Baked Ricotta Chicken

This easy ricotta chicken bake has three cheeses, a blanket of marinara, and a handful of spinach tossed in for plausible deniability and a nod to your 9th grade Home-Ec teacher. It's bubbling and on the table in about 30 minutes, which leaves plenty of time to stand over the sink eating cold shredded mozzarella directly from the cutting board. I know nothing about that.

Table of Contents

• 🥰 Is this ricotta chicken bake for you?
• 🎥 Video
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Recipe
• 🔪 How to make ricotta chicken
• 😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)
• 📚 More easy chicken recipes
• 🍽️ Sides to serve with ricotta chicken bake
• 💬 Comments

🥰 Is this ricotta chicken bake for you?

Tender chicken breasts baked with creamy ricotta and spinach is for you if:

• You're looking for weeknight easy. Tender chicken breasts bake right in the sauce, so there's no browning, babysitting, or dirtying every pan you own.
• Three cheeses sounds just right. Ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan. We have standards, and apparently those standards are mostly dairy.
• Sneaking spinach into the family meals is your secondary career. It disappears into the creamy ricotta layer where suspicious family members are less likely to request the complaint department.
• You want dinner in about 30 minutes. Because 5 p.m. has the unsettling habit of showing up every single day.

Wendy says, This was delish! I used chicken thighs and added red pepper flakes. Served with a salad. This recipe will be in our rotation. Thank you!

🎥 Video

If you're a words are cheap, show me the chicken kind of person, here's the video.

🧾 Ingredients

Nothing here requires a suspicious little jar of imported luxury you'll use once and resent forever.

• Boneless chicken breast or thighs - Breasts keep this lighter and cook quickly; thighs stay extra juicy and are far more forgiving if dinner gets temporarily abandoned because somebody needs you right now. NOTE: I use smaller, free range organic breasts; very large, thick chicken breasts will require a longer cooking time.
• Ricotta cheese - Whole milk ricotta is my favorite because it's creamier, richer, and less watery. This is dinner, not a disciplinary hearing. Buy the good stuff.
• Mozzarella - Shred it yourself if you have the time for maximum meltiness. Pre-shredded works perfectly well when you have other plans for your remaining mortal hours.
• Fresh Parmesan - Freshly grated Parmesan has much more flavor than the shelf-stable stuff in the green can. Save that for spaghetti emergencies and childhood nostalgia.
• Spinach - Fresh chopped spinach goes straight into the ricotta mixture, no precooking required. Frozen works too, but thaw it and squeeze it extremely dry unless you were hoping for ricotta chicken soup.
• Marinara sauce - Use a marinara you already know you like because its flavor matters here. I usually reach for spicy arrabbiata because occasionally tomatoes need to choose violence.
• Italian seasoning - The easy little herb cabinet shortcut that saves us from measuring oregano, basil, thyme, and whatever else is hiding behind the cinnamon.
• Garlic - Fresh minced garlic gives the ricotta mixture plenty of flavor. Measure with your heart, but remember that your heart may have to speak to other humans later.
• Salt & pepper - Season the chicken itself, not just the toppings. Chicken breast without salt has all the charisma of a wet envelope.

Be sure to download the baked ricotta chicken kitchen cheat sheet for extra FAQs, tips, and storage info.

📖 Recipe

🔪 How to make ricotta chicken

This is mostly a matter of mixing, layering, and letting the oven handle the consequences. No searing, stuffing, or standing over a skillet questioning your life choices required. The creamy spinach ricotta mixture keeps the chicken flavorful while marinara and mozzarella give the whole thing serious baked-pasta energy, minus the pasta.

1. Mix it up. Stir the ricotta, spinach, garlic, Italian seasoning, and half of the mozzarella-Parmesan mixture together until well combined.
2. Pile it on. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, then spread the spinach ricotta mixture evenly over the top.
3. Sauce and bake. Spoon the marinara over the chicken and bake until the chicken is nearly cooked through.
4. Bring on the cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan, then return to the oven until the cheese is melted and the chicken reaches 165°F in the thickest part. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

😱 What can go wrong (and how to fix it)

🧀 My chicken is swimming in liquid. Chicken, spinach, and ricotta can all release moisture as they cook. Pat the chicken dry first, and if you're using frozen spinach, squeeze the living daylights out of it before adding it to the ricotta.

🧀 The topping slid right off the chicken. Usually the chicken was too wet before the ricotta went on. Pat it dry, then spread the mixture over the chicken and press it down gently so it understands this is its assigned seat.

🧀 My chicken is dry. Chicken breasts have a very small window between juicy and building material. Thickness matters more than the clock, so use an instant-read thermometer and cook to 165°F.

🧀 Some pieces are done and others aren't. Your chicken breasts are probably wildly different sizes. Pound the thicker pieces to an even thickness or slice very large breasts horizontally before assembling.

🧀 The ricotta mixture is watery. Whole milk ricotta usually gives you a thicker, creamier filling. If yours looks especially wet when you open the container, drain off any visible liquid before mixing.

🧀 The cheese isn't getting gloriously melty. Once the chicken is cooked through, switch the broiler on for a minute or two. Do not wander away. Mozzarella goes from gorgeous to evidence of arson with astonishing speed.

📚 More easy chicken recipes

Chicken again? Absolutely. The bird is versatile, affordable, and frankly carrying the weeknight dinner industry on its back.

🍽️ Sides to serve with ricotta chicken bake

If you're looking for a side to finish off the meal check out these easy side dishes for eggplant parmesan - they all work beautifully with this chicken recipe!

This is one of those recipes I like to keep around because nobody, at least not that I know, has the emotional bandwidth to make dinner a multi-plated event every night.

You put the chicken in the pan, cover it with spinach, ricotta, sauce, and cheese, and half an hour later everybody gets fed without you having to negotiate with six burners and a sink full of crusty cookware.

Keep a jar of marinara and a tub of ricotta around and you're halfway to dinner before anyone can ask, what's for dinner.