Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs with a Honey Dijon sauce
This honestly only looks hard! Requires a few toothpicks and whips up in under 1 hour but is only 20 minutes of labour! Both dairy and gluten free!
This is a flavour bomb! It's crispy, it's salty, it's sweet... this is the everything meal!!
I started with antibiotic free chicken thighs and some of our homemade bacon! I sprinkled the thighs with some garlic and got to work basket weaving the bacon on the top. It's simply "over under" then use toothpicks to gather and secure it all to the bottom. The bottom does not have to look pretty!!
From here I got a pan ready with high heat oil and seared the bacon onto the chicken, while prepping the oven to cook at 375 degrees. Just ensure the bacon gets brown on the top, making sure you get the top of the chicken thigh, the sides and the bottom, otherwise the bacon could be soggy and the whole "package" could fall apart. Incase that wasn't very clear, you won't cook the chicken through on the pan or the bacon on the pan, just make sure you flash sear the actual bacon all around the chicken.
Throw this in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees and ensure you reach an internal temp of 165 degrees F.
Make some mash potato as you would regularly, I can't eat dairy so I use earth balance and Pacific Foods Cashew milk to mash the potatoes!
I also sautéed some cut up zucchini wheels, with garlic salt and pepper and pan fried these closer to the completion of the chicken! Please let me know if you want me to get into more detail with some of the mash/sides I talk about and I will!
On to the sauce... I cut up some cremini mushrooms and garlic and added them to a frying pan to sauté with some high heat oil. I took my honey and stuck it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to liquify it enough to pour... if you have liquid honey you don't need to do this stage.
Once the mushrooms and garlic are cooked add in some honey and dijon and mix well!
Again, I so love my garden... this recipe screamed needing fresh thyme.... I just so happened to have some... so #win! You'll find this pretty liquidy so I added in cassava flour to keep this gluten free. I only used a bit, stir until it gets a bit of a thickened sauce consistency.
By now you have everything in order... time to plate out. The flavour in this sauce is out of this world, but as a food blogger, it's not as pretty as I would like....so for your viewing pleasure the before and after sauce photos!!! lol I really would include the sauce though when you eat it! Enjoy! I'm going to say all in, this was a 1 hour meal... there is a lot of down time if you are prepared... like get your potatoes going and zucchini cut in advance! You can do it!
Let me know if these meals are scaring anyone away because they look hard? I promise they are actually quite easy... push the comfort zone and try! But otherwise give me some feedback... more description, go more simplistic? I am open to suggestions.
The Recipe:
ready 1-2 chicken thighs per person
each thigh gets 4 slices of bacon or if long enough 2 cut in half each.
Sprinkle thighs with garlic powder and then wrap with bacon in a basket weave!
Pin the ends of the bacon to the bottom of the thighs with toothpicks to secure.
Sear in a pan with oil to just crisp up the bacon on all exterior edges of the chicken... that way it will hold it's form and then place in a pre heated 375 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes. Please ensure you hit an internal temp of 165 degrees to be safe!
Make mashed potates as you would usually, dairy free use earth balance and a nut milk to smooth. The zucchini is simply sautéed in high heat oil and garlic.
For the sauce:
Slice up any mushrooms; I used cremini, and some garlic (1 clove minced) sauté on the stove in a high heat oil until soft and fragrant.
Melt 1/4 cup of honey (unless already liquid) add 3 Tbsp of grainy Dijon mustard add over the mushroom blend! See how this looks and add some cassava flour to create a thicker sauce... do 1 tsp sprinkle of flour at a time and wait at least one minute for it to react and thicken before adding more!
Plate everything out... keep the honey dijon sauce warm so that it can be poured over the meat and potatoes evenly and serve!
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