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Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast with Fontina is an easy, quick (30 minutes!), and delicious chicken dish made with only six ingredients. Stuff the chicken, wrap it prosciutto, sear it in some butter, and make a quick pan sauce. Finish it off in the oven and serve.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken with Fontina
In terms of easy, delicious dinners, this Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast with Fontina ranks pretty high up there with my most recent favs, Creamy Tomato Pasta and Garlicky Shrimp Tagliatelle. Which is saying a lot, because those are both pasta dishes – my true love of food – and this is not.
Chicken dinners don’t typically rank on my most mouth-watering dinner cravings, but when chicken is stuffed with gooey, tangy fontina cheese, wrapped in salty prosciutto, and served with a luscious brown butter sauce. Well, chicken is the new pasta. And I’m in love.
Simple chicken dinners also become my new favorite go-to dinner when they involve only a handful of ingredients (six!) and take 30 minutes to get from the fridge to table.
Now, I know Fridays are usually reserved for five-ingredient meals, but six ingredients is close enough, right?
I promise, whether or not you’re counting the ingredients, this chicken with prosciutto and cheese is quickly going to become your new favorite easy dinner. Like a lot of our easy dinners, this is quick enough to serve on a busy weeknight, but it’s also pretty and upscale enough to entertain with. Always a win in my book.
Ingredients in Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken
Chicken. Chicken breasts are what I used here, but if you are partial to chicken thighs, you can also use them. I’d recommend getting breasts on the smaller side, as I find them more tender.
Fontina cheese. I love the mild, slightly nutty flavor of fontina. It melts beautifully and is the perfect cheese to stuff in chicken. If fontina isn’t you’re thing, you could also use mozzarella, goat cheese, or Swiss.
Prosciutto. I like to get my prosciutto at the deli counter. I find it to be fresher, and I love that I can dictate how thin to slice it. For this recipe, you want it a little bit thicker than paper thin so it doesn’t break, but also adheres to the chicken.
Butter. Butter makes everything better, right?
White wine. A dry white wine is what I’d use. Something you can drink while you cook.
Lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice please!
How to make Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast with Fontina
Stuff the chicken. Cut a small 1/2-inch slit at the top of the thicker part of the breast with a small pairing knife. Use the end of the knife to make a pocket inside the breast large enough for a few 1/4-inch pieces of cheese to fit in. (See photo.) Cut the cheese into 1/4-inch pieces and stuff into the chicken. If needed, secure with tooth picks.
Wrap the chicken in prosciutto. Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Gently wrap the chicken with two pieces of prosciutto. You want the ends to meet on the bottom side of the chicken breast.
Sear the chicken. Heat a large skillet to a medium heat. Add two tablespoons of butter. Once the butter melts, add the chicken breast, smooth-side up. Sear until the prosciutto and chicken are golden brown and crisp. (The prosciutto should release from the pan easily when it’s ready to flip.) Do the same on the other side. Remove the chicken from the pan.
Make the sauce. Add the remaining butter to the pan and turn the heat up to medium-high. Swirl the pan until the butter begins to brown and smells nutty, 2-3 minutes. Once the butter is a deep brown, remove from the heat and add wine. (It will spit and spatter, that’s ok, just be careful.) Put the pan back over a medium heat and cook the wine until it’s reduced by half, it should only take a minute or two. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits. Add in lemon juice.
Finish cooking the chicken. Add the chicken back to the pan, smooth-side up. Place in the oven and bake until chicken is cooked through, another 12-15 minutes.
Serve! I like to serve this with something starchy to soak up all that delicious sauce. Potatoes, pasta, rice, even quinoa would be great.
Can I make Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast in advance?
Yes and no. So you can absolutely PREPARE it in advance. Stuff the chicken, wrap it prosciutto and store on a plate or tray wrapped in plastic wrap. Once you’re ready to eat, pull it out and let it rest for about 15 minutes, then cook as the recipe instructs. I wouldn’t recommend cooking the chicken in advance.
What if I don’t cook with wine?
If you don’t have wine in the house, no problem. Swap out the wine for chicken stock. However, because you lose the acidity wine has, I’d wouldn’t recommend leaving out the lemon juice. You’ll need that punch of acid in the end to round the flavors out.
Substitutions and Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success
- Instead of prosciutto-wrapped chicken beast, feel free to do prosciutto-wrapped chicken thighs. Thighs are a little bit fattier, but they’re more flavorful than the breast, plus they’re a lot more inexpensive.
- Instead of using prosciutto, you could similarly prepare chicken wrapped in bacon. It may take a little bit longer to cook, so I’d suggest partially cooking the bacon before wrapping the chicken.
- Do not overcook your chicken! It should only need about 12-15 minutes in the oven to finish cooking. If you’re not sure, use a meat thermometer. Chicken is finished cooking when a thermometer reaches 165-degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the chicken.
- Again, swap out wine for chicken stock if you need to.
- Make sure to season the chicken underneath the prosciutto with salt and pepper. In simple dishes, every layer needs to be seasoned.
- I don’t mind if a little cheese oozes out during the cooking process, but if you want it to stay contained in the chicken, use a tooth pick to hold the opening together.
What should I serve with Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast?
- These Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes or these Best EVER Mashed Potatoes would be the perfect starch to serve underneath the prosciutto-wrapped chicken to soak up all that DELICIOUS juice.
- Brown Butter Pesto Green Beans would be the perfect healthy, easy veggie to round out the whole meal.
- I’d also recommend starting the meal with our Everyday Kale and Brussels sprout Salad – so simple and delicious.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast with Fontina
Ingredients
- 4 medium chicken breasts``
- 3 oz fontina cheese
- 8 thin slices prosciutto
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Equipment
- Large skillet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Take a small pairing knife and cut a 1/2-inch slit at top of the thickest part of the chicken breast. Use your knife to cut an opening in the middle of the chicken without cutting through to the side. You want to be able to slide a 1/4-inch piece of fontina into the slit.
- Cut the fontina into 1/4-inch pieces. Stuff the fontina into the pocket of the chicken breast. If needed, put a toothpick in the chicken to secure. (If you made a small enough pocket, you may not need any toothpicks.)
- Season each chicken breast on both sides with salt and pepper. Wrap each chicken breast with two slices of prosciutto. (You want the prosciutto ends to be on the bottom of the less smooth side of the chicken breast.)
- Heat a large skillet to a medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted and started to foam, swirl the pan to evenly distribute the butter. Add the chicken breast, smooth-side up. Sear until golden brown and prosciutto is crisp, about 3-4 minutes. The chicken should release easily when it's brown. Flip and repeat on the other side. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.
- Add remaining butter to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high and once the butter melts, swirl the pan until the butter begins to brown. Once the butter turns a deep brown and smells nutty, remove from the heat and add white wine. (It will spit and splatter, be careful.) Use a woooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Reduce wine by half over a medium heat. Add lemon juice, stir to combine. Add the chicken breasts back to the pan, smooth/pretty side up. Place in the oven until cooked through, another 12-15 minutes until it reaches 165 degrees.
- Spoon sauce over chicken. (If some of the cheese has come out, that's ok!, just transfer it to the plate along with the chicken.) Serve with mashed potatoes, crusty bread, or rice.
Jacqueline says
This was so delicious, it almost tasted like the entire piece of chicken was prosciutto! I highly recommend using a meat thermometer in this because its very difficult to tell if the chicken is done otherwise. Only change I had to make was I wiped out the pan after searing the chicken and started over for the wine/butter sauce, unfortunately the drippings on mine were too brunt (not browned) to keep. Still came out amazing!
Brenda says
No picture for pinteresting?
EMM says
Great weeknight meal, easy and delicious.