Smoked Stuffed Chicken Breast {Bacon Wrapped!}

You know what I like most about this picture?  I like that there is large portion of people I know that would say, “I don’t know what that is, but it’s wrapped with bacon, so it must be good!”

And they would be right!  This is a bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breast and it was delicious!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

How to Stuff a Chicken Breast

Stuffing things can be scary – I totally get it.  It looks like it would be hard.  But if you picture the meat you’re stuffing as a some sort of child’s craft – like a piece of playdoh, then it really just becomes a fun thing to do.  A fun thing to do, and a yummy thing to eat – bonus.

Here is how to get started on this easy recipe:

  1. Slice a boneless, skinless chicken breast lengthwise to open the meat.  Do not cut the breast completely in half.
  2. Place the stuffing ingredients on one side of the exposed meat.
  3. Fold the breast close on top of the stuffing.
  4. Wrap the closed breast with bacon and use toothpicks to secure the bacon in place.

Open Chicken Breast with Stuffing

By the way, we tried making this dish without wrapping the breast in bacon and, while it was still tasty, was nowhere near as good as the bacon wrapped version.

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast on the Smoker

What Do You Use for Stuffing?

Your choices for stuffing are just about endless.  For this cook we used a combination of garlic, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, red onion and gouda cheese.

You could also stuff the breast with ham and Swiss cheese like we did for this amazing Smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu!

Another all time fan favorite is to stuff the breast with jalapenos and cream cheese like we did for these Smoked Chicken Bombs!

View of Stuffed Chicken Filling

How to Cook the Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts?

You really want to use a low temperature when cooking these to allow time for even cooking.  if you cook these at high heat then the bacon is going to get overcooked before the stuffing gets a chance to warm through and reach food safe temperatures.

We smoked these on our Weber Performer with indirect heat at 250F for about an hour.

This would be a great recipe for your pellet grill (Traeger, Pit Boss, Z grills).  I would suggest using apple or maple wood pellets for a light smoke flavor. If you smoke these in your pellet grill then make sure the chicken is directly over the grease drain tray.  You do not want the dripping bacon grease to get into the body of the smoker by the fire pot.

Start checking the internal temperature of the chicken after 45 minutes.  The chicken is done when the center reaches an internal temperature of 165F.  This is about as long as it takes to cook as our smoked bacon wrapped chicken thighs.

Tips to Make This Extraordinarily Delicious

There are several ways that you can take this recipe and boost it up to new levels.  Here are a few ideas.

Tip #1: You can jack up the flavor and moisture of the chicken breasts by soaking them in a brine or Italian dressing for an hour after you have split the meat open.

Tip #2: Make sure you are using thin cut bacon to wrap the chicken.  This might sound crazy but the cheaper the bacon is the better it will work for this recipe.  Thin cut bacon will wrap easier, cook more evenly and get crisper than thick cut bacon.

Tip #3: You can add another level of flavor by seasoning the bacon with a sweet heat dry rub.  If you go this route make sure the rub is low salt as there is already plenty of salt in the bacon.  You could also baste the crisped bacon with barbecue sauce after if has finished cooking

 

Smoked Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Grilled Veggies

Other Chicken Breast Recipes

Smoked Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are stuffed with a delicious filling and wrapped in bacon. The chicken is smoked at 250F for an hour and turns out extraordinarily great!
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Calories 375 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 garlic clove - minced
  • 2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes minced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped artichokes
  • 1/4 cup of red onion
  • 2 tbn olive oil
  • Sliced Gouda cheese

Instructions
 

  • Slice the chicken breast in half so that you can fan it out into two pieces. Make sure to leave one side of the breast intact.
  • Combine all other ingredients in make filling.
  • Spread the filling on the chicken chicken breast It should fill it, but not completely overflow it.
  • Close the breasts back up and wrap it with bacon. Use a few toothpicks to keep the bacon on the chicken.
  • Smoke at 250 for 45 minutes to an hour.
  • Make sure to take the toothpicks out before serving!

Notes

Stuffing a chicken breast adds a lot of flavor to an otherwise boring piece of meat. You can experiment with other stuffing fillings like Ham and Swiss or Jalapenos and Cream Cheese.
Keyword Smoked Stuffed Chicken Breast

Competition Quality Results!

I have a funny story about this recipe.  We did this “cook day”  and we had yet to  do something stuffed.  Everyone was a little nervous as to how this was going to turn out.  I’m not sure why I was so sure it would be fine, but I was.  Maybe because I really do think of food as play time, and I’ve made some bizarre things with my kids over the years, and I just somehow knew this was going to work.  Anyway, we went about our business, and as you can tell from the pictures – it worked!  And it was delicious, and now I have found a new way to concoct things, which is very exciting.

Anyway, the very next weekend we had a barbecue competition that had a “mystery meat”, which means you are given the meat the day of the competition and are expected to prepare it in such a way to place well in this category.   It also means you should bring everything you may possibly use for any variety of meat – just in case.  I JUST SO HAPPENED to have the exact things i needed to stuff meats – cheeses, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms – just yummy goodness.  So I brought it all – just in case.  Be, be, be prepared, right?

We were given the mystery meat – a turkey tenderloin.  My first thought – cut that bad boy up, and let’s stuff that thing!  We just did it last week, this is perfect!  So we did, and we added all kinds of bells and whistles to it, and it turned out absolutely amazing..we placed in the Top Ten, amazing.

 

5 thoughts on “Smoked Stuffed Chicken Breast {Bacon Wrapped!}

  1. Do you brine these or do they cook fast enough that you don’t need to? Also concerned a brine with bacon would be too salty…thoughts?

    1. I almost always brine chicken – or at least marinate. Especially with skinless, boneless breasts – I think they need it. I didn’t find there to be an issue with salt in this recipe. I thought it turned out great!

        1. Frank – to be honest, I’m not sure it makes much difference! It would be an interesting experiment to do both ways, but when I brine, I almost always brine the whole chicken breast.

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