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Home » Appetizers » Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites

By Tara Noland on February 2, 2023 | Updated June 1, 2023 | Rate Recipe

OMG, these Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites are simply the best!! They are the perfect bite with smokey bacon on the outside and chicken slathered with cream cheese and jalapenos on the inside. Make up a batch of these for Super Bowl, game day, or any gathering for that matter.

What more outrageously good party bites? Then try our Bacon-Wrapped Dates, Air Fryer Pigs in a Blanket, Best Crispy Fried Pickles, Stuffed Meatballs, or our amazing Pepperoni Pizza Dip. All of these will have the crowd yelling for more!!

These glorious chicken bites aren’t too spicy or too sweet but just the right combination of sweet heat. If you would like to tip the scale one way or the other, feel free. Add some seeds from the jalapeno when preparing the side, or sprinkle with cayenne for the outside.

If you would like them more candied, then instead of a sprinkle of brown sugar to finish, you can roll them in brown sugar. I find they are just perfect the way they are, but always feel free to make them your own.

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Premium Bamboo Wooden Cocktail Toothpicks – 1000 Pieces

Meat Tenderizer Dual-Side Meat Mallet with Comfortable-Grip Handle

Commercial Quality Aluminum Large Cookie Sheets, Set of 2

Granulated Garlic, 24 ounces

Really simple ingredients go into this recipe, but the results are amazing. With the chicken wrapped in bacon, it stays moist and juicy. Plus, the bacon imparts its own flavors to the juicy chicken making it wonderfully flavorful.

Some recipes hold off on the spices and don’t use any or just salt and pepper. Ours have been upped a notch, adding in chili powder and granulated garlic.

Have you tried using granulated garlic yet? Is granulated garlic any different than garlic powder? I have recently, like in the past year, switched over to using granulated garlic. Granulated garlic is more like a cornmeal texture than a powder. It imparts more of a true garlic flavor, I feel, than the powder, but each can be substituted for the other.

Chicken tenders, which are about half of a boneless skinless chicken breast

Cream cheese softened

Jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

Chili powder

Granulated garlic

Kosher salt

Slices of Bacon, cut in half, not thick cut as it won’t crisp as well

Brown sugar

Cayenne, optional

These Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites are hearty appetizers, so you don’t need to make a ton of them. They are great to make ahead and have ready for when company arrives, as you can then just pop them into the oven. They are a bit bigger than a bite-sized piece.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the chicken strips between 2 pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.

Using a kitchen hammer or rolling pin, flatten out the chicken to approximately 1/4 – 3/8 of an inch thick.

Mix the chili powder, granulated garlic, and kosher salt together in a small bowl.

Cut the chicken tenders in half horizontally and sprinkle the seasoning over all the chicken pieces, reserving some for later use.

Spread 1 tsp of cream cheese on top of each piece of chicken, then top the cream cheese with ¼ tsp of chopped jalapeno.

Roll up each filling-covered chicken piece and take half a piece of bacon and wrap it around the chicken. Secure the bacon with 1-2 toothpicks.

Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle each bacon roll with brown sugar and any remaining spice or add a tiny sprinkle of cayenne if the spices are gone.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes in a single layer, turning the rolls after 10 minutes. Cook until the bacon is crispy and the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F. You can broil them at the end if you would like the bacon even crisper but keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly.

If you are grilling your bacon-wrapped chicken bites, you have to really be attentive. You can’t just put them on the grill and leave them to cook. If you do, the bacon drippings will flare up, and you will be left with charred chicken bites!

Start by preheating your grill to medium-low, about 325 – 350 degrees F. Place the bites on the grill but don’t fill the grill with them, as you need space on your grill as they are cooking. Watch them as they are grilling, and when they start to flare up, move them to an unused portion of the grill.

Continue moving the bacon-wrapped chicken bites around the grill until the chicken is cooked. You need to continue to cook the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. The bacon should be nicely browned but not charred by the time the chicken is done.

An alternative to the oven or grill is to cook them in an air fryer basket. They will get nicely crisped up in the air fryer, too but remember to keep them in a single layer for best results.

If there are any leftovers which there are never with us, you can store them in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and reheat them in the oven at 375F. In a pinch, they can also be microwaved.

This is also an amazing appetizer to store in the freezer! You can freeze them uncooked or cooked, the choice is yours, and they last for 1-3 months. When needed, bake them from frozen at 375F for approx. 45 minutes if they are raw (make sure the chicken is cooked to 165F), or 20-30 minutes if they’re pre-cooked.

Pin it HERE!!

Pin it HERE!!

These Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites make an amazing appetizer for just about any event. Whether they are cooked up in the oven, grill or air fryer, you can't go wrong with serving these to a crowd.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the chicken strips between 2 pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.

Using a kitchen hammer or rolling pin, flatten out the chicken to approximately 1/4 – 3/8 of an inch thick.

Mix the chili powder, granulated garlic, and kosher salt together in a small bowl.

Cut the chicken tenders in half horizontally and sprinkle the seasoning over all the chicken pieces, reserving some for later use.

Spread 1 tsp of cream cheese on top of each piece of chicken, then top the cream cheese with ¼ tsp of chopped jalapeno.

Roll up each filling-covered chicken piece and take half a piece of bacon and wrap it around the chicken. Secure the bacon with 1-2 toothpicks.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes in a single layer, turning the rolls after 10 minutes. Cook until the bacon is crispy and the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees F. You can broil them at the end if you would like the bacon even crisper but keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly.

Tips and tricks are in the post on how to grill, store and freeze, plus more.

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Recipe calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. If you need nutritional calculations for medical reasons, please use a source that you trust.

posted in: Appetizers, Chicken