
Photo Description:
This easy recipe for chicken wrapped in bacon produces the most amazing results. Chicken thighs are juicier and more succulent than chicken breast and the bacon helps to keep the chicken really moist. This recipe for stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon is simple to follow and the bacon-wrapped chicken pieces can be served with potatoes, green beans and carrots like in the photo, or with anything else you fancy. Snow peas would also be good, as would steamed asparagus. Hash browns also tend to complement this dish especially well, perhaps because of the bacon.
This is a simple yet tasty chicken recipe to make and we are going to use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast because it is juicier. A lot of baked chicken recipes are fine using chicken breast but they can dry out unless you keep a strict eye on them. Chicken thighs can be bone-in or, like the ones called for in the following recipe, filleted. Boneless chicken cooks faster than bone-in chicken. Chicken thigh has a stronger flavor than chicken breast, which works well with the bacon, parmesan, and garlic, because these ingredients have quite unique and pungent flavors also.
You will need to overlap the bacon strips and maybe use extra because bacon shrinks quite a lot when you cook it. You will know this from frying bacon for breakfast. It is funny how a full skillet of raw bacon ends up as half a skillet of cooked bacon once it is done, so bear this in mind when preparing boneless skinless garlic chicken breast recipes wrapped in bacon!
When you refrigerate the chicken to set the garlic butter, you can actually leave them in there until the following day if you want to make these in advance. Chicken and bacon go together very nicely and the garlic complements the overall flavor. Perhaps you have only tried steak mignon before but these chicken mignons are well worth making too and stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon is many people's idea of the perfect dinner entree because this dish looks good, smells good and the flavors are beautiful together. Serve this bacon wrapped chicken with fresh vegetables and rice or potatoes.
Ingredients -
2 big chicken thigh fillets
4 slices bacon, not too fatty
2 teaspoons grated parmesan
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 ½ oz softened butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parsley for garnish
Preparation:
Combine the cheese, garlic, butter and some salt and pepper in a food processor until the mixture is smooth.
Trim the excess fat from the chicken thighs and cut the fillets in half lengthwise.
Put one fillet on top of the other and roll them up.
Wrap a piece of bacon around each side so they meet in the middle.
Secure with toothpicks and trim the ends.
Use kitchen twine if you don't have toothpicks.
Wrap the rest of the bacon around too and sprinkle salt and pepper over the bacon wrapped chicken.
Divide the garlic butter between the chicken, pushing it down a bit to touch the bacon topping and chill for at least half an hour to firm the butter.
Preheat the oven to 360 degrees F and bake for 20 to 35 minutes, depending on how big the chicken thighs are.
The chicken is ready when the juices run clear.
The butter will melt and some will make a tasty crust on top.
Garnish with parsley and serve with carrots, beans and mashed or boiled potatoes.
(Serves 2)