Chicken Florentine Stuffed Peppers (Printable)
Bell peppers stuffed with chicken, spinach, and three cheeses, baked to golden perfection.
# What You Need:
→ Meats
01 - 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
→ Vegetables
02 - 4 large bell peppers (any color), tops cut off and seeded
03 - 2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
04 - 1 small onion, finely diced
05 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
→ Dairy
06 - 1 cup ricotta cheese
07 - 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
08 - 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided use
09 - 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
→ Pantry and Seasonings
10 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
11 - 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb blend (basil, oregano, thyme)
12 - 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
13 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
14 - Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
# How-To:
01 - Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking dish large enough to hold four peppers upright.
02 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the prepared bell peppers and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain carefully and set aside to cool.
03 - Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds until fragrant.
04 - Add the chopped spinach to the skillet and sauté until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.
05 - In a large mixing bowl, combine the shredded chicken, sautéed onion and garlic, wilted spinach, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, cream cheese, Italian herbs, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
06 - Divide the chicken Florentine filling evenly among the blanched peppers, packing it gently. Arrange the stuffed peppers upright in the prepared baking dish.
07 - Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top of each stuffed pepper. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the peppers are tender and the cheese is golden and bubbly.
08 - Remove the dish from the oven and allow the peppers to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
# Expert Tips:
01 -
- The ricotta and cream cheese mixture keeps the filling incredibly moist, so you never get that dry, crumbly texture most stuffed peppers suffer from.
- Blanching the peppers before baking is the single trick that turns them velvety soft instead of tough and chewy.
- Everything bakes in one dish, which means cleanup is almost effortless after a long day.
02 -
- Skip the blanching step once and you will understand immediately why it matters, because raw peppers take nearly an hour to soften in the oven while the filling dries out around them.
- Let the spinach mixture cool for a few minutes before adding it to the cheeses, since hot spinach will start melting the ricotta and cream cheese into a greasy mess.
03 -
- Use a small ice cream scoop to fill the peppers if you want perfectly even portions without making a mess of your hands.
- Browning the mozzarella under the broiler for the last two minutes creates a deeply golden crust that makes these look like they came from a restaurant kitchen.