These bacon wrapped chicken bites are the perfect easy appetizer for any party, or for yourself. The chicken comes out juicy and perfect with a crispy bacon exterior coated in caramelized brown sugar.
You can make these in a few simple steps. Prepping the chicken, rolling it in bacon, and adding that brown sugar spice mix only takes about 10 minutes. The you can just lay these out a baking sheet and be done!
I know that sometimes the last thing you want to do is stand in front of the stove or put together some complicated dish for a party or a large group dinner. This one is a hit all around and you don’t even have to work too hard to make it.
After cutting your chicken breast into bite sized pieces, you want to prep them by adding your seasonings before rolling them in bacon.
For this recipe, it’s best to use a thick cut variety of pork bacon, although turkey or beef bacon may work similarly. The strips of bacon are usually a but too long for each chicken bite, so cute each slice of bacon in half. Using strips of bacon that are too long might make the bacon difficult to crisp up. Ideally, you want the bacon to form a single layer around your piece of chicken.
Dipping your rolled bacon chicken bites in brown sugar is going to help give them even more flavor. Smokiness from the chili powder combined with the sweet from the brown sugar tastes amazing. This combo would also work really well if you popped these on some skewers and put them on a smokey grill.
Once you remove your chicken bites from the oven, the bacon on the outside should be perfectly crispy with the brown sugar coating perfectly caramelized and juicy chicken in the middle.
I prefer to eat this as is, but you can also include some dipping sauces. These bacon chicken bites would pair really well with a great BBQ sauce.
If you are having a party, you can also pop some toothpicks in each for easier handling. These are so good and really easy to eat, so they go fast!
Easy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Bites Appetizer
These bacon-wrapped chicken bites are the perfect easy appetizer. They are perfectly bite-sized, juicy pieces of chicken with a crispy brown sugar bacon coating.
Ingredients
- 2 lb chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 lb bacon
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut chicken breast into 1-inch pieces then season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Cut each slice of bacon in half and wrap each piece of bacon around your pieces of chicken. You may have to cut the bacon into thirds if the pieces are too long.
- In a separate bowl mix your brown sugar, chili powder, and cayenne pepper. Then dip your pieces of wrapped chicken into the brown sugar mix.
- Spread the chicken bites in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the bacon is crisp.
- Garnish with some parsley or green onion and serve with your favorite dipping sauce. BBQ is recommended.
Notes
These would also be great in an air fryer, but cooking times will vary.