Fontina chicken is a delicious, cheesy take on classic chicken recipes that will have your taste buds doing backflips. This melt-in-your-mouth dish features juicy, tender chicken breasts stuffed with a creamy, savory filling of fontina cheese, herbs, and other tasty ingredients Once you try fontina chicken, you may never go back to plain old chicken again!
What Exactly is Fontina Chicken?
Fontina chicken refers to chicken breasts that have been pounded thin, stuffed with a cheese filling featuring fontina cheese, then rolled up, coated in breadcrumbs, and baked. The result is chicken that is crispy on the outside and oozing with warm, gooey cheese on the inside.
The star of the show in fontina chicken is fontina cheese Fontina is an Italian cow’s milk cheese with a semi-soft, creamy texture and nutty, mild flavor. When melted, it becomes even creamier and richer tasting. This makes it the perfect choice for stuffing inside chicken breasts.
How to Make Crave-Worthy Fontina Chicken
Making fontina chicken is easier than you think! Here’s a step-by-step guide:
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken breasts
- Fontina cheese
- Cream cheese
- Fresh herbs like parsley or basil
- Bacon or pancetta (optional)
- Breadcrumbs
- Eggs
- Olive oil
Step 1: Pound the Chicken
Take 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and place them between pieces of plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet or rolling pin to gently pound them to about 1/4-inch thickness. This helps the chicken cook quicker and makes it easier to roll up with the filling.
Step 2: Make the Filling
In a bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, shredded fontina, chopped fresh herbs, cooked crumbled bacon or pancetta (if using), and any other fillings you want like sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, or spinach. Season with salt, pepper, and any other spices you like.
Step 3: Roll Up the Chicken
Spread the filling evenly over each chicken breast. Tightly roll up the chicken from short end to short end and secure with toothpicks.
Step 4: Bread and Bake
Dip each chicken roll in egg, then coat thoroughly in breadcrumbs. Place seam-side down in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375°F for 30-35 minutes until chicken is cooked through. The breadcrumbs will become crisp and golden brown.
Step 5: Dig In!
Once baked, let the fontina chicken rests for 5 minutes before removing toothpicks. Slice into pinwheels and serve while hot and ooey-gooey. Enjoy this flavor-packed meal!
Tips for Making Perfect Fontina Chicken
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Use good quality block fontina, not pre-shredded cheese which contains additives that can make it less melty.
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Try using a combo of fontina and mozzarella for even more stretchy, melted cheese goodness.
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Feel free to experiment with different fillings like cooked spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, or different herbs.
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Don’t overbake or the cheese filling can become dried out. Check for doneness early.
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Be careful when pounding the chicken breasts to prevent tearing so the filling stays neatly inside.
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Chilling the rolled chicken in the fridge for 15-30 minutes helps set the shape before breading.
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For extra flavor, marinate the chicken in Italian dressing, lemon juice, or cajun seasoning before stuffing.
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Serve fontina chicken with pasta, risotto, or garlic bread to enjoy every last bit of cheesy goodness.
Why You’ll Fall in Love with Fontina Chicken
There are so many reasons fontina chicken should become a regular in your dinner rotation:
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It’s simple to make but feels fancy. Impress your dinner guests!
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Kids and picky eaters love anything with melted cheese. It’s a crowd-pleaser.
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The creamy, gooey cheese perfectly complements the juicy chicken.
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It’s like getting two dinners in one – crispy breaded chicken and cheesy stuffed chicken!
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Endless possibilities for changing up the filling to keep meals exciting.
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Baking is hands-off cooking. Just assemble, pop it in the oven, and wait for cheese-stuffed perfection.
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Leftovers make amazing sandwiches or can be tossed with pasta or salads.
With tender chicken enveloping melted pockets of decadent, creamy cheese, every bite of fontina chicken is sure to bring joy to your tastebuds. I hope you’ll give this simple yet scrumptious recipe a try soon and discover your new favorite way to enjoy chicken for dinner!
Fontina Stuffed Chicken Marsala – I’ve taken the classic recipe of Chicken Marsala to another level by stuffing it full of creamy Fontina cheese.
I make Chicken Marsala ALL THE TIME. So when a friend sent me a private message on Facebook the other day asking if I had a recipe for Chicken Marsala, my first reaction was “of course I do”. Like a diligent little blogger, I headed right over to grab her the URL so she didnt have to search for it and……”what the what?”, no Chicken Marsala recipe! Seriously? How is this possible? In an effort to right my wrong, I immediately jotted down “Chicken Marsala” on my working list of meals for this week. 
While I was out grabbing chicken and mushrooms, a little block of my favorite cheese was calling to me! Really, it called my name. I heard it. Okay, I think I heard it. Fine, I didnt hear it but if Fontina cheese could talk, it totally would have called my name. Originally when I grabbed the cheese, I hadnt had a plan for it but it didnt take me more than a few minutes to realize that it goes so well with mushrooms and it melts so beautifully that it had to go in the marsala! I mean, it would almost be an injustice not to put it in the marsala. 
Because I was stuffing the chicken, there are a few things I had to do differently than I would with regular marsala. First, I had to buy big thick breasts (get your mind out of the gutter, were talking chicken here, people). Place your chicken on a cutting board and very carefully you want to slice it, but not all the way through, just enough to create a “pocket” for the cheese. Usually, with marsala, I would cook the chicken all the way through on the stovetop, but since these breasts are so thick, I actually browned them on the stovetop and then popped them on a baking sheet in the oven to finish cooking. While the chicken is finishing up in the oven, I put the skillet back on the burner to cook the mushrooms and create the sauce. Once the chicken is cooked through, I place them back in the pan with the sauce to coat and then I serve over pasta. Some people put cream in their marsala but I dont bother with all that. I do always drop a tablespoon of butter in at the end to give it a nice finish but thats all it needs. Trust me on this. 
One last thing to trust me on, get yourself into a liquor store and buy real marsala wine, not the stuff in the grocery store. I used to use those and man, does the real stuff make a difference. Plus, when youre in the liquor store you can grab yourself a bottle of wine to drink with dinner, thats what I did.
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Chicken Fontina
FAQ
What is the flavor of fontina?
Fontina is a semi-hard, Italian-style cow’s milk cheese a milk fat content around 45%, resulting in a rich and creamy texture and a nutty, buttery flavor that gets sharper with age. Fontina is typically aged for 90 days in caverns that give the cheese its unique and nuanced flavor.
What is chicken fontina?
What type of cheese is fontina like?
You can substitute any washed-rind Alpine cheese for Fontina, like Challerhocker or Taleggio, or an unwashed Alpine cheese, like Gruyere or raclette. Gouda, and Provolone would also be good substitutes.
What is fontina in English?
Meaning of fontina in English
a pale yellow cheese made from cow’s milk, originally from Italy, with a mild (= not strong)flavour: Fontina is a great cheese for melting and is excellent in grilled sandwiches.
What is Italian Fontina cheese?
Italian Fontina cheese can be identified by a Consorzio stamp of the Matterhorn including the script ‘Fontina’. The original and most famous version of this cheese is produced in Aosta, Italy, but Fontina is also produced in other parts of Italy, as well as Denmark, Sweden, Quebec, France, and the United States.
What is Fontina cheese?
Fontina is a traditional Italian cheese made with cow’s milk. It is semi-soft and has a mild buttery and nutty flavor, making it a favorite around the world. It melts smoothly and easily, so it is perfect in sauces. To achieve its flavor and texture, fontina cheese is made as soon as the milk is acquired.
What is Fontina & prosciutto stuffed chicken with spring vegetables?
Our Fontina & Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken with Spring Vegetables is a new twist on a favorite: classic chicken cordon bleu. It will knock your socks off. Funky fontina and salty prosciutto are stuffed into a butterflied protein-rich chicken breast and nestled in a creamy sauce—this is the best gooey cheesiness situation.