Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Thighs, with sweet potatoes

  • 4 sweet potatoes
  • 4 chicken thighs
  • few tbsps of butter
  • 6-10 garlic cloves
  • 1 onion (sweet or white)
  • 1 bag of spinach (watch it wilt into nothing before your eyes)
  • 1 can mushrooms
  • salt & pepper, to taste (at least a tsp)
  • habanero paste (if you like spicy, otherwise skip this. We used 2 drops)
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese (half for filling, half to stuff in chicken)
  • 1.5 cups whipped cream cheese
  • a little mayo (enough to coat chicken for breading)
  • bread crumbs (enough to coat chicken)
  • parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on potatoes)
Total cook time 1 hr 10 mins
(Chicken is in for the last 30 minutes only)
Bake at 425 in the oven
Makes 4 portions
Baking sheet for sweet potatoes 
Bread pan or 8x8 pan for chicken 

Here's how to cook it

Start with the potatoes, they take the longest to cook. Poke a few holes in them with a fork and place in a pan. Put them in the oven Set a timer for 40 minutes. Use this 40 mins to prep the chicken and filling to have ready to put in the oven when this timer goes off. (prep instructions below) Set the timer for 20 minutes. When that timer goes off, take out the sweet potatoes. Cut open, score inside, stuff with butter and Parmesan cheese and put back in the oven with the chicken for a final 10 minutes.

Here's the prepping instructions

Prep the filling: On medium heat, cook crushed garlic and onion in butter until starting to brown. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook a few more minutes Add the spinach and cover the pan for a few minutes until it starts to wilt, then stir until fully wilted. Turn heat to low, before adding the cream cheese, cheddar, habanero paste, and 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs. Stir frequently until its melted. Cooking at LOW temp for a few minutes until you have deliciously blended cheese filling. Prep the chicken: (I prep the chicken while waiting for spinach to wilt or when the filling is on low) Use boneless chicken thighs Unroll thighs and brush mayo on both sides and bread them. Roll back up with cheddar cheese inside. They will be placed on top of the filling and baked. Put filling on bottom of pan and place chicken on top, sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken. For this amount of food I used a bread pan, the filling was the bottom 2/3 and 4 thighs fit in a row perfectly. If you are cooking more, choose your pan accordingly. That first timer for the potatoes should be going off soon, add the chicken pan to the oven when it does. The chicken will be in the oven for 30 minutes. You'll need to add butter and cheese to the potatoes in 20 minutes, but otherwise you're done! Let it cool off a minute before eating. We highly recommend putting the filling and chicken directly on top of the sweet potato. It's really good all together. It's also very good with a little goat cheese served with it. A note about the habanero, we like spicy, so for the filling I used 2 large drops of it. Know your hot sauce before adding more. Spice your own, try a different pepper if you'd like. The habanero goes well with cheese though!