Air Fryer Caprese Chicken is a 30 minute meal made with boneless chicken breasts stuffed with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. The delicious chicken recipe is finished off with fresh basil and a balsamic glaze.
What Is Caprese?
The term caprese is known from the caprese salad, which is a salad made with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil, derived from Italy.
Over time, recipes have adapted the term "caprese" when incorporating those ingredients.
I, myself, have several caprese style recipes on the blog. If you'd like to check them out, here are some easy links to them, just click on them.
- Stuffed Caprese Chicken - Cooked in a skillet and finished in oven
- Eggplant Caprese Salad
- Chicken Caprese Quesadilla
- Tortellini Caprese Pasta Salad
Ingredient List
- Boneless Chicken Breasts
- Tomato
- Mozzarella
- Basil
- Olive Oil
- Seasonings - salt, pepper, Italian seasoning & garlic powder
- Balsamic Vinegar + Brown Sugar OR store-bought balsamic glaze
What to cook with Caprese Chicken
- Pasta
- Garlic Bread
- Risotto
- Spinach Salad
Consider these mere suggestions, feel free to mix it up.
How to store leftovers
Store leftover caprese chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days or in the freezer up to three months.
How to make Stuffed Caprese Chicken
Start by preparing the balsamic glaze. If you don't want to make this yourself, skip this step.
After the balsamic reduction is set aside, we will prep the chicken.
Dry the chicken and if the pieces are uneven, pound them to as equal in size as you can get for equal cooking.
Because we are stuffing the chicken instead of just layering it, we are making 4-5 slits on each boneless breast.
Season the surface of the chicken as well as inside the slits we made.
Place chicken in the air fryer basket.
Add a little oil to the chicken. You can do this with an olive oil spray or by brushing it on with a pastry brush.
Air fry the chicken breasts for 6 minutes on each side for a total of 12 minutes.
Stuff the slits with the mozzarella cheese and tomato slices.
Air fry for 2 more minutes or so, just until the cheese is melted.
Just before serving, drizzle with the balsamic glaze and garnish with fresh basil.
If you are looking for more air fryer recipes, check out this collection of Air Fryer Dinner Recipes by Parade Magazine.
Air Fryer Caprese Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 boneless chicken breasts
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 ounces mozzarella cheese sliced
- 1 large tomato sliced and then sliced in half (half moon shaped)
- fresh basil
Balsamic Reduction / Glaze
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
Instructions
Balsamic Glaze
- Place vinegar and brown sugar in a pan over medium heat. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer until it has reduced by half and the consistency has thickened. Remove from heat and cool.
Air Fryer Caprese Chicken
- Preheat air fryer for 5 minutes at 350°F.
- Place the chicken on a cutting board. Using a meat mallet or heavy rolling pin, pound chicken lightly to an even consistency. Dry chicken with a paper towel. Make four to five slits / cuts on the top of each piece of chicken. Do not go all the way through. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Be sure to season inside the cuts as well as the surface of the chicken. Drizzle or spray a little olive oil over each chicken breast.
- Air fry chicken at 350°F for 6 minutes. Flip chicken over and cook another 6 minutes.
- Remove chicken from air fryer and stuff the cut openings with tomato and mozzarella cheese. Place back in the air fryer and cook another 2 minutes or so, just to melt the cheese.
- Drizzle the chicken with the glaze and top with fresh chopped basil before serving.
Video
Notes
- When viewing the nutritional value for this recipe, please note, I've counted each chicken breast as a serving. Typically, 4 ounces of chicken is a serving. These are very generous servings and can easily be split between two people.
- Store bought glaze can be used in place of making one to save time.
Cheryl Newton says
Hi! This looks tasty! Do you think I could sub sun-dried tomatoes? Or homemade oven-roasted tomatoes? Would either throw off the recipe? (Not enough moisture?)
Thanks,
Cheryl
foodyschmoody says
I think sun-dried tomatoes would work well. I would use the ones that are packed in oil rather than the dried ones though. Do share how it comes out? I actually love sun-dried tomatoes!
Cheryl Newton says
Me too! But big slices of actual (i.e. fresh) tomatoes)? The toddler who apparently lives in my brain says, "No!"