If you’re reading this, you can maybe already guess what my favourite fast-food sandwich is. Wendy’s spicy chicken, anyone? I love that it’s so hot you have to eat it with a Frosty. 🙂 Oh, the joys of a young waistline.
For anyone who isn’t willing to drop 510 calories on one sandwich but craves a good savoury (and spicy piece of chicken), I am offering an excellent alternative that has a lot of kick without as much guilt. I’m talking about Turkey-bacon wrapped spicy stuffed chicken breasts.
Let’s think about this for a moment: because the spicy chicken is so hot, it needs to be taken down a notch with some dairy (my choice=Frosty). The original sandwich has enough mayo and veggies and bun to absorb the heat so that it balances out, but I’ve always thought that the right kind of cheese would make this decadent sandwich even better, but cheese is my favourite food group, hands down.
And, this makeover wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t consider the classy factor just a bit. To do that, I take the chicken out of the sandwich and make it its own showpiece, twist into a cordon bleu concept to arrive at my masterpiece-in-progress:
Before you flinch, it’s way simpler than you can predict and requires no deep frying. Most of the spices you’ll probably have in the pantry. Usually it’s hard to finish a photo shoot before finishing what I’m shooting. With this one that difficulty was ten times worse than usual. Biting into the blend of spices is a kick to the tastebuds but so smooth with the cheese.
You will never think that chicken breasts are boring after this recipe.
Turkey bacon wrapped spicy stuffed chicken breasts
Delicious spicy chicken breasts with cheese and turkey bacon--decadent without the guilt.
- Prep Time: 10m
- Cook Time: 25m
- Total Time: 35m
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6 slices turkey bacon
- 3 slices provolone or other cheese, halved
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (for the extra kick)
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Using the flat side of a meat pounder, pound out the chicken breasts until roughly 1/4 inch thick. Roll up a half a slice of provolone cheese into each pounded chicken breast. Wrap a piece of turkey bacon around the breast, securing with a toothpick if necessary.
- Using a pastry/basting brush, coat the breasts in melted butter.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, paprika, onion powder, black pepper, salt and cayenne until thorough. Sprinkle mixture on top of the chicken breasts. Coat the covered breasts lightly with cooking spray.
- Cook in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until juices run clear and meat is fully cooked.
