This Hasselback Pizza Stuffed Chicken is a delicious way to spice up boring old chicken breasts and satisfy your pizza craving at the same time!
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Ingredients in this chicken
Have a serious pizza craving but don't want to go through the hassle of rolling out the dough, cutting up all the toppings and waiting for it all to come together?
Well, say hello to this delicious CHICKEN PIZZA aka Hasselback Pizza Stuffed Chicken! It's your answer to a busy work day with a short amount of prep time and just a few simple ingredients – you'll be on your way to healthier pizza in no time!
Here's what you need to make it:
- chicken breasts
- pizza sauce
- mushrooms
- green peppers
- pepperoni
- mozzarella cheese
- Italian seasoning & red chili flakes
How to make stuffed chicken
It's so easy to make pizza chicken! Here's how:
- Make horizontal cuts across each chicken breast, then season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Add pizza sauce, mushrooms, green peppers and pepperoni to each horizontal cut, then add chicken to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, top with cheese, then bake another 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, top with Italian seasoning and red chili flakes, then serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
Chicken – I use boneless skinless chicken breasts because of their big surface area. The larger the piece of meat is, the more fillings you can add! You could substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs, thick-cut boneless pork chops, pork tenderloin, or even steak!
Pizza Toppings – The sky’s the limit here! My favorite pizza toppings are green peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni, so that’s what I used. As long as the toppings are small, use whatever you like.
To keep the calories and fat lower, you can use turkey pepperoni like I do.
Cheese – Shredded mozzarella is the cheese of pizza lovers everywhere but there’s no reason you can’t use a different variety if you want to. Just be sure that it’s a soft or semi-soft cheese if you want the ooey gooey melted cheese effect on top of the chicken!
Pizza Sauce – A can of pizza sauce is easy and tasty, but maybe you want to go BIG flavor. Alfredo sauce, pesto, garlic sauce, or even enchilada or taco sauce would taste amazing. Taco pizza, anyone?!
Making this recipe keto
As written, the only ingredients in the pizza stuffed chicken recipe that aren’t keto are store bought pizza sauce and green peppers. Although, you’ll be using so few green peppers that it really isn’t much of an issue.
As for the pizza sauce, the biggest concern is the amount of sugar that is in most brands of store-bought pizza sauce. Also, tomatoes are higher in carbs than some other vegetables.
There are some brands of sugar-free tomato sauce on the market, which will bring the carbs down. Or, you can make an easy keto pizza sauce by combining 6 ounces of tomato paste with some bone broth or chicken stock. Then, just stir in some Italian seasonings and you’re good to go!
More pizza topping ideas
Think of the chicken breast (or whatever meat you use) as your canvas for toppings. Here are a few ideas:
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Pineapple
- Black olives
- Canadian ham
- Bacon
- Sausage crumbles
What to serve as a side dish
What pairs better with pizza than a nice arugula salad and some cheesy breadsticks?! If you want to add some healthy whole grains to the meal, brown rice or quinoa are great options.
Other great side dish ideas are cucumber salad or broccoli slaw. Just keep things light and healthy.
Storing and reheating
It’s pretty doubtful that you’ll have leftovers… this dinner is just that good!
But, if you do, either transfer them to an airtight container or zip top plastic storage bag. Store it in the refrigerator and use up the leftovers within 5 days.
One of the great things about this dish is that it reheats really well. Just be sure to wrap the baking dish in foil so that the mozzarella cheese doesn’t burn.
Set your oven for 375 F. and it will take 20 minutes or so to warm through.
Technically, you can also reheat the leftovers in a microwave. But honestly, the microwave tends to give chicken a rubbery texture, and/or it dries out.
Can you freeze stuffed chicken?
You can absolutely freeze your hasselback stuffed chicken! Actually, you can freeze it cooked OR raw. This makes it perfect for easy meal prep!
Just be sure to wrap the chicken really well with a sheet of plastic wrap and then cover it with aluminum foil. Or, use a meal prep container.
Hasselback Pizza Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup Pizza Sauce
- 1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup green peppers, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup turkey pepperoni, cut in half
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- Italian seasoning
- red chili flakes
- Optional side dish: arugula salad
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Make horizontal cuts across each chicken breast (see video if you're unsure how!) Season chicken with salt and pepper.
- Add pizza sauce, mushrooms, green peppers and pepperoni to each cut, then add chicken to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, top with cheese, then bake another 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, top with Italian seasoning and red chili flakes, then serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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Chris says
Where do you use the pizza sauce? Not in recipe steps.
Taylor Stinson says
Sorry about that Chris! You add it along with the veggies and toppings. I’ve updated to reflect the change!
Laurie-ann says
Should these be frozen before cooking or after and then reheated twitch sauce?
Taylor Stinson says
I would recommend freezing before cooking and then you can cook with extra sauce and cheese 🙂 Make sure to let the chicken defrost overnight in the fridge before cooking in the oven!