Jul 15, 20153 min read

Spanakopita Inspired Stuffed Chicken Thighs

Well, you probably know by know that I am Greek. One of my favorite things ever is spanakopita, and, honestly, there is nothing like homemade spanakopita! However, it is a lot of work, so I highly recommend Trader Joe's Spanakopita. We don't buy it often anymore because there are so many ingredients that I shouldn't eat (like the filo dough, butter, cream etc), so once in a blue moon we buy it and savor every single bite!

I came up with this spanakopita-inspired recipe a few weeks ago and it was so good that I decided to make it again and again... only tonight I finally wrote down all the ingredients, took photos and wrote out the directions.

Funny story: So back in 2005 when my husband and I started dating, he tried feta cheese for the first time. Because I am Greek and we basically put feta on everything, I couldnt believe that he hadn't had feta before! After that meal (I think it was a pasta with feta, parsley, and garlic) he literally wanted to put feta on anything and everything.

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INGREDIENTS:

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

4 cups of fresh spinach

2 TB EVOO (divided)

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbed

1/4 tsp dried dill

1-3 garlic cloves*

salt and pepper to taste

*If you love garlic, feel free to use 3 cloves, or more. If you aren't a garlic person, then add 1 clove of garlic.

Directions:

Put 1 TB of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet along with 4 cups (or 4 large handfulls) of fresh spinach. Turn your skillet on medium to medium-high and cover. Watch it closely because it could wilt pretty quickly if you are doing a bunch of other stuff.

Check it after a few minutes and feel free to use a spatula to move it around to get it going if you think it needs some love.

Once it's wilted, set aside in a bowl to cool for about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, take your organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs and pound them until they are thin. I like to cut down the side of a large ziplock bag so it opens from 2 of the 4 sides. Then stick one chicken thigh in at a time (open) and pound it on both sides until it's thin. It will be delicate, and I promise it will taste better this way! Here is why you should pound your chicken...

Once your chicken thighs are pounded, set them aside on a plate while you make your spinach filling.

Add feta, dill, garlic, salt and pepper to your wilted spinach and mix with a fork. You want the spinach to be cool to the touch when you finally stuff your chicken thighs. I find it easier to just use my hands to stuff each chicken thigh and roll them up for baking.

Pour the remaining 1 TB of extra virgin olive oil in a baking dish.

Place one of the chicken thighs on an empty dish (you could also use a plastic placemat) and spread it out. Place 1/6th of the mixture on one end of your chicken thigh and proceed to roll it to the other end. (see photos below)