Easy Chicken Saltimbocca Recipe (with a Spicy Spinach-Feta Spin)
Chicken breasts get pounded thin, rolled around a garlicky spinach-and-feta filling, browned, then simmered in a rich tomato sauce until they’re fall-apart tender. It’s a low-carb, gluten-free dinner that comes together in about 40 minutes.
A Quick Glance at this easy Chicken Saltimbocca:
Quick and easy to make: The chicken is stuffed, rolled, browned, and simmered in one skillet in about 40 minutes.
Packed with flavor: Garlic, onion, jalapeño, feta, and tomato sauce give every bite plenty of flavor.
Low-carb: Served on its own, this chicken dinner is a low-carb option.
Gluten-free: The 10 ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free.
Perfect for weeknight dinners: With about 10 minutes of prep and 32 minutes of cooking time, dinner can be on the table in under an hour.
What Is Chicken Saltimbocca?
Saltimbocca is Italian for “jump in the mouth.” In other words, a dish so tasty that your taste buds will be jumping with delight.
The classic version pounds out veal or chicken cutlets, seasons them, then layers on prosciutto, sage, and butter before pan-searing.
This recipe takes that idea and gives it a spin
Instead of prosciutto and sage, the chicken is stuffed with a sautéed mix of spinach, onion, garlic, and feta (with a little jalapeño for heat), rolled up, seared, and then simmered in a tomato-based sauce rather than the traditional wine reduction. The result is a heartier, sauce-forward dinner that’s easy to make on a weeknight.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You only need 10 ingredients for this one:
- Olive oil
- Yellow onion
- Garlic cloves
- Frozen spinach
- Jalapeño (about half, for a mild kick)
- Boneless chicken breasts
- Feta cheese
- Marinara or Italian tomato sauce
- Salt and pepper
- Parsley, for garnish
Ingredient notes and swaps:
No jalapeño? Leave it out entirely, or sub a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Dairy-free? Skip the feta or use a dairy-free feta alternative — the filling still holds together fine with just the sautéed vegetables.
Want it closer to traditional saltimbocca? Add a couple of fresh sage leaves to the filling and lay a slice of prosciutto over each chicken breast before rolling.
Frozen spinach substitute: Fresh spinach works too — just sauté a bit longer to cook off the extra moisture.
How to Make Chicken Saltimbocca (Step by Step)
Prep the aromatics. Peel and chop the onion and garlic, then split each into two piles — one for the filling, one for the sauce.
Sauté the filling. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and cook one pile of onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the frozen spinach and raise the heat so the excess liquid cooks off, stirring for 5–7 minutes until the spinach is heated through. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside to cool slightly.
Pound and season the chicken. Lay the chicken breasts flat and pound them to an even thickness. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
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Fill and roll. Spread a layer of the spinach mixture over each breast, top with a bit of feta, then roll up tightly and secure with a toothpick.
Sear the chicken. In the same pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the rolled chicken and sear about 5 minutes per side, until browned.
Add the sauce and simmer. Add the second pile of onion and garlic along with the tomato sauce. Cover and let everything simmer for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Finish and serve. Spoon sauce over the chicken, then top with parsley and a little extra feta before serving.
Recipe Tips
I have made this recipe many times and have found the following to help:
Flatten the chicken evenly. Try to pound the chicken breasts to a similar thickness so they roll evenly and cook at roughly the same rate.
Watch the spinach moisture. Frozen spinach contains quite a bit of water. Cooking it until excess liquid evaporates helps prevent the filling from becoming watery.
Let the spinach mixture cool. Allowing the spinach mixture to cool before filling the chicken makes the rolling process easier.
Don’t overfill the chicken. A thin layer of spinach and feta is easier to roll and secure.
Secure the rolls well. Use toothpicks to keep the chicken together while it browns and simmers. Just remember to remove them before serving.
What to Serve with Easy Chicken Saltimbocca
This dish is filling enough to eat on its own, but a few easy pairings:
- Low-carb side: roasted cabbage or broccolini
- Bread for the sauce: toasted crusty Italian bread, for sopping up every bit of sauce
- Lighter option: a simple green salad or roasted veggies
Storage and Reheating
- Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Reheat gently in a covered skillet over low heat with a splash of extra sauce or water, or in the microwave in 30-second bursts, until warmed through.
- Freeze cooked, cooled chicken (with sauce) in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Piccata is pan-seared chicken in a lemon-butter-caper sauce, while saltimbocca is stuffed or layered with prosciutto (or, in this version, a savory filling) and typically finished in a wine or, here, a tomato-based sauce.
Yes — this recipe skips it entirely and gets its flavor from a spinach, feta, onion, and garlic filling instead, so it’s a good option if you don’t eat pork or don’t have prosciutto on hand.
Yes, as written, it contains no flour, breading, or pasta, making it naturally low-carb and gluten-free. Just double-check your tomato sauce’s label for added sugars or gluten-containing thickeners if that matters to you.
Secure each roll with a toothpick before searing, and sear seam-side down first so the edge sets before you flip it.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup frozen spinach
- ½ a jalapeño
- 4 chicken breasts
- 3 tbsp feta
- 2 cups tomato Sauce (I used Little Italy brand Tomato Sauce)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parsley + feta to garnish
Instructions
- Peel and chop the onion as well as the garlic cloves. Divide the chopped onion and garlic equally into two parts.
- Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a pan over medium heat, and add one of the parts of onion and garlic to it and sauté it for about 5 minutes.
- Add the frozen spinach and turn the heat up a bit so the liquid in the spinach evaporates out.
- Sauté the spinach with onions and garlic for about 5-7 minutes, until the spinach is heated through. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Take the mixture off the heat and set aside to reach room temperature.
- Meanwhile, lay out the 4 chicken breasts and pound them out until they are flattened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Then, add a layer of the spinach mixture on each and top it with a little bit of the feta. Do this with all the chicken breasts.
- Then, gently roll the chicken breasts up and secure with a toothpick.
- Using the same pan that the spinach was sautéed in, add the remaining tbsp of olive oil to the pan, place it over a stovetop set to medium heat, and place the rolled and secured chicken breasts into the pan.
- Let the chicken sauté for about 5 minutes or until browned.
- Flip the rolled, stuffed chicken over so the browned side is facing up.
- Add in the remaining parts of the onions and garlic and the tomato sauce. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- When time is up, remove the pan from the heat. Spoon a bit of the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle on some parsley and more feta.
- Serve as is or with a side of veggies, salad, or bread.
I absolutely love Chicken Saltimbocca, and I’ve gotta say that your version sounds quite tasty, Shashi. This looks like the perfect comfort food for a chilly evening! Plus, you know how we feel about Italian food in our house – YUM!!
I’ve never actually had Chicken Saltimbocca but it looks truly delicious! I’ll have to try out the recipe ASAP 🙂
This looks so tasty! I love the different spin you have put on this recipe too, such a great idea.
This sounds so flavourful and delicious! I could definitely see my whole family enjoying this and it is great that it is low carb too!
What a spectacular twist! As an Italian, saltimbocca are quite a staple to me – when in doubt, sauté that chicken in white wine! But the addition of all those other ingredients here makes this dish so interesting and rich. And a smart way to get your kids to eat veggies!
Looks delightful! I love the sauce…a simple and delicious chicken recipe.
so tasty