Mushroom and Spinach Chicken Roulade with Gravy

One of my favorite go-to ingredients to keep it light but indulgent is fat free cream cheese. It can be found in most grocery stores, but feel free to substitute reduced fat cream cheese instead. You won’t miss the fat in this delicious stuffed chicken roulade.

Make sure your stuffing mixture is thick and tight – similar to the consistency of spreadable cream cheese. In order to get chicken thin enough in the right shape, it helps to butterfly the chicken before pounding thin. After pounding, slice the butterflied breast in half as shown below.

If you want to keep it extra “clean” – use the pan drippings to drizzle over the chicken without making a gravy. The gravy does contain butter, flour, and heavy cream. Full disclosure – the gravy is AMAZING.

◊ Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 8oz baby Bella mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 8oz reduced fat or fat free cream cheese
• 1 cup part skim shredded mozzarella (do not use fresh, too much water)
• 12oz fresh spinach
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 – 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• Nonstick spray
• Salt and pepper

Gravy:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 – 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Use chopper or blender to pulse mushrooms into small pieces. Prepare deep sauté pan with nonstick spray, oil, or butter. Sauté mushrooms on medium heat until liquid begins to release. Add thyme, onion powder, and garlic – continue cooking until liquid evaporates. Then slowly add spinach by the handful, stirring to cover greens with the hot mushroom mixture as you wilt the spinach. Once all the spinach has fully wilted, remove from the heat and place in a large bowl. To the spinach – add cold cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce then stir to combine. Use breadcrumbs as needed to tighten the stuffing mixture (you don’t want a watery mixture).  Set aside to cool while you prepare the chicken.

Butterfly each chicken breast, pound thin (about 1/4 inch thickness), then slice in half. Spread stuffing mixture over chicken leaving about 1 inch exposed at the bottom and top. Top with a portion of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Roll chicken bottom to top and secure with 1-2 toothpicks. Prepare casserole dish with tinfoil and nonstick spray then arrange chicken rolls. Bake at 400° F for 30 minutes on middle rack. Broil for 3 minutes to brown on top. Set aside to cool while you prepare the gravy.

Melt 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp flour in sauce pot. Cook for about 2 minutes on medium heat, stirring often to remove the raw flour flavor. Remove chicken from casserole dish then pour drippings (including melted bits of cheese and filling) into the sauce pot. Whisk over medium heat until thickened. Slowly add broth and heavy cream while stirring to thicken until desired consistently is reached. Gravy will thicken further while sitting after removed from heat.

Remove toothpicks from chicken rolls and serve with gravy.

Enjoy!