That's right, cheese stuffed mini chicken meatloaves! Try saying that five times fast. These little bites are delicious and come together really quickly. If you make the chicken mixture ahead of time it turns into a super quick dinner, great for a weeknight meal.
Continue reading for the entire tasty and might I add whimsical recipe...I mean you cook them in a muffin pan for pete's sake!
Gather:
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbl olive oil
1 egg
1 lb ground chicken
red bell pepper, diced
small yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
whole milk block mozzarella cheese, cut into 12 small cubes
your favorite jarred marinara sauce
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together the ground chicken, bell pepper, onion, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, salt and pepper and egg into a bowl and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the panko breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese with a Tablespoon of olive oil and stir to combine.
If you are doing this in advance, now would be the time to cover and refrigerate your ingredients until ready to continue.
Get out a muffin pan. Spray with non-stick spray. Dollop some chicken mixture into the muffin tin, about 3/4 full and make and indent in the middle, stick in a chunk of mozzarella cheese and cover with another teaspoon of chicken mixture.
Cover each with the panko mixture and press lightly.
Pop into the 400 degree oven and cook for 25-30 mins until golden brown and bubbly.
Let stand for 5 minutes before running a knife around each mini meatloaf to pop out of the tin.
Serve with marinara. cut into them and enjoy the lovely little surprise of melty cheese! YUM.
adapted from this recipe
