Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

Forgive me for my belated post.  I’ve been dealing with computer issues (don’t put a quarter in me about Best Buy at the moment).  To make up for my absence, I bring you bacon wrapped chicken bites.  Not only are they amazingly delicious, but they’re perfect for everything from dinner to game day finger food for the guys. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• Diced chicken breasts
• Bacon
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• ½ - 1 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty your bacon is)
• ½ teaspoon pepper 

The first thing you need to do is par-cook the bacon.  If you skip this step you’ll either have dry chicken or soggy bacon, neither of which is allowed in my house.  The easiest way to cook bacon, is in the oven.  Just line a sheet pan with foil and lay the strips bacon on it. 

Slide the pan into a cold oven and turn it to 325°.  I think it took about 15 minutes for my bacon to get to this stage.  You want it to be basically cooked, but still quite limp.

Remove the slices to a plate lined with paper towels and set them aside. 

Up next is the chicken.  I find the easiest way to dice chicken is with a pair of kitchen shears.  KitchenAid makes some pretty decent ones that are affordable.  For me, affordable is a good thing in the shears department, because I’m pretty tough on them.  I throw them in the dishwasher frequently, cut open packages and all kinds of food stuff, and I’d rather just replace them once every year or so than have to worry about sharpening them. 

Cut your chicken into something resembling one inch cubes. 

Now for the seasoning.  In a small dish, combine the brown sugar (I used coconut sugar, but regular brown sugar will work just fine.) salt, and pepper. 

Stir them together and add the lime juice. 

Stir that all together.  Now it’s time to make a little assembly line.  Cut your bacon strips in half and line a sheet pan with parchment.  Now is also a good time to preheat your oven to 375°.  Wrap each piece of chicken with a half slice of bacon. 

Dip it into the brown sugar mixture, coating the whole thing.  Allow the excess to drip off. 

Place it, seam side down, on your pan. 

Repeat until you run out of chicken.  I was able to get 17 pieces from 2 chicken breasts and 1 package of bacon, and still had some leftover sugar mixture. 

Bake at 375° for about 20 minutes.  While mine was in the oven, I got distracted by a little squirrel out the back window. 

I know exactly what you’re thinking right now.  And yes, I am a bit like this. 

So, after 20 minutes, you should have bacon wrapped chicken perfection. 

We had ours for dinner, with macaroni and cheese (Trader Joes has some in their freezer section that’s surprisingly awesome) and zucchini.  You could also serve them with toothpicks as part of your football snackies. 

What’s your favorite thing to do with bacon?

Let me Introduce my Friend, the Mason Jar.

As you know, quality is important to me.  Spending money unnecessarily, is not.  One of the categories to which this really applies, is spices.  There are few things better for cooking than good, fresh, quality spices.  (I love you Penzey’s)  I don’t mind, for a minute, paying a premium price for them.  Where I have the problem, is continuing to buy the bottles.  You’d be surprised just how much you’re paying for those little things.  Well, no more.  I have the perfect solution for you.  Mason jars. 

Or perhaps canning jars is the better term for them.  Whatever you call them, they are the perfect storage containers.  They come in all sorts of sizes ranging from ½ cup all the way up to a quart.  They have both regular and wide mouth of most sizes, and they also sell convenient plastic lids for them all.  Stick a label on top, and you’re good to go!  Ball has even started selling jars with shaker lids as “spice jars”.  I’m pretty sure they stole the idea from me.   

I’m talking about spices here, because that’s probably my favorite use for mason jars, (aside from canning, obviously) but don’t stop there.  They work great for storing dry pasta or beans, whole grain flours, that extra bit of smoothie that wouldn’t fit in your glass.  Really, just about anything.  They can hold things that are hot or cold, they’re, freezer, refrigerator, and dishwasher safe, and because they’re glass, they don’t hold onto any funky odors. 

This concludes another episode of Tuesday’s Tips, Tricks, and Treats.  As always, feel free to share your own tips or questions in the comments below.