Whoa! The food blogger wanna be is actually writing about food! I know, scary, right? One of these days I'll even actually update all the recipes onto the Recipe page... One of these days.
So this came about in a weird way. We had nothing in the house for supper. I mean, we had stuff, but nothing matched. I had made baked potatoes a few nights ago, so I had sour cream, cheese, and bacon, but frankly, we'd had bakers for like three nights in a row and I was sick of them. I was talking with my friend Jess from Lupine Ridge Botanicals (look for more from them soon!) and she suggested a chicken breast stuffed with .. well, stuffing. We didn't have stuffing or the stuff to make it... but it got my wheels turning.
And Fully Loaded Baked Chicken was born.
Fully Loaded Baked Chicken Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pick thicker ones, it'll make life easier)
- 6 slices bacon, diced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
- garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Add the diced bacon to a skillet and once it starts to render (a little fat melts out into the pan) add the onions. Cook the two together until the bacon is crispy and the onions are soft.Remove from the pan to a medium size bowl and set them aside.
Split each breast down the middle flat-ways, but leave a "hinge" so it opens like a book. Add the cheese and the sour cream to your bowl of bacon and onions and mix. You can add pepper and herbs at this point, but it's not necessary.
Season your open chicken book with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add 1/4 of the bacon mixture to each open chicken breast and fold the "lid" over and flatten it a bit.
If your skillet is oven proof (cast iron is great for this recipe!) drain off most of the bacon grease and heat the skillet over the stove, and add the chicken breasts, searing the bottom. Season the tops of the breasts with more salt/pepper/garlic and then place in the oven, about 10-15 minutes, until cooked through.
Remove from the oven and let rest about 5 minutes - the filling is MOLTEN LAVA HOT.
We had this for supper last night and it was GREAT. I'll be honest - it's VERY rich. I served it with fried potatoes and it was too much. Stay away from greasy or heavy sides with this! Rice and a big salad would be perfect :) I hope you enjoy it!
