This 20 minute AIR FRYER STUFFED CHICKEN is filled with a creamy mixture of spinach, cream cheese, and garlic. This is a restaurant quality recipe that comes together in minutes.
In our house, chicken is definitely the go to protein. Everyone loves it, it’s readily available, and it’s infinitely adaptable.
We absolutely love chicken the air fryer and I just knew that stuffed chicken in the air fryer would be fantastic too!
We stuffed these chicken breasts with a quick mixture consisting of cream cheese, spinach, and a few other goodies. It’s basically spinach dip in a chicken!
The best part is that using the air fryer cooks the chicken evenly while keeping the chicken tender and juicy.
Serve this with our air fryer asparagus and a side salad for a simple, low carb, healthy dinner.
Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts – Boneless, skinless breasts are perfect here.
Olive Oil
Seasonings – Paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt make the perfect chicken seasoning.
Cream Cheese
Shredded Parmesan
Mayonnaise – You won’t be able to taste the mayo, it just adds to the creamy filling.
Baby Spinach – We prefer fresh spinach here. If using frozen, thaw and drain really well.
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes – These are optional, but they help balance out the rich filling.
How to make air fried stuffed chicken:
Prepare the chicken- Use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast. Do this by placing your hand on top of the chicken to hold it in place. Use your other hand to carefully cut into the side of the chicken, almost like you’re butterflying the chicken. Don’t cut all the way through. Watch our recipe video to see just how easy this is!
Season- Drizzle oil over both sides of the chicken. In a small bowl, stir together paprika, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Sprinkle this seasoning blend over both sides of the chicken.
Prepare the filling- Get a small bowl and mix together cream cheese, shredded Parmesan, mayo, spinach, garlic, red pepper, and salt. Use a spoon to stuff the mixture into the pockets of the prepared chicken.
Cook it- Brush oil or spritz oil into your air fryer basket. Place the chicken breasts in your air fryer spaced evenly apart. Cook at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
Always check the center of your chicken to be sure it is at least 165 degrees in the center before serving. For this recipe, make sure your thermometer is in the meat and not in the filling.
Serving Suggestions:
Our air fryer stuffed chicken tastes like it came straight from a nice restaurant. We like to serve it with a side of potatoes and a veggie. Here are a few of our favorites:
More Air Fryer Chicken Recipes:
- Air Fryer Chicken Drumsticks
- Air Fryer Orange Chicken
- Air Fryer Frozen Chicken Nuggets
- Hot Cheeto Chicken
Air Fryer Stuffed Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh spinach
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes more or less to taste
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut a pocket into the side of each chicken breast.
- Drizzle both sides of the chicken with oil.
- Add the paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to a small bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of the chicken.
- Add cream cheese, Parmesan, mayonnaise, spinach, garlic, red pepper and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a small mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Stuff the mixture into each chicken breast.
- Place the chicken breasts in a greased air fryer basket in a single layer. You may need to work in batches, depending on the size of your air fryer. Keep cooked chicken in a low oven, covered in foil, while the next batch cooks.
- Air fry at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a thermometer reads 165 degrees in the thickest portion of the chicken.
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Suzanne Rich says
It was done in no time and very juicy.
Karly Campbell says
So glad to hear that! Thanks, Suzanne!
Bob Z says
We added mushrooms and real garlic sauted. And cooled prior to mixing in with the cheeses with cut green olives stuffed with blue cheese and jalapeno peppers.
Karly Campbell says
Sounds delicious!
Zau says
Thanks for sharing! The recipe was easy to follow plus my daughter gave me the look while eating so I know it was delicious!😂
Karly Campbell says
Haha, love to hear that!
rudejohn says
Absolutely LOVED this recipe. My kids gobbled it up, and I put a bit of cajun seasoning on the outside of mine and my spouse’s and we gobbled it up as well! So easy. Tip: if you’re doing several chicken breasts, group them by size. The smaller chicken breasts needed about 17-18 minutes to come to temp. the larger ones more like 21 minutes.
Karly Campbell says
Great tip, thank you! 🙂
Ibu Eva says
made it in Bali where most of the ingredients are very difficult to find in my remote village! So we subsituted yoghurt (home made) for the cream cheese; made homemade mayo, and picked moringa from the garden because out of spinach. but still delicious!
Karly Campbell says
Sounds delicious! I’m so glad you were able to make it work! 🙂
Candy says
Can you use broccoli in this recipe
Karly Campbell says
Yes! Use fresh broccoli that you chop up pretty finely. Somewhere between 1 – 1 1/2 cups. 🙂
Jackie Snow says
I used this recipe with only two chicken breasts cut in half before cutting the slit to stuff for 4 portions. I skipped the mayo but the rest of the recipe I followed close. I loved it but would use less salt with only two breasts. I need a bigger air fryer since I could only fit 3 half breasts in my fryer
Colleen Williams says
More stuffed chicken bread recipes
Lucy says
Really good recipe. I wrapped in prosciutto which was wonderful. Easy restaurant quality meal with steamed vegetables.
Jessica Mckay says
Amazing recipe
I literally had an idea I googled it found this recipe and success with the husband I topped mine with thick bacon which I thought I burnt but being air fried was delicious
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you found the recipe and enjoyed it! 🙂
Dorrie says
Can you stuff a whole chicken to cook in air fryer
Karly Campbell says
We’ve made a whole chicken in the air fryer, but I’ve never tried stuffing it.
Carrie says
This was a rough recipe for me. I put two chicken breasts in one basket of the air fryer and cooked for 17 minutes and the chicken was still undercooked. I put them in separate baskets and cooked for longer. The bottoms of the chicken were raw after cooking for like 35 minutes so I had to flip them over which led to all the filling oozing out of the chicken in total it took about 40 minutes to cook. The taste was fine, it was a little too salty though which is my bad because I didn’t measure the spices. So maybe it’s just a me problem but I still don’t know why it took so long to cook.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Carrie! What temperature and setting did you have on? These definitely shouldn’t have taken 40 minutes to cook, so I’m wondering if there was something amiss with a setting somewhere.
Lynda Brown says
can you use zuchinne instead of spinach?
Karly Campbell says
Hi Lynda! I haven’t tried using zucchini.