Some dishes never get old, and you can always give a twist to a tried and tested recipe to make it even more unique and delicious. The Chicken Roulade is one such recipe. Chicken can be dressed up or down and made to suit any palette. It is also the healthiest of all the meat, with hardly any cholesterol.
Originally known as the Poulet Farci in French, the Chicken Roulade is a great addition to any fancy and formal dinner. The best thing about it is that you can always suit your tastes by changing the filling.
And suppose you look up the original French recipe. In that case, you will notice that it has several similarities with the Chicken Cordon Bleu, but the combination in the fillings differs. Once the Roulade comes together and you are ready for plating, the final presentation looks pretty spectacular.
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Table of Contents
So What Exactly is a Chicken Roulade?
The chicken roulade is a stuffed chicken recipe made from chicken breast. First, the boneless chicken breast is flattened with a sumptuous filling comprising spinach, mushroom, and cheese. It is then rolled and baked and finally sliced up to give you exquisite rings of stuffed chicken.
Popular Chicken Roulade Fillings
A classic chicken roulade filling will always contain spinach. It can include other vegetables, with mushrooms being a very popular choice. This is why you can also argue that it is a pretty healthy dish, with protein and vitamins coming together beautifully.
Next, you will need some cheese for the filling. The most popular cheese is ricotta, but you could also try the classic mozzarella if you have run out of other cheeses. A combination of gouda and ricotta also works if you want the filling to be cheesy and you do not mind the gouda’s intense fragrance with the lightness of the chicken.
On the other hand, if you want to make your chicken roulade even meatier, you could add ham, bacon, and other meats like minced beef or lamb. Adding bacon is a wonderful way of playing with the texture, and the saltiness of the crisp bacon very well complements the baked, juicy chicken. You can add a few strips of crisp bacon before rolling up the chicken.
Another variant is to wrap the chicken in bacon strips and to grill the dish after the baking is done and the chicken is cooked through. This makes the bacon nice and crisp, which adds another texture contrasting the creamy spinach filling inside.
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Recipe for a Chicken Roulade Sauce
It is not compulsory to have a sauce with the chicken roulade. Still, it is a way to pack in some extra flavor and add more variety. Also, it looks great while plating, and besides, you can always use it to dip some garlic bread if you want to add some carbs.
There are three options for sauces that you can try.
1. Creamy White Wine Sauce
You can either go for a white wine cream sauce that is more subtle in taste. For example, you can sauté some garlic with some crushed onion in a pan. Add some butter and a splash of white wine. Once the pan is deglazed, add some chicken stock and cream and let it thicken. Let it rest to thicken more and pour it in trickles over the Roulade or plate it as a side dressing.
2. Dijon Cream Sauce
You could make a Dijon cream sauce that packs in quite a punch. Dijon mustard and cream go well together, and they will provide a burst of flavor for sure. It works best when you have a side of mashed potatoes or sautéed veggies to scoop up the goodness.
3. Alfredo Sauce
For some, nothing less than classic creamy Alfredo sauce will do so when it comes to the perfect accompaniment to chicken roulade. And you have to admit that the sauce goes with the dish very well indeed and alleviates it to a whole new level. This is also a wonderful way of incorporating any leftover mushrooms that you might have after using what you need for the filling, which further intensifies the mushroom flavor in the dish.
To make the alfredo sauce, all you have to do is melt some butter in a pan and add some chopped parsley to it. Next, add some onion and mushroom and cook it for two minutes over medium-low heat. Then add your cream and garlic and stir for a minute or two.
Finally, lower the heat, add some milk, and whisk and simmer everything until you get a creamy, smooth sauce. Finally, add some parmesan cheese, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Let it cool down a bit to thicken, and you have the most amazing sauce ever.
All the sauces mentioned above take about five minutes to prepare, so you wouldn’t want to miss them as they add a new dimension to your dish.
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Chicken Roulade Recipe: All You Need to Know
So, now that you have everything else in place, it is time for the main recipe. This is the classic version, but you are free to add your combination of veggies and cheese to the filling. Here is everything you need to know.
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Main Ingredients:
- 4 Chicken Breast pieces
- Spinach
- Mushroom
- Ricotta Cheese
- Grated Parmesan
- Bacon
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt and Pepper
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Clean and dice your mushrooms.
- Clean and chop your spinach. Do not chop too finely. You would want some texture to it.
- Mince your garlic and keep it ready.
- Cut your bacon into strips.
- Take a chicken breast and slice it horizontally. Do it by pressing the chicken down and slowly making an incision through the middle so that you have the upper and lower flap.
- Do not go all the way through and stop when the chicken is almost sliced in half. Your chicken should open like a suitcase. And once open, your breast should be like the two open wings of a butterfly.
Point to Remember: Be careful not to sever the thin, uncut piece of meat entirely. Now, use a meat mallet and start pounding your chicken lightly. You can use a plastic film to make it easier and not let any juices interfere with the chicken. Your chicken should flatten out to form a neat, flat base. Then, season it with salt and pepper.
Cooking:
- In a saucepan, take some butter and melt it over medium-low heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Once the garlic starts letting off the aroma, add your mushrooms and cook till they become tender.
- Then add the spinach to the mushrooms and let them wilt. It should take a minute or two.
- Take the mixture off the heat and keep it aside. Allow it to cool down for a couple of minutes, and add your cheeses, ricotta, and grated parmesan. Then add the nutmeg and other seasonings and give it a good mix till the cheeses melt with the residual heat, and you get a cheesy, creamy filling.
- Now take a chicken breast and put generous spoonfuls of the filling inside. Now take one of the edges and slowly start rolling the chicken. If you are doing this for the first time, use your fingers to push any filling that might seem to be falling outside. Your chicken breast should not look like a cylinder.
- Once you have reached the edge, take one of the bacon strips and roll one-half of the chicken breast. Then, take a second strip, continue rolling, and cover the second half.
- Now line a baking tray with a sheet of foil. Then out an oven-proof wire rack over the sheet. Transfer the rolled and stuffed chicken breasts to the rack.
- Put the tray in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Use a knife to check the chicken, and if it comes out clean, your chicken is done.
- The bacon strip on the outside should be crisp enough, but if they are thick or you want it to be crispier, change the setting to broil and let the chicken sit inside for another couple of minutes. You can raise the heat by 100 degrees but do not let it sit for more than a minute or so as you do not want to burn the bacon!
Plating
Once out of the oven, let the chicken rest for ten minutes. The resting time allows the juices to spread evenly. Next, take a sharp knife, and slice your chicken roulade to one-inch thick medallions. The cross-section should reveal the gorgeous filling, chicken, and bacon layers. Arrange them on a tray and place a bowl of the sauce you had prepared. Sprinkle some parsley, some freshly ground black pepper, and grated parmesan, and you have a winner! You can also add some mashed potatoes on the side.
Alternative Cooking Methods
Although the classic chicken roulade is made by baking the dish, you can fry it if you want.
1. Frying in Oil
You would have to heat a cup of oil in a frying pan and let it heat until it reaches around 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, place your Roulade in the hot oil and cook for about five minutes on both sides on medium-low heat. The bacon on the outside should be crisp, and when the internal temperature is around 165 degrees, the chicken should be cooked through.
2. Air Fryer
If you do not want to use so much oil, you can also use an air fryer. Sprinkle some oil evenly on the Roulade and put it in the air fryer for 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. Your bacon should be crisp and the chicken quite tender when you put a knife through it.
Conclusion
The best thing about chicken roulade is that apart from the slicing and rolling technique, the recipe is essentially simple and does not require many ingredients. You can master it in a couple of tries. There is no hard and fast rule to the measurements as well. Like mushrooms? Go on and add some more? Want to add more cheese? Go ahead with that too. It is a healthy and tasty meal that your entire family will definitely love.
Delicious Chicken Roulade Recipe
Equipment
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Clean and dice your mushrooms.
- Clean and chop your spinach. Do not chop too finely. You would want some texture to it.
- Mince your garlic and keep it ready.
- Cut your bacon into strips.
- Take a chicken breast and slice it horizontally. Do it by pressing the chicken down and slowly making an incision through the middle so that you have the upper and lower flap.
- Do not go all the way through and stop when the chicken is almost sliced in half. Your chicken should open like a suitcase. And once open, your breast should be like the two open wings of a butterfly.
Ingredients
- 4 pieces Chicken Breast
- Spinach
- Mushroom
- Ricotta Cheese
- Grated Parmesan
- Bacon
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- In a saucepan, take some butter and melt it over medium-low heat. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Once the garlic starts letting off the aroma, add your mushrooms and cook till they become tender.
- Then add the spinach to the mushrooms and let them wilt. It should take a minute or two.
- Take the mixture off the heat and keep it aside. Allow it to cool down for a couple of minutes, and add your cheeses, ricotta, and grated parmesan. Then add the nutmeg and other seasonings and give it a good mix till the cheeses melt with the residual heat, and you get a cheesy, creamy filling.
- Now take a chicken breast and put generous spoonfuls of the filling inside. Now take one of the edges and slowly start rolling the chicken. If you are doing this for the first time, use your fingers to push any filling that might seem to be falling outside. Your chicken breast should not look like a cylinder.
- Once you have reached the edge, take one of the bacon strips and roll one-half of the chicken breast. Then, take a second strip, continue rolling, and cover the second half.
- Now line a baking tray with a sheet of foil. Then out an oven-proof wire rack over the sheet. Transfer the rolled and stuffed chicken breasts to the rack.
- Put the tray in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Use a knife to check the chicken, and if it comes out clean, your chicken is done.
- The bacon strip on the outside should be crisp enough, but if they are thick or you want it to be crispier, change the setting to broil and let the chicken sit inside for another couple of minutes. You can raise the heat by 100 degrees but do not let it sit for more than a minute or so as you do not want to burn the bacon!