Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
~Doug Larson
I can’t take all the credit for this Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken.
Several months ago, a Facebook friend posted up pictures of the food she was making ahead of time, to feed her family while she was out of town on business.
One of the photos was of her bacon wrapped chicken and it totally caught my eye.
Then the Handsome Prince was trying to convince me to make him cheese stuffed meatballs… what he got was cheese stuffed bacon wrapped chicken because I had been dying to try it for weeks.
That was fine by him.
There was cheese. There was bacon.
I had a happy hubby and kids that requested cheese stuffed bacon wrapped chicken again and again.
That right there is the equivalent of gold, my friends. 😉
This is a pretty simple recipe that you can customize to your own tastes.
There is no great cooking skills required.
Just a little bit of prep that is sort of fun.
Pre-heat those ovens to 375 degrees!
Get out your casserole dish or my 2 for $1.00 throw away lasagna pans from Dollar Tree.
Nothing but the best for you! 😉
Take out your boneless chicken breasts.
We are going to flatten out our breasts and breakdown the meat a tad so that it is much thinner.
Normal people might use a meat mallet for this.
The last time I saw mine, it was involved in a Playdough project.
To the garage!
The Handsome Prince has all kinds of mallets for his work on cars.
So, if you’re like me and rockin’ a mallet you wouldn’t want to wack your chicken with, here’s what you do.
Get a large gallon size Ziploc baggie (or two. I usually have a back up bag close at hand.)
Chicken goes in the baggie.
Mallet beats the chicken in the baggie, gently enough that it flattens out somewhat evenly and you are not going all the way through your meat with it. Aggressive mallet swinging creates holes in your chicken and we’re going to be trapping cheese.
We can’t do that with holes in our poultry, people.
Now that we’ve flattened out the chicken breasts, it is time to bust out the cheese.
I forgot to pick up a ball of mozzarella cheese so string cheese it is!
Unwrap a cheese stick for every chicken breast you have.
******This is where you can customize your flavors******
Lay a chicken breast out flat and sprinkle it with the seasoning you desire.
You might try :
Dry Italian Dressing Mix
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
Fresh Lemon Or Lime Juice
Season salt or garlic salt
Cajun spices for a bit of a kick
Nothing
I usually only use nothing but a sprinkle of sea salt… I like the natural flavors of this dish and the bacon brings plenty of salt, in my opinion. I’m a less is more kinda gal but you may zest it on up if you feel so moved.
Grab a piece of string cheese.
We are going to tuck and roll that cheese right up in the chicken, like you would a slightly dysfunctional burrito.
Take out package of your favorite PORK bacon.
Turkey Bacon turns to a charred mess that you’ll not want to be enjoying and we want the extra salt, fats and flavor of regular ol’ bacon.
Wrap approximately two slices of bacon around that funky chicken burrito we made.
(***TIP: I’ll add a third piece in a different pattern to signal that it is seasoned differently so I know who to serve which flavor to. That way one dinner can please everyone equally without much extra effort than sprinkling a favorite spice.)
I tend to wrap them tight enough around that it holds everything together without toothpicks.
The Bacon is the glue that makes this whole thing kind of awesome.
Except if your Luc… He wanted his bacon on the side because his bacon shouldn’t touch the chicken.
But he will eat a chicken sandwich with bacon… another mystery of my life.
That’s okay. You can totally accommodate your people’s weird eating habits.
No bacon with a smidge of season salt it is.
Repeat the cheese stuffing and bacon wrapping process until your chicken is all wrapped up and in the pan.
Pop the chicken in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour.
Pour off the liquid in the bottom of the pan and return it to the oven.
To crispy up the bacon and give it a nice browning, I put it under the broiler on high for just a couple of minutes.
Watch this closely so you don’t burn the bacon.
It is quick and worth the extra step.
When it is nicely browned, it is time to eat!
Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken is really filling so I pair it with a salad and a light flavorful veggie.
I usually can only eat half. I save the other for lunch the next day.
The brilliant thing about this dish is that is reheats really well so I always make sure to make a few extra while I’m already at it.
Leftovers are just as delicious!
1 comment
Karen @BakingInATornado
July 21, 2015 at 9:08 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This sounds delish. I make a version of this in the crockpot. Love how versatile it is, you can add cheeses and flavors to customize it for your family.
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