Easy Chicken Pillows Recipe (Freezer Meal)

5 / 5 ( 2 Reviews )
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Chicken pillows recipe

Easy Chicken Pillows with Creamy Parmesan Sauce!

This recipe for chicken pillows is easy and it tastes so good! Crisp, breaded dough and creamy, seasoned chicken. Already delicious, but you can take it to the next level by topping it off with a creamy Parmesan sauce!

Ingredients for chicken pillow filling

Making the Filling for the Chicken Pillows

About a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts should give you about 2 cups of shredded chicken. Once the chicken is cooked, and while it is still warm, you can quickly shred it with an electric stand mixer or even a hand mixer (see more about how to shred chicken with a mixer).

P.S. If you forget to soften your butter, you can shred it with a cheese grater to make it easier to mix!

Chicken pillow filling on crescent roll dough

Crescent Roll Dough Options

You’ve got a few options when it comes to the crescent roll dough in this chicken pillows recipe. You can:

  • Make your own crescent roll dough
  • Use two of the refrigerated Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheet; or
  • Use two of the refrigerated Pillsbury Crescent.

Depending on your dough recipe, homemade roll dough may yield more dough than this recipe calls for, so you might want to increase the other ingredients accordingly, or plan to make some rolls too. 😉

Chicken pillows ready for the oven

Final Touches & Freezing Tips

Wrap the cream cheese chicken mixture in crescent dough, then brush with melted butter, and dip into the Panko/bread crumb mixture. Place each chicken pillow on a baking sheet or silicone mat and you can bake them up, or freeze them and bake at a later time.

I don’t freeze the sauce, I just make it while the chicken pillows are baking. We’ve done this in our freezer meal group before and no one minded making their own sauce, especially if they do the easy shortcut sauce (found below).

 

Artisan Silicone Baking Mat Set 2 pk

Silicone baking mats come in handy for all sorts of recipes. No cooking spray needed! Plus, they are reusable for hundreds of uses. Check out our post where we reviewed the best silicone baking mats.

Recipe for chicken pillows

Easy Shortcut Parmesan Sauce Recipe

Here’s an alternate recipe for the homemade Parmesan cream sauce – a shortcut sauce option, which makes it even easier…

  • 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup (It is easy to make your own cream of chicken soup with this cream of chicken soup mix recipe!)
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 to 1 cup sour cream

Heat all of the ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine. Serve over chicken pillows, mashed potatoes, or whatever you want.

Chicken pillows crescent rolls

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Check pillows

This recipe is adapted from my friend Jaclyn’s recipe, The Girl Who Ate Everything, and Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

Chicken pillows recipe

Easy Chicken Pillows Recipe (Freezer Meal)

This easy chicken pillows recipe is super delicious and makes for a great freezer meal.
5 / 5 ( 2 Reviews )
Print Rate
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Serves: 8
Adjust Servings: 8

Equipment

  • Large bowl

Ingredients

Chicken Pillows

Sauce

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, parchment paper, or greased foil.
  • In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Mix in the onion powder, chives, green onion, and shredded chicken. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Unroll the crescent dough and pinch seams together, if needed, to get four rectangles out of each sheet (8 rectangles total). Spoon about a 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture onto the center of each rectangle. Bring the corners of the dough together and pinch to seal.
  • In a dish or bowl, combine the Panko and Italian bread crumbs. Melted butter in a separate dish.
  • Dip each chicken pillow in the melted butter, or brush the butter on with a pastry brush. Then roll it in the crumb mixture and place it on the baking sheet seam-side-down.
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
  • Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter for the sauce over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Slowly whisk in the milk. Then add the chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper. Stir constantly for about 2-3 minutes, until the sauce thickens (adjust heat if needed to avoid burning). Whisk in the Parmesan cheese until melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Thin the sauce with more milk, if needed.
  • Serve the chicken pillows warm with the Parmesan cream sauce.

Preparing for the freezer:

  • Instead of putting the baking sheet with the chicken pillows into the oven to bake, put them in the freezer. Let the chicken pillows freeze for and hour or two, then transfer them into a large resealable freezer bag and keep frozen for up to a month.

Prepare after freezing:

  • Take the chicken pillows out of the freezer and let them thaw. Then bake according to the directions above.

Recipe Notes

(See blog post for sauce shortcut recipe.)

Nutrition

Calories: 576kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 43g | Sodium: 1284mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g

Ingredients: Butter, Cheese, Chicken, Chives, Cream Cheese, Crescent Rolls, Flour, Green Onion, Milk, Panko, Parmesan, Pepper, Salt
Meal Type: Main Dish
Categories: Meat and Poultry, Make Ahead/Freezer Meal, Oven

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