If you haven’t been to a Ruth Chris steakhouse before, you are in for a real treat. When it comes to cooking meat, they are experts, and there is no better dish to showcase this than the Ruth Chris Stuffed Chicken Recipe. Crispy skin, juicy chicken stuffed with a delicious cheesy filling. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a Ruth Chris nearby, because today we are going to show you how to make it at home!
How to Make the Ruth Chris Stuffed Chicken
What makes the Ruth Chris recipe so unbelievably tasty is the contrast. You’ve got crispy skin over juicy chicken breast, and a few flavors are going on in the dish too.
The filling really makes the dish, so we will start there first. We add cream cheese to a large bowl and then add a few heaped tablespoons of ranch dressing before giving it a good stir. This forms a semi-thick sauce. However, if we were to leave it like this, it would just pour out of the pockets we make in the chicken, and it isn’t quite cheesy enough yet.
So, here’s what we do.
We add more cheese! We are talking about handfuls of sharp cheddar, along with some fresh and fragrant thyme leaves (fresh is best).
Want to know how to make this taste even better?
Plenty of salt and pepper! This is a step you don’t want to miss. Season your cheese, people!
Once this preparation stage is complete. There is something that you are going to want to do before continuing.
Put the oven on high! That skin isn’t going to crisp itself.
We then take our chicken breasts and put them smooth side down. Now, there will be a flap under the chicken breast. Open this up, and using a sharp knife, cut a little pocket until you are nearly (but not quite) through to the other side.
Taking a good spoonful of your savory cheese mix, stuff this into the chicken pocket and gently roll the flap back over before securing it closed with a cocktail stick or wooden toothpick.
Line a baking tray and gently place your breasts a little apart.
From here, it’s just a case of seasoning.
We like to sprinkle ours with a spice mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little paprika to get the full taste.
The next step is easy. Whack it in the oven for around 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and has turned golden brown on the outside.
Yes, it really is that easy!
Tips and Tricks
- Leaving the skin on the chicken breast is optional. We find that it keeps the meat a little more juicy, but if you don’t like it, you can simply remove it and prepare the dish as described above.
- Fresh thyme is preferable, but this works nearly as well if you have only got dried thyme. Just combine a tablespoon with the cheese mixture.
- We find it takes around 5 toothpicks to ensure a nice seal. Take your time at this stage. If you leave any gaps, the cheesy filling will leak out and burn on the oven tray.
- Speaking of oven trays, be sure to line your tray. It only takes a little cheese to ooze its way out, and you are left with a burned-on mess that makes washing up difficult!
- There are a few ways to add a little variety to this dish. We have also tried crushing garlic and adding it to the cheese mix for an extra garlic hit. You can also add finely chopped chili and spring onion for a little extra heat.
- The key to a nice crispy skin is getting the oven up to temperature before putting the breasts in. Ensure that turning the oven on is the first thing you do.
- This recipe is entirely scalable, so if you want to make more of the Ruth Chris stuffed chicken, double up on all the ingredients!
Conclusion
While a visit to Ruth Chris Steakhouse is a real treat, you won’t even need to leave the house with our Ruth Chris stuffed chicken recipe. There are no fancy ingredients at all, meaning you can make it any day of the week. What are your favorite Ruth Chris dishes? Let us know in the comments below. We love hearing from you.