Stuff Chicken With Canned Spinach For An Easy Yet Delicious Weeknight Meal
There's a wide variety of ways to use canned spinach, like making a quick batch of spinach artichoke dip for your next party or for creamed spinach to complete a steak dinner. Using the canned vegetable is also an effortless way to make stuffed chicken for an easy dinner any night of the week. You might typically use fresh or frozen spinach for stuffed chicken, but there are a few reasons why the canned variety will make the dish even easier to get on the table.
You might not think canned spinach is worth it compared to its fresh counterpart, but the tinned vegetable is still good for you and might even contain more vitamin C, so you won't miss out on the nutritional benefits. Fresh spinach is comprised mostly of water so when it gets cooked, that water content reduces by a lot, whereas canned spinach is already cooked so you know how much you're working with. Going for canned will save you time in the kitchen too, as some popular brands of spinach come already chopped, which means you won't have to do any cutting. Furthermore, canned vegetables like spinach are often cheaper than fresh, so this tip will also reduce your grocery bill. The downside to canned spinach is that it will likely contain higher levels of sodium to preserve it, so be mindful of how much salt you add to the dish.
To drain — or not to drain?
Canned spinach is packed in brine or water like other tinned vegetables so there's a little prep work involved before using it to stuff chicken. The easiest method to get rid of the excess water, and some of the sodium, is to drain it off completely. There are recipes that suggest cooking the spinach in the liquid then draining it afterwards, but you won't have as much control over the salt levels and flavors that way.
Canned spinach can be used in any type of stuffed chicken, so try the swap with your go-to recipe. To take inspiration from classic spinach and artichoke dip, mix the greens with chopped artichoke hearts and cream cheese to fill the chicken. If the air fryer on your counter is your favorite appliance, try Tasting Table's air fryer stuffed chicken that already uses spinach along with sun-dried tomatoes. You can also try the swap with other recipes like our stuffed chicken Valentino, or to make an easy batch of our spinach and tomato stuffed chicken breasts. If you're intrigued about going the canned route, consider the other canned vegetables you should have stocked in your pantry, like peas and tomatoes.