Hasselback Pizza Chicken

Hasselback is typically a technique for potatoes, where you make several crosswise slices in baking potatoes, fill the slices with cheese (and other goodies) and bake until the potatoes are tender. It's a beautiful presentation because, as the potatoes bake, the slices separate and fan out. Well guess what? Chicken works too - and, it stays incredibly moist as a result.

For this dish, I simply seasoned "hasselback" sliced chicken breasts with Italian seasoning, coated them with pizza sauce (marinara sauce works too) and filled the slices with cheese. In just 20 minutes, the chicken was moist, tender and ready to serve. In far less than 20 minutes, there was nothing left on our plates...

Hasselback Pizza Chicken 

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, about 5 ounces each
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
Salt and black pepper
3/4 cup pizza sauce or marinara sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a shallow baking dish with the olive oil.
Using a sharp knife, make several crosswise slices in the chicken, cutting down about 3/4 of the way, without cutting all the way through to the bottom. Arrange the chicken in the prepared pan and season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each chicken breast. Fill the slices with the cheese (I used a spoon and allowed some of the sauce to slide into the slices too). Top the chicken with the remaining sauce (1 tablespoon per chicken breast) and parmesan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Serves 4