Italian Chicken Cheesy Bread - easy cheesy bread that quickly becomes a meal, all thanks to grilled chicken, sweet red pepper sauce, tomatoes and lots of cheese!
Have you ever watched "Chopped" (yes, I am assuming that you know the show) and thought that it would be so much fun to compete in it? That is until you saw pickled eggs or gefilte fish in their basket. But still! A cooking challenge sounds fun, right?
Especially if you can be in the comfort of your own home, have all the time you need to think about the dish you will make, plus all the ingredients are already in your pantry.
And one of them is cheese.
Sargento is inviting you to take on their "Chopped at Home" challenge using their shredded cheese! The ingredients in the basket:
- Sargento® Chef Blends™ Shredded 6 Cheese Italian
- Boneless skinless chicken breast
- Red bell pepper
- Greek yogurt
You can enter the "Chopped at Home" contest with your dish featuring the Sargento cheese, HERE.
I always thought that if I was to take on a cooking challenge with a limited time and judges - I would always make something I know and made many times before. A challenge is not the time to experiment for sure. Take a base of what you know and work the ingredients into it - that is my strategy.
So I went with one of the most loved recipes on Crunchy Creamy Sweet.
For once, the bread is all about the cheese and this challenge is supposed to highlight the Sargento Shredded Cheese. Second, I've made so many variations of the bread and I know it can be easily turned into a fantastic meal.
The fact that I was supposed to use Sargento's 6 Cheese Italian blend (with low moisture part-skim Mozzarella, smoked Provolone, Romano, Fontina, fresh Asiago and Parmesan) helped me narrow the theme down to an Italian dish. Italian chicken to be exact. What I needed was a sauce, and the sweet red pepper and Greek yogurt were the answer. I grilled the peppers on a griddle and pureed them with the yogurt in my small food processor. A pinch of salt and a dash of black pepper and the sauce was ready. The next layer is seasoned and grilled chicken breast, sliced and layered on top of the sauce. I arranged large yet thin slices of fresh tomatoes over the chicken and topped it all with Sargento shredded cheese. A few minutes in the oven turned this bread into a hot Italian Chicken Cheesy Bread that was devoured for dinner.
At the last minute, I decided to make a super quick garlic Greek yogurt aioli for dipping or drizzling. It helped to make the whole dish complete.
Italian Chicken Cheesy Bread
Ingredients
- 1 Italian bread loaf
- ½ large red bell pepper sliced
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
- 8 oz container of plain Greek yogurt
- Shredded 6 Cheese Italian
- 1 large fresh tomato
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- salt and pepper
- chopped parsley optional for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper or a aluminum foil.
- Slice the bread lengthwise and place both pieces on the prepared sheet.
- Preheat a counter top griddle to a medium heat. Spray with an olive oil cooking spray.
- Arrange the red pepper slices on the griddle and grill until softened.
- Remove the peppers from the griddle and place on a small plate to cool.
- Season the chicken and arrange on a griddle. You can slice the chicken breast in half lenghtwise for a faster cooking.
- Turn off the griddle and remove the chicken from the griddle and place on a plate to cool, until it's safe to touch.
- Place grilled pepper in a food processor. Add 4 oz. of Greek yogurt, a dash of salt and pepper and process until smooth. Flecks of pepper in the sauce are good.
- Spread the sauce on both pieces of bread.
- Slice or shred the chicken and arrange on top of the sauce.
- Slice the tomato into a large yet thin slices and arrange them on top of the chicken.
- Top it with the shredded cheese.
- Bake the bread for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven and place on a cutting board to cool to room temperature.
- Place the remaining 4oz. of Greek yogurt and minced garlic in a small food processor. Add a dash of salt and pepper and process until smooth, about 10 to 12 seconds. Place the sauce in a small bowl.
- Slice and serve garnished with chopped parsley and along the garlic yogurt aioli for dipping.
Nutrition
Now it's your turn! Pull out your creativity hats (and aprons) and gather the needed ingredients! Come up with your best Chopped-inspired dish featuring the Sargento® Chef Blends™ Shredded 6 Cheese Italian blend and enter the contest, HERE.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sargento®. The opinions and text are all mine.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!