The 20-Minute Bacon Chicken I Make on Repeat

I think about food more than most normal humans do. If you could look inside my brain, there’s a good chance you’d catch me thinking, “How do I make that taste good?” It’s partly because of my career as a registered dietitian, where I spent years convincing people that nutritious food is delicious. I think it’s also because I like food that tastes good. 

One of the foods that always presents a challenge is chicken breasts. I’ve had to find ways to make poultry more interesting without much work or hassle. Enter: bacon. Simply adding some spices and wrapping a boneless skinless chicken breast in bacon is all it takes to transform bland and boring into amazing and delicious.

Tips for Making My Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts

While at the store, look at the chicken breasts in the package before tossing it into your cart. Chicken breasts come in varying sizes, from small to colossal. This recipe works best if you use chicken breasts that are about seven or eight ounces each. 

Other sizes will work but may require a shorter cooking time (breasts that are six ounces or less) or need to be pounded and cooked a bit longer (more than eight ounces) to increase surface area for more even cooking. Keep things simple by looking for a package of two that’s about one pound or a little over and that includes relatively equal-sized chicken breasts.

Bacon Tip

For easier wrapping, stretch the strips of bacon before using them to wrap the chicken. Place the bacon strip on your cutting board and hold one end, then run the back of the tip of your knife over it as you gently pull. This should stretch, not tear, the bacon, making it easier to wrap around the chicken. Stretching also allows the fat to render faster when cooking, which means you’ll get crispy bacon and juicy chicken.

An Easy Variation

The bacon adds great flavor, but for a little extra, I always add a spice blend to the chicken before wrapping it. My favorite is something spicy, which is why I use Cajun or jerk seasoning, but other blends would also be delicious. 

You could try harissa or za’atar or whatever blend you love. You’ll need about two tablespoons to cover the chicken, and if your blend doesn’t have salt, you’ll want to season the chicken with that before tossing with spices.