Ben’s and my friends own a bagel shop here in town and, according to Ben, they have the best bagels in the country. I don’t have to take just his word for it it – their shop is wall-to-wall packed every single day, even with a national bread and bagel chain restaurant directly across the street. They are SLAYING the bagel game, and I love to see it!
Would I ever cheat on my gluten free diet? No. Do their soft and squishy New York Style bagels sandwiching 1/2″ of homemade cream cheese make me dream about it? Guilty!
Cam loves their everything bagels with scallion cream cheese and each time he pulls one out of the bag I start to shrivel. It smells incredible! The combo is so fabulous that I decided to slather homemade everything bagel and scallion cream cheese onto chicken cutlets then bake and serve for dinner.
Cheesy Everything Bagel Chicken is my latest creation in a never ending quest to make chicken un-boring and it not only squashes a bagel and cream cheese craving, but is low carb, gluten free and incredibly easy too!
What’s Inside
Softened cream cheese is mixed with everything bagel seasoning plus sliced green onions then the mixture is slathered over chicken cutlets and baked. Shredded cheese is sprinkled on top then the dish is returned to the oven until melted. This is a favorite of my chicken cutlet recipes because you simply load everything into a baking dish then put it into the oven. No muss, no fuss – plus, since the cutlets are baked, they stay nice and juicy. Honestly cannot say enough about this awesome everything bagel seasoning chicken recipe!
Chicken Cutlets vs Chicken Breasts
Chicken cutlets are large, boneless skinless chicken breasts that have been sliced in half widthwise to create two pieces of chicken from one, which stretches this somewhat expensive protein to feed more people. When you’ve got five people to feed, three times a day, this is a handy, money-saving trick so we’re not blowing through pounds and pounds of chicken each week.
That said, if you prefer to use a full chicken breast per person, make sure to pound them to an even thickness first, so they bake evenly, and plan on baking the chicken breasts longer than the 20-30 minutes needed for cutlets.
Recipe Tips
- I use 1/3 less fat cream cheese in this recipe but feel free to use luxurious full fat. I would skip fat free cream cheese.
- I wrote this recipe to include shredded Monterrey Jack cheese melted on top, but you can use whatever you’ve got in the fridge. I think a shredded pizza blend, white cheddar, or fontina cheese would be divine!
- This recipe includes a homemade everything bagel seasoning mix using spice cupboard staples. If you have a jar of pre-made mix from Trader Joe’s or somewhere else, you can use that instead. The store-bought mixes generally contain more salt than my homemade one, so be sure to read the note in the recipe card about how to combat this.
Cheesy, creamy, and surprisingly light – you are going to adore this easy baked chicken recipe!
Step 1: Make the Homemade Everything Bagel Seasoning
Start by making a homemade everything bagel seasoning. Like I said, if you have store bought on hand, you can use that instead – check the recipe card below to see how many Tablespoons of store-bought everything bagel seasoning to use. To make the homemade version you’ll need:
- Poppy seeds
- White sesame seeds
- Black sesame seeds
- Dried minced garlic
- Dried minced onion
- Salt
Step 2: Make the Cream Cheese Blend
Add the everything bagel seasoning plus chopped green onions to softened cream cheese then stir to combine. I typically use 1/3 less fat cream cheese though full fat is fabulous too. I don’t recommend using fat free cream cheese.
Step 3: Spread the Cream Cheese Mixture onto Chicken Cutlets
Next, slice 2 large chicken breasts in half widthwise to create 4 cutlets, then place them in a nonstick sprayed baking dish and season both sides with homemade seasoned salt and pepper.
Spread the green onion and everything bagel cream cheese mixture evenly over the top. We’re not looking for perfection here!
Step 4: Bake then Sprinkle with Shredded Cheese
Cover the baking dish with foil then bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Lastly, remove the foil and sprinkle shredded Monterrey Jack cheese on top and bake for 7-10 more minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
That’s all she wrote!!
Top the Cheesy Everything Bagel Chicken with sliced green onions for freshness and color then dig in! I hope you love this low-carb yet highly delicious take on bagel and schmear – enjoy!
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Cheesy Everything Bagel Chicken
Description
Cheesy Everything Bagel Chicken is a low carb, gluten free chicken dinner recipe that's surprisingly light and full of flavor!
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts (~1lb), sliced in half widthwise to create cutlets
- homemade seasoned salt and pepper
- 4oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 batch Everything Bagel Seasoning (see below)
- 3/4 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
- For the Everything Bagel Seasoning:
- 1-1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 3/4 teaspoon white sesame seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon black sesame seeds
- pinch of salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a medium-sized baking dish with nonstick spray then place chicken breasts in the bottom and season both sides with seasoned salt and pepper.
- To a small mixing bowl add softened cream cheese, chopped green onion, and Everything Bagel Seasoning ingredients then mix to combine. Spread mixture evenly over chicken breasts then cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover then sprinkle shredded cheese on top and continue baking for another 7-10 minutes or until cheese has melted and chicken is cooked through. Serve!
Notes
- Click here for my Homemade Seasoned Salt recipe >
- If you'd like to use store-bought Everything But the Bagel Seasoning, add 1 Tablespoon seasoning to the cream cheese then mix and taste. Add up to an additional 1/2 Tablespoon seasoning if desired (the store bought version is a little saltier than my homemade version.)
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
This is delicious and so easy. I used store bought and it was too salty but I think I used more than I should have. Next time I’ll put in a tea strainer and rinse off the salt. Will definitely make again.
This looks delish! I’m a big fan of the simple chicken-ranch-bacon-cheese dish, and this is a great alternative to that easy dinner. This also looks perfect for a make-ahead meal that I can pack for lunches as I return to the office in a few weeks! Thanks for posting!
Totally! I ate one of the leftover cutlets cold – super good still!
Can’t wait to try this, once I get the seasonings to make my own bagel seasoning mix.
Speaking of which, have you tried any of the new McCormick just 5 seasoning mixes. I got the ranch dressing mix first, and got the onion soup mix and Italian dressing mix. They have some salt.
No I haven’t – those sound awesome!! I’ll look for them the next time I’m at the store. Thanks for the recommendation, Nancy!