Servings: 2 Prep: 20 min Cook: 30 min Total: 50 min
It seems to me that your average Western individual believes in small portions of low fat food, with nary a calorie, in order to lose or maintain a healthy weight. I have been personally participating in a way of eating that has allowed me to lose over 140 lbs, while eating foods that feel rich, filling and opulent. In no way, shape or form does this way of eating feel like a diet, nor does it jive with “conventional wisdom”.
This “Bacon Wrapped ‘Meat Lover’s Pizza’ Stuffed Chicken Breast” recipe is one of those borderline outlandish recipes that feels like junk food and tastes like “weight gain”, but … somehow … it’s not! Based on the rules of a low carb way of eating, this recipe is well within its boundaries.
It’s a bit difficult to make, due to the thin sheet of chicken breast that needs made, but once you’ve got the chicken, the rest is quite simple. Just add your ingredients, roll it, wrap it in bacon, add it to a hot pan and … bake!
It is … phenomenal.
Video: You can see a great video on how to butterfly chicken breasts, here.
Note: Be careful with salt on this recipe. Most of the ingredients being used already have a good deal of salt added. You could probably get away with using zero salt, but a very light dusting of salt on the chicken might be appropriate.
Bacon Wrapped "Meat Lovers Pizza" Stuffed Chicken Breast
Print RateIngredients
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 large chicken breast boneless and skinless
- 1 slice ham
- 14 thin slices pepperoni
- 2 ounces raw italian sausage
- 1/4 cup parmesan (reggiano) cheese grated
- 1/4 cup whole milk low moisture mozzarella, grated
- 4 slices raw bacon
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425° F.
- Standard tomato sauce, whether homemade or store bought usually has a good deal of water added to it. First, start by placing the tomato sauce on the stove, in a small sauce pot, over medium heat. Let it reduce by half, while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. Once it's reduced to a thick paste, set it aside.
- Butterfly the chicken breast (or buy it that way). Lay the chicken breast on a flat cutting board. Place a knife parallel to the cutting board, about 1/2 inch above the surface. Slice into the breast, maintaining a slice that is parallel to the cutting board and essentially cuts the breast in half. HOWEVER, do not cut through the entire breast. Also, be careful not to tear the meat or slice either side too thin. Both top and bottom halves should be equal in thickness. You want to stop slicing, just prior to slicing through the opposing side of the breast. Once you've sliced almost through the breast, you can open it, like the pages of a book. You essentially want to create a thin sheet of chicken.
- Once you've got a thin sheet of chicken breast, place it between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it even thinner. You can use a mallet, rolling pin, or even the bottom of a sauce pan. Just be careful to hit it flatly and evenly, or else you will make deep divots in the chicken. Ideally, the chicken will be a thin and even sheet of chicken breast, when you are done.
- VERY lightly season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Place your slice of ham on the chicken.
- Spread your raw Italian chicken sausage evenly over the ham.
- Spread your tomato sauce evenly over the top of the sausage.
- Evenly distribute your pepperoni slices over the sauce.
- Mix your two cheeses. Then evenly spread over the sauce.
- Roll your chicken into a log. Try and roll it as tightly, as possible. Set it aside.
- Set your 4 bacon slices on a cutting board, and cut them all in half. This will result in 8 short slices of bacon. Stretch them out, a bit.
- Lay one slice of bacon on the cutting board, then offset a second slice of bacon. The top and bottom should match, but the slice should be next to the original. Continue this process until you have a sheet of bacon slices.
- Pre-heat a large oven-proof sauté pan, over medium-high heat.
- Lay the chicken log at the top of the sheet of bacon, making sure it's perpendicular to the strips of bacon. Tightly roll the log into the bacon sheet, making sure there is a clean seam at the bottom of the finished log.
- Once the log is complete and the pan is hot, carefully place the seam side down in the sauté pan. Let it sear for about 30 seconds, then place the entire pan in the oven. Allow it to bake for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the log.
- Once the chicken has an internal temperature of 160° F, remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 10 minutes, before slicing.
- Slice and serve! Delicious with more sauce, pasta, a side of steamed broccoli and etc.!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
Looks delish! I will have to try this recipe. Thanks for posting.
Made this AGAIN tonight! My family absolutely loves it! There are never any leftovers for my lunch tomorrow 🙂
Thanks, Deb! I wonder … could you make extra, on purpose, or would it just all get eaten, too! 😉
Hey DJ, is that a half chicken breast or a whole..both the left and right portions?
Thanks
It’s a half chicken breast … as in the "Left side of a whole breast". Make sense? With all the other stuff added to it, it’s more than enough for 2 portions.
Why reduce tomato sauce? Could you just use tomato paste?
Hi Unknown, there’s a difference between tomato paste and reduced tomato sauce. One is just strictly cooked tomatoes, whereas the other has extra ingredients, like onions, garlic, oregano, etc. One is a more full "pizza" flavor, while the other is just a concentrate. That said, if you wanted to go more quickly, you could just use the paste and add some fresh garlic and some herbs. It’ll speed the process up, without much loss in quality. I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi! My family would love this recipe, but I am allergic to tomatoes. Wondering if I could use a white sauce of some sort instead? Any ideas? Thanks for the great website!
Hi Julie, I suppose so, but the idea is to offer some kind of flavor contrast with the cheese and meat. A white sauce is really just more cheese. Perhaps try making a quick sauce of roasted peppers, garlic, onions and oregano. Maybe buy some canned roasted peppers and toss them in the blender with onions, garlic, herbs and spices, then take the puree and place on the stove and cook slowly until it’s a thick paste. THAT would be phenomenally delicious and work quite well! 🙂
I totally don’t get the bacon alignment on this recipe! what do you mean by offset the strips? can you post a photo?
do you mean kind of like this, not touching?: http://www.opaletch.com/images/product_10_5.jpg
or overlapping at the ends?
Hi Emma, I’ve honestly struggled with explaining this. All I mean is to simply make a sheet of bacon, by overlapping the strips. <a href="http://www.theoldhen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/IMG_0013.jpg" target="_blank">Here’s an image</a> that somewhat shows what I mean. Does this help?
—Reply posted by DJ on 2/27/2015
Yep! I actually used to do this … a long time ago. I would shoot recipes that had LOADS of images, per step. It takes two people to do this well and it’s extra time consuming. With all the writing and nutritional information … I decided against it. However, I AM hoping and planning to get into video, so that I can show people things like wrapping foods in bacon, making crepes, blanching and shocking, etc. Someday! *fingers crossed*
—Reply posted by Jenn on 2/27/2015
Yep, some more process pics would be helpful for those more technically challenged, like me 😉
I believe you’re trying to say “Weave the bacon like a basket” ??? 😉
—Reply posted by DJ on 1/9/2015
Hi Rita, you COULD weave it. I’ve seen people do that and it looks pretty cool. I did it on a meatloaf, once. I liked it! However I mean …more … spread the bacon out, like a deck of cards, with each slice overlapping the previous slice. Something like that …
Another great recipe that my super-picky son liked and my husband inhaled. I had very small chicken breasts, so I wound up wrapping the filling around the breast, and then rolling the bacon around them. Baked them and served them individually, rather than slicing them. Really yummy!
Kid and husband approved.
—Reply posted by DJ on 3/1/2015
I don’t think I could ask for anything more! 🙂