Monterey Chicken

My husband has declared this to be the best chicken he's ever had.  I really like it, too!  In spite of the rather long directions, this is a really easy recipe.  I originally found it over on the Real Housemoms blog a few months ago and have made it twice.  I added dijon mustard to the marinade and cut out the barbecue sauce you're supposed to brush on the chicken at the end.  I made it with the barbecue sauce the first time and it was great, but the marinade itself is so flavorful that I decided to try it on its own.  My suspicions were correct, it's just as good/maybe better without the barbecue sauce, which just covers the flavor of the marinade.  If I ever decide to make this last minute, I'll just skip the marinade completely, sprinkle the chicken with seasoned salt and garlic powder, then brush it with barbecue sauce before adding the chicken and bacon.

 

Quick Note:  How many this will serve really is up to you.  My 2 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts were just two enormous ones, and I cut them in half right down the middle to make two thinner pieces, so we ended up with 4 large servings.  If you have smaller chicken breasts and end up with 5 or 6 serving pieces, that's fine as well, just make sure they all get covered properly with cheese and bacon!

 

If you accidentally cook your bacon a little too long during the first round and worry about it burning if it spends any more time in the oven, you can either try putting the bacon under the cheese before baking it again, or stick the bacon on top of the melted cheese as soon as the finished chicken comes out of the oven.

 

 
Monterey Chicken

 

2 to 2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (this was 2 very large breasts cut down the middle for me), cleaned of excess gunk

3 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 lb bacon

4-6 slices of pepper jack cheese

 

Place chicken breasts in a gallon ziploc bag.  Stir together remaining ingredients except bacon and cheese, and pour over chicken in bag.  Seal bag and squish it around so the chicken is coated.  Refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours.

 

When you're ready to cook the chicken, arrange 2 racks in the oven so that they're more or less centered in the middle.  Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and arrange the chicken breasts in the dish, then pour the marinade from the bag on top.  Place this on the lower rack in the oven.  Line a large baking pan with foil and fold the edges up to contain the bacon grease, then evenly arrange the bacon on the foil.  Place the bacon in the oven on the upper rack.

 

Bake chicken and bacon until bacon is cooked almost as much as you like, about 15-25 minutes depending on your preferences and the thickness of the bacon.  Carefully remove both pans from the oven and rearrange the baking racks so one is in the middle.  Return the chicken to this rack and continue to bake until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one of the breasts registers 165.  Meanwhile, remove the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate and dab off the excess grease.

 

When the chicken is cooked through, remove the pan from the oven and top the chicken with the sliced cheese, tearing the slices to fit.  Top the cheese evenly with the bacon, tearing it into pieces.  Return the pan to the oven and cook until the cheese is melted and the bacon is cooked to your desired doneness, about 5 minutes more.

 

Yield: 4-6 servings