Recipes Gradient

Bacon-Wrapped Pollo with Cream Cheese & Jalapeños

BY Tim Ortiz

Ingredients 3 packages boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 in each package)
12 jalapeños
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 12-ounce package sliced bacon
Toothpicks
Grab a chicken filet and flatten it out, not too much because a chicken filet is already tender, so be gentle when you are flattening it. I prefer to use chicken filets instead of a whole chicken breast because they're smaller and cheaper, plus this should be more of an appetizer, quick-bite kind of meal. After flattening out the chicken filet, season it with salt and pepper (and whatever other seasoning you would like to use).

Grab a jalapeño and cut off the top, where the top stem is. Then slice the jalapeño down the middle and remove the seeds and the stem inside. Then cut about a ¼-inch slice off of the brick of cream cheese and place the slice into the hollowed-out jalapeño. Place the cream-cheese-filled jalapeño on top of the chicken filet and roll it up to conceal the jalapeño. Then wrap the chicken filet with a slice of bacon (1 slice of bacon per chicken filet should be enough). Don’t wrap it too tightly, so that the cream cheese doesn’t squeeze out. Once you’ve completely wrapped the chicken filet with the bacon, use a toothpick (or two) to hold everything together. Repeat for the rest of the chicken filets. Now they are ready to take out to the grill. First prepare the grill with a medium-high setting. Once ready, place them on the grill and turn them with your tongs about every 3-5 minutes, to cook each side evenly. Once the bacon is cooked, then you are done. It should take you no more than 15 minutes per batch. Enjoy! Serves 6.