About Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken
It’s been a bit of a chicken week here at my house, but that’s nothing new. Chicken breast is my go-to dinner option when I’ve got nothing else up my sleeve and this bacon wrapped cream cheese stuffed chicken is one of my new favorites!
All that being said, though, when it comes to a fast dinner option… it’s usually either chicken breast and Tuna Helper at our house.
Hey, no judging!
And because of this, I’m constantly looking for new ways to cook and prepare my beloved chicken. Last week’s honey balsamic chicken was absolutely amazing and pretty hard to top, so this time around I wanted to spice things up by going in a completely different direction.
And by “different direction” I mean I added bacon.
Around the chicken.
Behold: baked bacon wrapped chicken breast!
Being the chicken connoisseur that I am, I can’t count how many recipes I’ve tried that use cream cheese in some way.
Chicken and cream cheese is a very popular combination, but in most cases, the cream cheese is only there to provide a creamy texture. The flavor always seems to be handled by some other blend of herbs and spices, completely overshadowing the tart cream cheese.
That’s not the case with this recipe!
The cream cheese flavor is front and center in this stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon, with the bacon (mm, bacon!) and chives only enhancing it.
Even I, the Chicken Recipe Master that I am (that title’s still available, right?) was surprised by how flavorful baked bacon wrapped chicken breast could be.
Kinda makes me wonder why I’ve been treating cream cheese so badly all these years, because the cream cheese simply made this dish.
I can’t make any promises, but I hope this is just the start of more bacon wrapped stuffed chicken recipes in this food blog’s future!
Because that’s why you’re here, right?
Bacon and chicken?
I mean, maybe you get a kick out of my corny jokes – and bless your heart if you’re nodding your head right now – but I think we both know the truth.
My armature comedy hour is nothing compared to stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon.
And that’s okay.
I’d pick the baked bacon wrapped chicken, too.
Can you use chicken thighs instead?
Yes, you totally can! As long as they’re boneless and skinless, you can substitute chicken thighs for the chicken breasts in this recipe.
Notes & tips for this baked bacon wrapped chicken
- In the recipe instructions, I say to use a meat tenderizer to flatten the chicken breast, but you could use any utensil that’s sturdy & heavy but isn’t breakable. For example, the video above uses a standard rolling pin.
- And speaking of flattening the chicken breast, make sure the surface you do this on isn’t breakable. I have to be careful with this because my kitchen has a tile counter and the tiles could easily break. If you’re unsure about your surface, place a wood cutting board on top to help absorb some of the impact.
- Be creative with this recipe! Experiment with different fillings like meats (more bacon?) or veggies (like spinach).
More great chicken recipes
How to make bacon wrapped chicken
This next part is only a photo tutorial of the recipe steps. If you’re looking for the full recipe measurements and instructions, scroll down to Recipe Details.
Step 1 – Cook the bacon so that it starts to curl and turn red but is still a little on the soft side. The goal is to get the benefits of frying while keeping the bacon flimsy enough that you can work with it. Don’t worry about it being undercooked – this dish will be cooked in the oven, so it will finish cooking that way. Once the bacon is ready, set the strips on a paper towel-lined plate until ready to use.
Step 2Â – Place chicken breast in a bag, then use a meat mallet or rolling pin to flatten the chicken until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Like the bacon, set the chicken aside for now.
Step 3 – In a medium bowl, add cream cheese and chives. Give it a few stirs to mix everything together.
 
 
Step 4 – Move the prepared chicken breasts to your workspace. Spread the cream cheese mixture on top, then roll the chicken up, starting with the smallest end first.
Step 5 – Once the chicken is rolled, lay three slices of bacon on top. Wrap the bacon around the chicken, tucking the ends of the bacon underneath.
Step 6 – Transfer the prepared bacon wrapped chicken to a baking dish.
Step 7 – Bake!
Step 6 – Serve end enjoy!
Recipe Details
Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until it begins to curl and turn red - you want it to be partially cooked but still flimsy. Place bacon on a paper towel while preparing other ingredients.
In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese and chives. Set aside.
Place chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag (gallon sized). Using a rolling pin or meat tenderizer, flatten chicken breasts until they're about 1/4 inch thick.
- Spoon a portion of the cream cheese mix and spread it in the center of the chicken breast, keeping at least a 1/2 inch gap from the edges clear.
- Starting with the smallest end, roll up the chicken breast. With the seam side of the chicken facing up, wrap pieces of bacon around it so that the ends of the bacon are tucked beneath the chicken. Wrapping this way should secure the bacon and keep the chicken wrapped. If needed, use toothpicks to help keep the chicken wrap together.
Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Turn oven to broil for 5 minutes to crisp the bacon. If desired, sprinkle more fresh chopped chives on top.
Serve immediately.
Bacon and chicken… dreams are comin’ true!!
Besides, chicken dinner is ALWAYS a winner! 😀
AWESOME recipe & completely off the charts regarding INCREDIBLE taste! Thank you for posting!
I love this! It’s so simple and looks absolutely delicious – I’m making it this week!
Wow! This looks totally scrumptious and I never say no to anything with bacon! Pinned. 🙂
I’ve made these before and loved them! Bacon makes anything better.
So simple yet so delicious.. this chicken is perfect!
You have given me a great idea. This looks so good with the cream cheese and bacon.
Oh my goodness Chrisy you’ve done it again! I am literally drooling over my monitor here!
I love this recipe! Simple ingredient list with a bunch of flavor and bacon! 😀 Thanks so much for sharing with Friday Favorites, we love having you join us! Pinned and yummed 🙂
What a perfect recipe!! We love chicken breasts in our house too – they’re so easy and yummy. I’ll definitely be trying your recipe this week. Thanks for linking up with our Fabulous Foodie Fridays party!
Oh my goodness these look fantastic! Thank you so much for joining our Fabulous Foodie Fridays party this week, I hope you have a great weekend 🙂
Oh my this looks delicious! I’ve printed it and will try it!
Visiting from Foodie Friday.
Honestly this looks amazing, I want this now and it is only breakfast time. This will be going on my menu planner in the coming weeks. Stopping by from the Fabulous Foodie Fridays, hope you had a great weekend.
This looks delicious! Thanks for linking up with me. I’m featuring you this week.
Wow YUM!!!!
Hi Chrisy! Bacon, yum..this will make the hubby happy. I would love for you to share this recipe over at Saturday Dishes Linky Party. Our theme is Potluck. I think this is an awesome and delicious potluck recipe too.
Here’s the link: http://www.abountifullove.com/2015/06/week-in-review-and-saturday-dishes.html
Hope to see you there!
Bacon and cream cheese sound like a great combination for almost any savory dish so why not chicken? I’m pinning this to my bacon board!
YUM! 3 of my favorite ingredients! Stopping from Happiness is Homemade.
This is awesome! I made it for a low-carb meal with broccoli and my an old friend of mine asks for it weekly now!
Can you use the pre cooked microwave bacon for this recipe?
Hey Riebe! I haven’t worked with the precooked bacon before, but I *think* it should be okay – as long as it’s still pliable enough to wrap around the chicken, you should be good to go 🙂
You can make this dish with uncooked bacon. It will have to go covered and for a little longer in the oven (same temp) and you’ll want to let the bacon crisp up under the broiler (keep an eye on it!), but it turns out great.
This is a dish my mom used to make and it’s one of my favorites. I do add a small pat of butter to each chicken “roll”. Some of the cream cheese melts out with the butter and makes a tasty sauce to go with it.
It’s nice to have these places to go to for new ideas for dinner.
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to share these great dinners with ALL of us.
Sue
I used the onion & chive cream cheese and center cut bacon. It was very tasty, but needed salt. Next time I’ll salt the chicken, possibly mix some garlic powder into the cream cheese as well, but other than that this is definitely a keeper!
I like your additions Amy! I’ll have to try it your way the next time I make it 😀
Try a jalapeno that has had the seeds taken out and wrapped with the cream cheese! Yum!
You’re braver than me Barb (we’re afraid of spicy heat in my house!) but I know quite a few friends who would love adding jalapenos 😀
Cooked this last night but it was very late and we did not get to eat it. Stored in refrigerator – it looks amazing. Should I just heat it up at 350 or will it not be any good since not served immediately? Thanks!
Hey Kay, so sorry for the late response! If you haven’t already done so, you can give the chicken a very light coating of cooking spray / olive oil and cook at 325 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Check the temp, and if it’s still not warm enough to your liking, heat for 5 more minutes.
Made this for dinner tonight hope looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe!!!
No problem Rae! I hope it turned out great 😀
Thanks Rae!
I am assuming you can prepare this the night before and cook it the next day?
Hey Melanie! I haven’t tried this before, but I *think* it should work. I’d still recommend crisping the bacon a little before wrapping it around the chicken, so if you can do that, I think you should be good.
Made this tonight! Easy and yummy! Thanks! I could def see adding extra herbs, shredded cheese or maybe tomato etc? But as-is is great too! Thank you!
Thanks Caryn! I’m so glad you liked it 😀 I had another reader say they added sun dried tomatoes – sounds yummy to me!
Just letting you know that I included this recipe in my Low-Carb Recipe Love on Fridays post today. I hope a lot of my readers will click over here and try it!
Thank you so much for the mention Kalyn!! 😀
Wonder how it would be with a little ranch seasoning? Anyone try it?
I make something very close to this, except that I put the Chicken in cleaned out Jalepenos with cream cheese or Monterey cheese inside the Chicken, then I wrap Bacon around it, roll in Cajun Spice, put in, 2 toothpicks and grill or bake until my Bacon is nice and crisp. They are called Cajun Kisses and I learned how to make them at the store I buy my meat.
Oh my, I have some neighbors that would LOVE to have dinner at your house! Love the idea of cooking in peppers – jalapenos are a bit much for me, but I might be able to get away with pulling off something similar in a bell pepper 😀
I made this but added shredded pepper jack cheese to the cream cheese for a little extra kick. It was delicious!
This dinner was amazingly delicious!! Although I did make a few changes! I didn’t have cream cheese so I had used herb n garlic harvarti. I rolled the cheese in the chicken but didn’t wrap the chicken I just placed it on the top and then put more slices of cheese on top. Surrounded with cherry tomatoes, parsley sprinkled on top. Cooked exactly 30 min. A def. remake!
Wonderful!!
I am going to try this tonight, but with sauted onions, mushrooms and garlic instead of chives! I will let ya’ll know how it turns out!
It turned out great! I didnt have enough baccon to wrap all of the pieces, so I chopped up the last few pieces of baccon and mixed them in with the cream cheese mix, then rolled them up. I had some cream cheese mix left so I also stuffed some mushrooms. Yummmy!!
Making this tonite, to surprise my wife, l adding feta cheese, to the cream cheese, she’ll love it.
How was it with the feta added? I have some extra feta in the fridge, I don’t want it to spoil, it’s so expensive!! Lol not a cheese I buy regularly, but I had bought some for a watermelon recipe!! Thanks
This looks delicious and exactly what I was looking for. It should be fine with the addition of broccoli in the cream cheese instead of chives?
They Jennifer! If the broccoli is chopped fairly small, I think it’d make a great addition 😀
Hi Chrisy:
I love your recipe for Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken! I’m putting together a recipe roundup and would like to feature your recipe link with the image. We will not repost the recipe and will also link the image to your site as well. Please let me know if this is ok- thanks! Scott
Hey Scott! Yes, I’d be happy for you to feature the recipe 😀 Thanks for asking!
I’ve been making a similar recipe for years! Pound chicken thin, spread with whipped chive cream cheese, roll up the chicken with bacon (not cooked) around it then bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Broil for 5 minutes and ENJOY!!
Oh my goodness this looks so delicious! Even more surprising, I think I could actually make these! Thank you, thank you, thank you. <3
Hello! I’d like to try this for dinner tonight. Will the chicken end up sitting in a lot of grease at the end of cooking? And would it hurt anything to cover it with foil before broiling to try to keep from drying out? Thanks!!! Looks good.
Hey Jessie! When the chicken cooks, it will cause some grease to be in the pan – is that what you mean? And for the broiling, if you’re concerned about the dryness of the chicken, you could skip that step. I’ve made this dish a few times and didn’t think the chicken was dry after broiling, but it’s up to you!
I made this tonight for dinner. I added about 1 1/2 tsp. of Johnny’s Garlic Bread seasoning (from Costco) and a tsp. of Italian herbs to the cream cheese and mixed it all up. After I spread the cheese on the chicken I added about a handfull of baby spinach leaves and rolled it all up. Otherwise I made it as directed and it was awesome. I had a lot of liquid at the bottom of the baking dish – kind of like broth. I’ll be making this again – it was awesome. I just discovered your website and want to try some of the other chicken recipes. Thanks for the great recipes!
Thank you, Jane! 😀 I love your additions – I’ll definitely be trying them the next time I make this!
I’m so excited to make this this weekend!! Any ideas for sides? I have a 4 year old so it’s usually mashed potatoes or rice, I didn’t know if those would be a little much with having the cream cheese?
I cooked a side of risotto and it went great with it. .
Trying this out! I added a little garlic seasoning & instead of chives I mixed a packet of ranch & bacon bites in the cream cheese & put slices jalapeños then wrapped it in the bacon!!
My sister wraps her boneless/skinless chicken breast in a baggy and towel then drives over them with her car. She doesn’t have time for all the pounding it takes to flatten the meat! I laugh about this because she’s the biggest germaphobe in a family of germaphobes. Stuck at home waiting for the dryer repairman to show up so I can’t get the ingredients. Maybe tomorrow!
That is one of the funniest things I have ever read! 🙂
I know it has been two years, but I just stumbled upon this recipe and that is the most HILARIOUS thing I have ever read! Props to your sis…. my family would send me to the funny farm if I did this (even though it is an excellent idea) <3
Has anyone used boneless chicken thighs? I would think they’d turn out good, too, if pounded flat. I like the additions of garlic & onions and will definitely try this recipe this week!
I’m just curious if anybody has tried cooking this on the grill? If so did it turn out okay??
HELP! Yours are beautiful, mine came out a total mess! I’ve been doing this a while (before I found your wonderful site on pinterest) and the cream cheese oozes all out of mine and all over the pan, hardly ever staying inside. Same with my Jalepeno poppers. Any advice? I normally scrape it off the pan and spread on top but it’s not very pretty that way. I do spinach, green onion and fresh jalepeno with sharp cheddar and cream cheese in mine. Could those be the problem?
Hey Ashley! The cheddar “might” be contributing to the runaway cheese, but overall, it’s a little tricky to get these to bake beautifully. Sometimes the cheese is just going to do whatever it wants 🙂 You could try wrapping a few rounds of baker’s twine around them to help the chicken (and peppers!) to hold their shape while baking. That might be half your battle – the “containers” change shape while cooking, allowing the cheese to run amuck.
I added salt and pepper to the chicken, added fresh chopped rosemary and thyme to the cream cheese and used the precooked bacon. I covered the glass dish I used and cooked it at 375 as instructed for 30 minutes. It was delicious, moist and the only change I would make in the future is that I would add garlic to the cream cheese as well but we like garlic in everything. My an old friend of mine is generally complimentary but was over the top about this dish. He repeatedly said how good this was.
Can these be frozen before cooking them once they are put together? It makes a big batch. But look sooo delicious! Can’t wait to bake them!
I actually tried and experimented with this recipe. Instead of chicken marinated in cheese, I added mayonnaise (because that’s my fav! ;)) and dry-roasted the chicken before marinating. Then I wrapped bacon around it and followed the rest of the recipe. I must say it didn;t turn out as I expected, but it still was a pleasure to work on it. Fabulous recipe, dear, and I’m going to get back to my chicken breasts! Haha!
I used to make this but instead of chives in the cream cheese, try tarragon.. it’s delicious!
I mixed avocado with my cream cheese! Delicious!
Although we really enjoyed this recipe there were definitely some things missing that I would do next time. First, the chicken needed to be salt and peppered after pounding. Secondly, I would pan sauté them to give them some color before putting in the oven. Finally, I agree with several others, I would add some other grated cheese to the cream cheese mixture.
Try covering with hollandaise before serving.
This recipe sounds SO GOOD. Bacon and cream cheese? I’m sold. Love it so much!
What is a good side dish for recipe? Would rice or potatoes go good with ?
I made asparagus for a side dish.😀
I am making a salad and mashed potatoes
Add butter to the dish in the oven, then put the chicken and sauce from the baking dish on top of white rice…amazing..
I slices potatoes in rounds. Put in iron skillet sprinkled with onion soup mix. Bake on 375 oven covered til done. I do about 30+35in sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and put back in oven til cheese is melted. And….EAT UP!!!
Oops …uncover until cheese is melted….
I just made something similar tonight, I used chive onion cream cheese, put lemon pepper on the breast, wrapped in bacon then put garlic powder and hot sauce on it. They are in the oven now, can not wait for dinner!!
Ha I butter sauteed mushrooms and onions and minced garlic, and a lil parsley! Mixed with my cream cheese and added bacon, a little shredded mozzarella and parmesan. Stuffing tastes awesome! I’d serve it with wheat things too!
I always season the chicken, black pepper, seasoning salt and garlic powder. I add chopped jalapeno peppers and the same seasoning as the chicken. Server with cream cheese mashed potatoes
One of my favorite recipes. I usually cut a pocket in the chicken breast and stuff the cream cheese mixture in it, then wrap with bacon. Bake with the pocket opening up. helps keep the cheese in.
That is exactly how I planned to cook them tonight!!!
How long to you bake the chicken if just pocketing a thick breast?
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Easy but delicious recipe, thank you. I would make one change, mascarpone cheese, instead of cream cheese, will give it a more buttery flavor. Though, it is a great recipe, it tastes time consuming, but can be prepped quickly. I even made this for my mother last Mother’s day.
I used thin cutlets, put mixture on one, Italian seasoning and mozzarella shredded in the mixture to spread. Covered with another thin cutlet. Rolled with 4 pieces of bacon. On 350 shallow pan turn down after short time, bacon cooks without precooking. Excellent recipe thank you.
This will sound silly, but are the nutrition facts listed for one chicken breast wrapped and filled or for all the chicken breasts? Thanks!!
I cooked it as directed and it was wonderful and well received. Served with brown rice and spinach.
Easy recipe. I didn’t have chives so mixed minced onion, garlic powder and rosemary in the cream cheese. Still very good.
My dad and I made this together this evening. Our first tip is, do NOT pre cook your bacon as it doesn’t wrap much or well. Raw bacon will wrap so much easier.
We spread the adobo sauce on the breast before we put on the cream cheese THEN we added some roasted red pepper for some extra smoke and flavour. O. M. G. It was mouthwatering!! The adobo with the cream cheese was a perfect combination! There are so many variations you could do with this recipe
You don’t have to flatten the Chicken breast either.
Just put a little pressure on it and slice a ‘pocket’ into its side, (not all the way through) and put the cheese etc inside then wrap tightly with (uncooked) bacon.
You can also either before cooking or half way through wrap them in puff pastry, mmmmmmmm
PS; Use whole Chicken breast fillets, not Chicken ‘portions’.
Could you cook the bacon a little longer before wrapping (not totally cooked) and cut some nice pieces of precooked rotisserie chicken with cream cheese and chives between the 2 pieces, then backed (or skillet cook) till cheese melts and bacon is totally cooked?
I made this but added green pepper and shredded colby jack cheese to the filling. I also did not cook bacon prior to oven baking. I sprinkled brown sugar on the top of the bacon and chicken. It was amazing. My 17 and 15 year old loved it.
This came out so yummy I put spinach with cream cheese and chopped onion wit pepper jack cheese came out delicious 😋😋
Try covering with hollandaise before serving.
Can I prep and freeze these? I dont know how the cheese or bacon would work. My daughter loves these! And I would like to have some on hand for her to throw in the oven anytime.
I freeze them all the time. I cook them from frozen at 325 for approximately 40 min.
sounds yummy, trying it tonight but will probably tweak the filling. Can this be BBQ’d
I made it with chopped brocolli and Cream cheese for the filling and swasoned the chicken with light salt and pep than brushed outside lightly with maple syrup over the bacon…. perfection!
My family and friends love this. I add chopped jalapenos, diced onion, bacon and shredded cheese to the cream cheese and I season the chicken before stuffing it. So delicious. Thank you for the idea!