Messy Recipes

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Holy moly! I don’t even know where to begin with this recipe! It was so delicious but I suppose that anything you wrap in bacon would be pretty tasty. Last night I decided to make a pesto and mozzarella stuffed bacon wrapped chicken breast. I feel obligated to share this with you because I could not, in good conscience, deprive the world of this recipe.

This is all you need!

The chicken breasts that I purchased were very thick so I filleted them open to make a much larger (but thinner) cut of meat. I then sprinkled them with a little salt and pepper. Sandwiching them between 2 pieces of plastic wrap I pounded on them a couple of times to even out any spots that were a little thick.

Next, I used 2 spoons for my pesto. One was to scoop the pesto onto the chicken and the other one was to spread the pesto. Never, ever, ever cross contaminate! I only used about 1/2 of the jar of pesto and if I had used the chicken spoon inside of the jar then I would have had to discard the rest. Now I can use it another day on some delicious hot panini sandwiches without dying from dysentery.

After the pesto was spread around I added a nice layer of mozzarella and rolled that massive chicken breast up. I rolled it in plastic wrap to hold it together and put it in the fridge for an hour. This step really helped it stay together once I took the plastic wrap off.

I laid out strips of bacon and folded them around the chicken (after removing the plastic wrap, of course.) On a baking sheet, I put a piece of foil to catch any drippings and make clean-up so much easier. I definitely didn’t do this because I am in need of new baking sheets and I didn’t want the photo to reflect the neglect they have suffered. Nope, this step was only for the clean-up phase.

I highly recommend putting a cooling rack on your baking sheet and setting the chicken on top of that. This helps the bacon cook all the way around it and not get gross and soggy cooking in its own juices. Nobody wants soggy bacon…bleh.

Look at all that juice that would have been caked on the pan had I not used foil.

I started cooking at 350* but at the very end I cranked it up to 450* to get a nice crispiness to the bacon. I kept checking the temperature of the chicken so that it wouldn’t cook too long and get dried out. Mine took about 45 minutes to cook but, like I said, they were huge. I recommend you monitor your temperature around the 30 minute mark.

That’s it…pretty simple. The best part is it looks and tastes as if you were a gourmet chef that spent hours in the kitchen. I’m just here to give you easy recipes and make you look good. You’re welcome.

Enjoy!

Pesto & Mozzarella Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Not only is this title a mouthful but so is the chicken!

 Course Main Course

 Cuisine American

 Prep Time 15 minutes

 Cook Time 30 minutes

 Resting Time 1 hour

 Total Time 45 minutes

 Servings 2

 Author Zoë

Ingredients

  • 2 Chicken Breast
  • 1 Package Bacon Regular Thickness
  • 1/2 Jar Pesto
  • 1 C Mozzarella
  • 1 Pinch Salt & Pepper Optional

Instructions

  1. Fillet the chicken breast cutting most of the way through.
  2. Light salt and pepper if desired.
  3. Place chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet until it is an even thickness.
  4. Remove top layer of plastic wrap and spread pesto evenly. 
  5. Put a thin layer of mozzarella over the pesto.
  6. Roll up the chicken breast and then wrap it in the plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for 1 hour.
  7. After removing the plastic wrap, fold the bacon around the chicken.
  8. Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet.  Set chicken breast on top of cooling rack and cook at 350*.  Cook time will vary depending on the size of chicken breast.  Start checking the temperature of the chicken at approximately 25 minutes.  
  9. Once the chicken reaches about 155* turn the oven up to 450* to make the bacon slightly crispy.
  10. When the chicken reaches 165* it is done and ready to remove from the oven.
  11. Enjoy!