Italian marinated chicken breasts get quickly browned, topped with a luscious combination of cheeses, and baked until tender perfection in a tomato sauce. Serve over pasta for a hearty and pleasing meal.
We're just going to jump right into the recipe here today. This ricotta-baked chicken was the result of a much-needed Sunday nap a few weeks back. I was laying down trying to motivate myself to peel myself up from the couch and racking my brain trying to figure out what to make for dinner and then, BOOM. Dinner was made. In my head. On the couch.
Wouldn't that be nice if it was really made? I could get into those kinds of naps.
To start, you'll marinade 6 chicken breasts in some Italian dressing. I used a seasoning packet and added my own vinegar, oil, and water but if you have a bottle in the fridge, by all means, use it up!
Once your chicken has been the hot tub of flavor long enough (3 hours- overnight), you get to work! Mix together some ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, salt, pepper and just a pinch of nutmeg.
Heat a large skillet on the stove top, add a little olive oil, and brown the chicken on both sides. You don't have to make sure it's cooked through, just browned. Set the chicken aside on a plate and then pour in a can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes. Use you spatula to scrape up all the little browned bits that got stuck the bottom of the pan while cooking the chicken.
When all the delicious little bits are up take the pan off the heat and put the chicken back into the pan.
Take the cheese mixture and spoon it into mounds on top of the chicken breasts until it's all used and pop that sucker into the oven.
You'll bake it uncovered for about 20 minutes or until the cheese just starts to brown a little bit on the top, the sauce is bubbly, and the chicken is cooked through. Once it comes out you can sprinkle it with just a little bit of chopped parsley and more parmesan cheese.
The tomato sauce has super flavor and is great served over pasta while the chicken stays moist from being baked under the cheese and is nicely seasoned from the dressing. I hope you'll try it!
Other Chicken Recipes You Might Like
- Chicken lo mein recipe
- Pesto Parmesan Chicken
- Easy Chicken Cacciatore
- Smothered Chicken Breast
- Honey Dijon Chicken Thighs
- garlic chicken thighs
- Simple Grilled Chicken Recipe
- Chicken Keto Soup
- Wingers Sticky Fingers
- Sweet Chili Sauce Chicken
- Barbecue Chicken
- Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk
Baked Ricotta Chicken
Ingredients
- .6 ounces Italian Dressing Mix
- ⅓ cup white wine vinegar
- ⅓ cup lite olive oil
- ⅓ cup water
- 6 whole boneless skinless chicken breast halves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 15 ounces Italian Seasoned Diced Tomatoes undrained
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese grated
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch nutmeg
Instructions
- Mix Italian dressing mix with water, vinegar, and ⅓ C oil. Pour into a gallon sized ziplock bag and add chicken. Let marinade for at least 3 hours, up to overnight.
- Combine cheeses, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat and brown chicken in remaining olive oil in batches until browned on both sides, but not cooked all the way through. Set chicken aside on a plate.
- Keep skillet on the heat and pour in the tomatoes, scraping up any browned bits left on the pan with a spatula until bottom of the pan is clean. Remove from heat. Return chicken to the pan with the tomatoes.
- Using a spoon, evenly scoop the cheese mixture into mounds on top of each chicken breast. Place skillet into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is just starting to brown on top and chicken is cooked through.
- Serve over pasta.
Sandra Baldwinson says
Sooo good! I didn’t have time to marinate as directed, nor did I have the dressing mix, so I just brush the chicken with oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and let the chicken sit at room temperature while I prepared everything else. I had lots of fresh tomatoes from my garden so I chopped and seasoned them with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Me and my husband devoured our dinner. I will be making this again!
Mariss says
Such a flavorful dish! Will certainly make again! Husband already requests it weekly lol
Sueli Barton says
I was searching for a quick recipe, so the marinating time did not appeal to me, so I cooked without the marinating it.
I did not have the diced tomato, so I used tomato sauce instead.
I did not bake the chicken. Instead, after adding the cheese, I covered the pan and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
It was very tender and juicy. Everyone loved it and I will be making it again - same way, though.
Julie in florida says
Made this last night. Like another reviewer I used canned diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Really good. I served with zoodles. Definitely will make again. I was looking for an easier, lighter version of Chicken parm Gluten free too and low carb! Thank you!
Yadi says
Used a keto feiendly marana sauce and cooked a little different. Yummy!!! Kid approved lol
Yadi says
And that's what I get for not proof reading my grammar lol regardless, it was YUMMY!!
Monisha says
I started with this recipe & changed it a lot due to time & picky kids -- it was a success & am definitely adding this to our dinner repertoire! 🙂
Changes: (1) didn't marinate, threw partially frozen chicken in a 9" x 13" pan; (2) used boneless skinless thighs; (3) included 2 eggs & frozen spinach with ricotta, after thawed & squeezed out excess water from spinach, & added whatever grated cheese we had: mexican, parmigiano/reggiano, plus the parmesan; (4) baked for 45 minutes instead of just 20, & turned up to 375 degrees halfway through because dinner was late. Lol.
Served with spaghetti, red sauce on the side, & garlic bread. Despite my shortcuts, turned out good!! Thanks for this recipe 🙂
Lee says
When I tried to print this recipe out, the share bar to the left blocked out the first few ingredient amounts. I'm sure you don't want that included on the printout.
Nancy Rimel says
I made this chicken dish last night and did tweak it a bit by adding spinach to the cheese mixture. I also used chicken breast (with skin on) and chicken thighs-skin on. Turned out well.
Bernie says
Made this tonight. Was really good. Did not have Italian diced tomatoes so I used plain and used Italian seasoning
Mary says
I made this for my family and they said it was like a gourmet restaurant dish! It's a great way to use chicken and have a "restaurant quality" meal at home.
sarah says
This is cooking right now, i however taking the recipe literally, didnt drain the can of tomatoes. So it has been cooking in the oven for 50 minutes and is still not do e, but smells delicious!
Connie says
Really delicious! My picky kids liked it. Will be making this again.