This delicious chicken Chesapeake recipe is an original eastern United States chicken breast and seafood recipe that just seems to have existed forever.
Chicken Chesapeake Recipe
Chicken Chesapeake is a traditional recipe on the Eastern Shore. It’s made from a creamy crab meat baked inside a chicken.
The kitchen items you need for this recipe are an oven, two medium-sized bowls, a sharp knife, a grill pan, a casserole dish or deep baking dish, and a meat thermometer.
All the Ingredients for Delicious Chicken Chesapeake Recipe:
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 pound of lump crab meat (regular lump or jumbo)
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 3/4 cup crackers, crushed
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon dry seafood seasoning like Old Bay Seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon stone-ground dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons pimentos, chopped or whole
- A handful of flour seasoned with 1 tsp of dry herbs
- A knob of butter
How to Make Chicken Chesapeake:
Making chicken Chesapeake takes about 40 minutes from start to finish — 15 minutes prep time, and 25 minutes in the oven.
Preheat the Oven
Start by preheating your oven to medium high heat, or 350°F.
Combine the Wet Ingredients
In a medium sized bowl, combine the large egg, Worcestershire sauce, fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, and seafood seasoning like Old Bay Seasoning or another that you like.
Combine the Crab Meat
In a second medium-sized bowl, mix ever so lightly the lump crab meat, fresh parsley, and crumbled crackers.
Make the Crab Imperial
Combine the wet ingredients with the crab meat mixture to make the crab imperial. One by one, drizzle your wet ingredients into the crab meat mixture and lightly mix the stuffing with a spoon or a fork. Crackers and condiments make up for salt in the crab imperial, but you can add more salt if you like.
Fill the Chicken Breasts With the Stuffing
Use a paring knife to gently cut open a “pocket” in the top of each chicken breast. These holes are for the crab mixture stuffing.
Mound up the crab meat stuffing in each slit, and fold the chicken over the mound to close the slit as best as possible.
Grill the Chicken Breasts
Mark the exteriors of your chicken breasts on a hot grill pan if you like.
Place the Chicken in a Baking Dish
Put your stuffed breasts in a casserole dish or other high-sided baking dish, baking pan, or large skillet, doused with olive oil or cooking spray.
Season the Chicken
Sprinkle flour mixed with spices or a dry herb seafood seasoning (use Old Bay or any other that you like) over the chicken breasts and pour melted butter over the whole lot.
Bake the Chicken
Put the chicken in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Check the internal temperature of each chicken breast with a meat thermometer when the bake time is up.
When the internal temperature reads 165°F and the chicken breasts are a golden brown color, the chicken Chesapeake is fully cooked and can be taken out of the oven. If not fully cooked, add 5 minutes of cook time.
Serve the Chicken Chesapeake
Remove the chicken from the oven and serve right away.
You can serve chicken Chesapeake as a main dish or in a sandwich with sides that include salad greens, creams and carbohydrates, or grilled or steamed green vegetables.
Sides for Chicken Chesapeake
Some of the most common sides or sandwich fillings for chicken Chesapeake include:
- Butter lettuce, romaine salad
- Parsley as a topping or in salad
- sour cream as a topping
- Cuscus salad
- Mashed potatoes with garlic
- Macaroni and cheese made with sharp cheddar cheese
- Grilled green beans with parmesan
- Steamed broccoli with toasted mustard seeds
- French fries
History of Chicken Chesapeake Recipes
Recipes for chicken Chesapeake root to Maryland-based families. The Phillips Seafood company and restaurant, plus many eastern US state culinary food blogs include this recipe without much variation.
Most recipes across the internet read the same for the crab filling: mayonnaise or cream cheese for creaminess, mustard and lemon juice for tang, Worchestershire sauce and a seafood seasoning like old bay seasoning and imperial sauce for the fullness of flavor, plus crushed crackers and some kind of herb. The seafood filling is stuffed into chicken and sometimes the meat is briefly grilled before being baked for the attractive char marks.
What Is Old Bay Seasoning
Old Bay Seasoning is a dry herb seafood seasoning that originates from Baltimore, Maryland, and is marketed in the US.
How to Use Old Bay Seasoning for Chicken Chesapeake
Old Bay Seasoning is included in most chicken Chesapeake recipes, either in the crab meat and/or in a creamy sauce that’s drizzled over the chicken for serving.
How to Make Old Bay Sauce for Chicken Chesapeake
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once melted, slowly pour in the cream while whisking.
Whisk until smooth then reduce the heat to low, add dry old bay seasoning, and whisk until thickened.
Remove from the heat and use it as a topping for chicken Chesapeake or as a spread in a chicken Chesapeake sandwich.
What Is Imperial Sauce
The imperial sauce is a creamy sauce usually made with mayonnaise and includes a seafood seasoning like Old Bay.
What Is Crab Imperial
Crab imperial is similar to crab cake but looser and wetter, like gravy, and it’s made with imperial sauce.
How to make an Imperial Sauce variation
In a big bowl, beat a large egg. Then add mayonnaise, sugar, Old Bay seasoning, chopped parsley, and lemon juice. Combine well.
Use this imperial sauce to make crab imperial, or use it as a topping for chicken Chesapeake — or both!
Chicken Chesapeake Recipe Variations
Other ingredients for chicken breast stuffed with seafood include:
- Black pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Crumbled Bacon
- Shrimp instead of crab meat
- Kosher salt
- Cheddar cheese
What Is Lump Crab Meat
Lump crab meat is the meat from the crab’s hind swimming legs. Jumbo lump crab meat is the largest piece of this meat, and the regular lump is made up of crumbled-up jumbo lump.
Chicken Chesapeake
Equipment
- 1 Oven
- 2 bowls
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 grill pan optional
- 1 casserole dish
- 1 Meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 pound lump crab meat
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 3/4 cup crackers, crushed
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon dry seafood seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon stone-ground mustard
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 handful flour seasoned with dry herbs
- 1 lump butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to medium-high heat, or 350°F.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the large egg, Worcestershire sauce, fresh lemon juice, seafood seasoning Dijon mustard, and mayonnaise.
- In a second medium-sized bowl, mix the lump crab meat, fresh parsley, and crumbled crackers.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the crab meat mixture. One by one, drizzle wet ingredients into the crab meat mixture and lightly mix.
- Use a paring knife to gently cut open a "pocket" in the top of each chicken breast. Mound up the crab meat stuffing in each slit, and fold the chicken over the mound to close the slit.
- Mark the exteriors of your chicken breasts on a hot grill pan.
- Put the stuffed breasts in a casserole dish rubbed with olive oil or sprayed with cooking spray.
- Sprinkle flour mixed with spices or a dry herb seafood seasoning over the chicken and pour melted butter on top.
- Put the chicken in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove when the internal temperature reads 165°F and the chicken breasts are a golden brown.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and serve it.
