These bacon wrapped chicken bites have HUGE flavor that will excite your tastebuds and have your friends saying, “How did you do that?”
Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites
Want to pack at punch at your next get together? These little bacon wrapped chicken bites will do the trick!
Exceptional flavor and not too hot or too sweet. You’ll be fielding questions like, “How did you do this?” and you can either be the quiet magician or the gracious recipe sharing hostess with the mostest, your choice!
It couldn’t be easier and only requires the smallest bit of planning and follow through.
What You’ll Need
You’ll need just a few ingredients to make this recipe perfectly!
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs (will work with tenders or breasts too)
- Bottle of Lawrys Jerk Marinade
- Thin sliced bacon
- jalapeno
- purple onion
Special Equipment
You won’t need any special equipment for these bacon wrapped chicken bites, but I find that nice toothpicks like this work wonders and look nice for guests (you can use just regular ol toothpicks though).
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You can use one of the substitution marinades, but I think this one works the best.
Here’s How You Do It
It’s so simple! That said, you’ll want to know the Tips and Tricks to make it all come out right!
- Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and marinate for several hours.
- Cut up the bacon into four pieces per slice.
- Chop the onion and jalepeno very small.
- Layer them onto the bacon, wrap it all up and secure with a toothpick
Substitutions
You can make some very easy substitutions with this recipe without any problem at all.
Chicken Thighs – Feel free to substitute breasts or tenders in this recipe. Honestly, I haven’t tried it, but I’m going to guess that this recipe would work equally well with small pieces of pork lion, kielbasa or maybe even shrimp, but that would require some experimentation.
Jerk Marinade – I’ve tried this recipe using Italian dressing as the marinade and that worked well. Any of the Lawrys marinades would taste very good too.
Onion or Jalapeño – If that isn’t your taste, just leave it off, but they really do make the recipe if you ask me.
Bacon – I am not really aware of any substitution that would work for the bacon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
If kept covered in the fridge, these will last up to 5 days.
You can freeze these bites, but they are so small you can simply make what you need now and then make more when you need them.
Yes, you can add cream cheese, but I’ve found that it wants to melt out of the wrap and then you lose all of that flavor. So sad!
Tips and Tricks
- Cut the chicken into very small rectangular pieces. This helps to make a surface for the onion and jalapeno to be wrapped inside of.
- Don’t try to use the thick sliced bacon, it doesn’t work well for this recipe as it takes too long to cook and then the chicken is overcooked by the time the bacon is done.
- Do use a nice quality bacon so that it holds together when you are trying to wrap the chicken.
- Cut the onion and jalapeno into very small pieces. This helps to make it adhere to the chicken better and it is easier to work with.
- Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours but I recommend overnight to allow the flavor to seep into the chicken.
- Use a quality toothpick because it can be a challenge to snag all of the layers onto the toothpick.
- ALWAYS spray your pan with non stick spray because it will stick so badly that you won’t be able to get it off of the pan.
- You can count on a little black ring around the pieces you have baked, this is fine, it won’t stick to the bite when you remove it from the pan.
- Serve with the toothpick so everything holds together.
- If you line your pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, it won’t be so hard to clean up!
- Make sure the oven is fully preheated before putting this into the oven or you will be setting your chicken up to be over cooked.
Watch Me Make This
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Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 bottle Lawrys Jerk Marinade
- 4 slices bacon
- 1/4 purple onion minced
- 1/2 jalapeno
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces about the size of your thumbnail. Place into a bowl or plastic bag and pour the bottle of marinade over the top. Simply cover with marinade and mix around, if it doesn't take the entire bottle, then reserve the rest for another purpose. Place the chicken into the refrigerator to marinate for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to cook the bites, Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet with a sheet of aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Cut the bacon into four pieces per slice. Set aside.
- Mince the jalapeno and the purple onion.
- Layer the ingredients as follows to make the bite. Place a piece of bacon on the bottom, put a piece of chicken on top, sprinkle some onion and jalapeno over the chicken and then wrap the bacon around the chicken and secure with a toothpick. You'll note that some of the bacon and jalapeno squeezes out or becomes all stuck in the marinade. This isn't a problem, just keep going.
- As you complete each bite, place it onto the prepared baking sheet and allow space between each one so that the heat in the oven can circulate around the chicken pieces.
- When completed, place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken and bacon is cooked through.
Notes
- Cut the chicken into very small rectangular pieces. This helps to make a surface for the onion and jalapeno to be wrapped inside of.
- Don’t try to use the thick sliced bacon, it doesn’t work well for this recipe as it takes too long to cook and then the chicken is overcooked by the time the bacon is done.
- Do use a nice quality bacon so that it holds together when you are trying to wrap the chicken.
- Cut the onion and jalapeno into very small pieces. This helps to make it adhere to the chicken better and it is easier to work with.
- Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours but I recommend overnight to allow the flavor to seep into the chicken.
- Use a quality toothpick because it can be a challenge to snag all of the layers onto the toothpick.
- ALWAYS spray your pan with non stick spray because it will stick so badly that you won’t be able to get it off of the pan.
- You can count on a little black ring around the pieces you have baked, this is fine, it won’t stick to the bite when you remove it from the pan.
- Serve with the toothpick so everything holds together.
- If you line your pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, it won’t be so hard to clean up!
- Make sure the oven is fully preheated before putting this into the oven or you will be setting your chicken up to be over cooked.
Nutrition
Yesterday I traveled for a long way behind a trailer advertising the church of someone I’m close to who is in a nursing home. Before entering the nursing home, this person gave so much time to that church. She gave a lot of money too.
The minister would visit her home, praise her giving and gladly take the check.
Do you know that no one from that church has visited, called to check on her or even sent a card since she entered the nursing home?
It makes my heart so sad.
Matthew 25
Matthew 25 has a lot to say about this kind of thing. I won’t put it here because it’s too long, but you might want to read it yourself.
Linda Darlene Lloyd
Monday 27th of February 2023
Have you tried soaking your wooden toothpicks or skewers in water before putting them on the fire? They won't char if you do.