Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Grilled Chicken Roller

This is another one of those quick BBQ recipes that makes summer official! The prep on this chicken literally takes all of about 5 minutes, and as you can see by the ingredient list-- is not at all complicated. They are simple flavors that create an unforgettable dish. The recipe comes from the latest Kraft, Food and Family magazine so they are all about using Kraft Singles as their cheese. While this worked perfectly well for my American Cheese addict of a husband, I'd like to play more with different cheeses the next time we make this. The American Cheese was very good, but I am thinking that there are many great variations that woud give it a completely different taste. It might be fun to experiment with! I did also add an extra piece of bacon to each roller to help hold the cheese in. I wrapped one piece going horizontally and one going vertically. Can you ever really have too much bacon?

The only problem we had when cooking this chicken was that the fat content of the bacon caused the bacon to cook MUCH more quickly than the chicken. This isn't a dish that you can simply throw on the grill and ignore. It does require some attention to make sure that your bacon doesn't burn while waiting for the chicken to cook through. While parts of our bacon did burn a bit, the chicken stayed moist and really had a great bacon flavor throughout.
Grilled Chicken Roller
3-4 small, boneless chicken breasts
3-4 slices American Cheese (or substitute cheese of your choice)
6-8 slices center cut bacon
3-4 tablespoons Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing
Garlic salt to taste
Heat your grill to medium heat. Place your chicken breasts onto plastic wrap and cover with another piece of wrap. Pound each breast to about 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle garlic salt to taste on each piece. Top each pounded piece of chicken with cheese and roll up tightly. Wrap one piece of bacon around the long sides of the roll to cover any exposed cheese. Stretch the bacon as necessary. Take a second piece of bacon and wrap the chicken roller across the short side of the roller. Secure carefully with toothpicks.
Grill for 15-20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees and no longer pink. Turn the chicken frequently to prevent the bacon from burning. For the last 5 minutes of grill time, brush each roller with the vinaigrette. Carefully remove all toothpicks before serving.
Source: Adapted from Kraft Food and Family (Summer '09)

12 comments:

  1. I am peaking at your wonderful blog this AM. I think that my husband would adore this too as he puts cheese on every single thing that he eats. When I put bacon on the BBQ it always cooks way to fast and I am not sure there is a solution except to cook the entire piece of chicken on low with the top open and watch it like a hawk. I am going to follow your blog to see what other goodies you have for the summer that are easy.
    Joyce

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  2. I bet the flavor of the bacon, chicken and balsamic was fabulous! Nice!

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  3. I saw this recipe in the Kraft magazine, too, but the one thing I immediately thought was that I'd have to select a different cheese...Marcus will not eat American cheese. (He must not realize that they use American cheese at McDonald's on his cheeseburgers!!!) If I had a dollar for every time I pointed out to him how inconsistent he is with his likes/dislikes, I'd be rich! I'll be anxious to try this dish--I actually had a bacon wrapped chicken breast last night when we went to dinner with Grandma and the bacon gave it really good flavor...I bet it would be hard to make sure it doesn't burn, though, as the chicken obviously takes longer to cook!

    BTW...when did you fix your grill???

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  4. I am so wanting to try this-bacon always inhances a meal! Yum!

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  5. That looks really yummy and bacony!! How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

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  6. I bet the flavors were awesome! Can't lose with bacon :D

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  7. Mmmm, this looks fabulous, I love all the flavors!

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  8. Looks delicious! Bacon and cheese make everything taste better!

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  9. I love chicken my husband hates chicken. Maybe I can slip this past him....

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  10. My Ole Sweetie-Pi isn't crazy about chicken, but once he saw the cheese and bacon, I KNOW he'd be singing a different song! This looks very good indeed!

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  11. I think this sounds just marvelous. Bacon cheese and chicken, oh yes!

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  12. My husband is reading over my shoulder...his comment: Ooh, that looks good!

    I bet this would be good with mozzarella and a sprig or two of basil and more bacon!

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