Recipes / Chicken
Bacon-wrapped chicken breasts on the braai
Chicken breasts wrapped in streaky bacon, optionally stuffed with mozzarella, mustard and thyme, cooked over medium coals and finished on the cooler side.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 25 min
- Serves
- 4
- Done at
- 165°F (74°C)
Ingredients
Chicken
Stuffing (optional)
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Keep one burner off or on low as a cooler zone. If fat flares up, move the food there. Never use water on a gas grill flare-up.
- For a smoky taste, put a handful of wood chips in a smoker box, or a foil parcel pierced with a few holes, over a lit burner while the grill preheats.
- Lay each breast flat and cut a deep pocket into the thick side with a small sharp knife. Do not cut through the edges.
- If stuffing, mix the cheese, onion, garlic, thyme and spinach. Spread a little mustard inside each pocket and fill it with a quarter of the mix.
- Close the pockets and season the outside with pepper only. The bacon brings the salt.
- Wrap 3 or 4 rashers around each breast, overlapping them slightly and tucking the ends underneath. Pin loose ends with toothpicks.
- Brush the parcels with oil. Set up the coals with a hot side and a cooler side.
- Cook seam side down over medium coals for 3 to 4 minutes until the bacon sets, then turn and cook the other side for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Move the chicken to the cooler side and cook for another 12 to 18 minutes, turning every 4 minutes, until done. Pull it back to the cooler edge each time the bacon fat flares up.
- Rest the chicken for 5 minutes, take out the toothpicks and slice each breast in half on an angle.
Done when: the bacon is crisp and browned all round and a thermometer in the thickest part of the meat (not the stuffing) reads 74°C (165°F).
Tips
- Flatten very thick breasts slightly with a rolling pin before cutting the pocket, so they cook evenly and the bacon does not burn before the middle is done.
- Wrapping the breasts loosely in greased foil for the first 15 minutes, then unwrapping to crisp the bacon, keeps the cheese in and stops flare-ups on a busy fire.
- Smoked streaky bacon gives the best flavour. Back bacon is too lean to wrap well and dries out.
Chicken breast is lean and dries out fast over coals, so South African braaiers often wrap it in streaky bacon, which bastes the meat as it renders and crisps. A cheese and mustard filling makes it a meal on its own. The trick is a two-zone fire: sear the bacon over the heat, then let the chicken cook through on the cooler side.
Source
Adapted from What's cooking today: Braaied bacon-wrapped cheesy chicken breasts at Daily Maverick (Tony Jackman) and Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts at The Meat Box.