BBQ Chicken and Bacon Bites

Need a party-friendly finger food? Try these smoky-sweet bites of chicken and bacon smothered in barbecue sauce. They’d be great for a kids’ party, but grown-ups will love them, too: put out a plate during a basketball game or TV marathon and watch them disappear. Just bring a big stack of napkins to manage the sticky fingers!

You could also transform this recipe from an appetizer or party plate into a full meal by keeping the chicken breasts intact. Then just wrap them in bacon, brush with the barbecue sauce, and bake as directed until they’re done. The bacon acts as a kind of substitute skin for the chicken, making sure the breasts don’t dry out in the oven, and it adds some much-needed fat to a cut that would otherwise be very lean.

To add that barbecue flavor, you’ll need some homemade barbecue sauce – you can try to find a kind with no added sugar in the grocery store, but it’s probably faster just to make your own. And make extras, too: as barbecue season gets into full swing, you’ll want to have it around for all kinds of other recipes. If you throw together a double batch, you can just freeze the other half and save it for your next BBQ masterpiece (or a second batch of bacon bites, if you just can’t resist making them again!)

BBQ Chicken and Bacon Bites Recipe

SERVES: 8 PREP: 15 min. COOK: 40 min.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes;
• 1 lb. bacon (store-bought or make your own), with each slice cut in half;
• ½ cup homemade BBQ sauce;
• Toothpicks;

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Wrap each chicken piece with a half-slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick.
3. Brush each chicken bite with BBQ sauce.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Turn the chicken bites over, and brush again with BBQ sauce.
6. Place back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Serve warm.