a delicious and low-calorie meal option!
Because the chicken is so filling, you really only need to pair these chicken roll ups with a simple green side dish – I chose broccoli rabe (also known as rapini) because it cooks so quickly in the oven and you can have it roasting while you're working on stuffing and rolling the chicken. A nice side salad, rice, roasted potatoes, pasta or other veggies would also be good.
Storing and reheating
The leftovers from this meal will last in the fridge up to 5 days in glass meal prep containers. I recommend storing in individual serving sizes so you can throw them right into the microwave straight from the fridge!
To reheat, sprinkle a bit of water over top and cover with a paper towel. Reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until chicken is hot all the way through. Serve with your choice of side and enjoy!
Freezing this recipe
Freeze in individual glass meal prep containers for up to 3 months. You can also store the roll ups in foil containers if you decide to reheat them in the oven. To reheat from frozen, microwave for 6-7 minutes, or reheat in the oven for 45 minutes at 350° Fahrenheit. They make a great freezer meal because you can freeze and reheat, then make your side dish of choice fresh. You’ll save a ton of time!
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More stuffed chicken recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on using these chicken thigh marinades for meal prep lunches or dinners.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through.
Easy Spinach Stuffed Chicken Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 6 chicken cutlets
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
- 1 cup finely chopped spinach
- 1/2 tsp each Salt and pepper
- 1 cup jarred marinara sauce
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease an 8×11 baking dish with 1 tbsp of olive oil and set aside. Add egg whites to a large bowl and breadcrumbs to another large bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, spinach and 1/2 tsp salt and pepper.
- Season chicken cutlets with salt and pepper. Lay each cutlet flat and fill with a thin layer of ricotta-spinach stuffing mix. Roll up chicken cutlets, then dip in bowl of egg whites, then bowl of breadcrumbs.
- Add each chicken roll up to the greased baking dish and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with marinara sauce and cheese and bake another 5-10 min until cheese is melted.
- Garnish with basil (optional) and serve with your choice of green (I roasted a bunch of broccoli rabe with 1 tbsp of olive oil, a pinch of salt and two cloves of garlic at 400F for 10 min). Enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Emily says
Could you prep this the night before and bake the next day for dinner?
Taylor Stinson says
Yes you could 🙂
Angie says
Loved this recipe. Made it exactly as instructed and my husband and I enjoyed every bite. For the stuffing, if you do not like mushrooms and/or dried tomatoes, , I think you can omit them and it will still be yummy.
Thank you Toronto girl on Bloor Street.
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much Angie, I’m so happy you guys enjoyed 🙂
Carol L says
Can you tell me what the carbs are if you leave out the breading? I know that this recipe stands as is, and it is great just as written, but I’m on a KETO diet, and thought if I omitted the eggs and breadcrumbs that it would be acceptable to make it. As is, 25g of carbs is way too much for my diet. I hoped that the bread crumbs are the culprit and that if omitted it would be ok to make.
Thank you!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Carol! I wish I could be of more help here but I’m honestly not entirely sure. If I had to guess, there are some carbs in the spinach, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes just because they’re veggies and I know veggies have a bit of carbs (though much lower than the breadcrumbs and eggs). What you could do is insert all the ingredients minus the breadcrumbs and eggs into a nutrition calculator like Myfitnesspal and see what the carbs are after you remove those two. Hopefully that helps!