I'm a bit obsessed with chicken tenderloins ever since I discovered them at the freezer section of Costco during the pandemic-driven meat shortage. I now always get them even though they are a bit pricier, because they are much juicier than chicken breast meat. If you can't find chicken tenderloins, you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts in a pinch for this recipe. It'll be less juicy, but the bacon should help "protect" the chicken from drying out too much.
Make sure you use thin cut bacon (as opposed to thick cut), and use a whole strip for each chicken tenderloin. That way, the bacon "mummifies" the entire length of the chicken bundle, and the spinach cheesy goodness stays inside the chicken instead of oozing out all over the pan. I made the mistake of using thick cut bacon one time, and the thick cut bacon doesn't "stretch and hold" as well, so the chicken bundle became a mess in the pan. Plus the thick cut bacon didn't crisp up as nicely and ended up a bit rubbery.
So don't make the same mistake I did. Thin sliced bacon is the way to go here.
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| Season chicken tenderloins |
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| Make spinach cheese mixture |
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| Butterfly chicken tenderloins |
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| Add spinach cheese mixture, close chicken, and wrap tightly with a strip of bacon |
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| Pan fry |
This dish is not the healthiest, but soooooo good, cuz you know... BACON!
So give yourself a treat and make this dish!
Yields 4 servings
Ingredients:
- 12 chicken tenderloins
- 12 strips of thin cut bacon
- 1 t salt, divided
- ½ t garlic powder
- ¼ t ground black pepper
- 1 c frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
- ½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
Procedures:
1. Sprinkle ½ t salt and ½ t garlic powder over the chicken tenderloins and mix to season the chicken tenderloins. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, defrost the chopped spinach and squeeze out excess water. Add the remaining ½ t salt, ground black pepper, shredded cheese, and mix to combine. Set aside.
3. Butterfly chicken by putting a tenderloin on a cutting board and, with your hand flat on top of it, use a sharp knife to slice into one side of the tenderloin. Be careful to not cut all the way through the tenderloin. Open the tenderloin as if you are opening a book, and flatten with your hand. Repeat until all tenderloins are butterflied.
4. Place a heaping tablespoon of the spinach cheese mixture in each butterflied tenderloin. Close the chicken tenderloin around the spinach and cheese. Holding the chicken bundle in your hand, wrap a slice of bacon around the bundle, covering the length of the chicken. Repeat with remaining 11 tenderloins.
5. Place the bacon wrapped bundles in a heated pan and pan fry each side on medium heat until the bacon is browned, the chicken is cooked through and the cheese has melted (about 3 to 4 minutes on each side, 3 sides total). To check if the chicken is cooked, cut a piece open. The spinach cheese mix should be hot and melting and the chicken is no longer pink.
6. Transfer the pieces to a serving platter and serve hot.