Double-Pork Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Vegetables certainly have their place at the Primal table and we eat them often in every season. But man (and woman) cannot survive on vegetables alone. Or, rather, they can and do, but in our opinion it’s a much less tasty (and nutritious) way to live. Nothing lures us in and satisfies our hunger like the savory aroma of meat dripping with juices and glistening with lip-smacking fat.
In our never-ending quest to enjoy all the butcher shop has to offer, we’re turning our attention this week to a cut of meat we rarely buy. Not because it’s exotic or adventurous, quite the opposite actually. In fact, it might just be the least adventurous cut of meat out there. That’s right, we’re talking about the boneless, skinless chicken breast.
We don’t buy this cut regularly, usually preferring to feast on the whole bird or on fattier pieces with bones and skin intact. But every once in a while when we want a simple dish with loads of juicy flavor that will please everyone at the table (including kids and picky meat-eaters), chicken breasts are the perfect meal. Yes, you read that right. Loads of juicy flavor. If you think those words don’t belong in the same sentence as “chicken breast” then you’ve obviously never had Double-Pork Stuffed Chicken Breasts.
The trick to transforming chicken breasts from bland and boring to sensational is dressing them up a bit. The breast is ideal for stuffing; just butterfly it and pound the meat a little thinner so you can fit a lot inside. We use ground pork for its fat content and flavor and season it with three simple, flavorful spices. The options for stuffing chicken breasts, however, are endless. You can add sautéed vegetables or a little grated cheese, or play around with different meat and spice combinations. There is one thing about this recipe you won’t want to change, however, and that’s the part where we replace the missing skin with something even better: Bacon!
Wrapping chicken breasts snugly in a generous layer of bacon steers them out of bland and dry territory into lip-smacking, juicy flavor territory. The bacon also holds the whole dish together so well that you can eat one of these babies with your hands, as if it were a sandwich. This makes Double-Pork Stuffed Chicken Breasts not only a great dinner dish, but something you can eat cold the next day for breakfast or lunch on-the-go.
Ingredients:
4 servings
- 4 chicken breasts
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 package of bacon
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a skillet over medium heat, sauté pork, shallot, parsley and half of spices for 6-8 minutes until pork is just cooked, but still slightly pink.
Use a knife to butterfly the breasts (slice lengthwise through one side of the breast creating a pocket).
Open up the breasts and pound briefly with a meat tenderizer to thin the meat out a bit.
Sprinkle the remaining spices evenly over the inside of the breasts.
Spoon equal amounts of ground pork on to one side of each breast, then fold the other side over the top.
Wrap bacon slices snugly around each breast, covering entirely.
Bake uncovered for 25 minutes, then put under the broiler for 3 minutes to crisp up bacon.
Can be eaten warm or cold.
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Posted By: Worker Bee
Looks awesome. Cannot wait to get started. Thats my evening dinner project for tomorrow I feel. Thanks Mark!
Tried this and I can confirm that it’s everything it promises to be. Leftovers for breakfast…
Made these last night, used grass fed beef instead of pork only because that’s what I had in the fridge, and my local store carries grass fed beef, but not pork. added a side of brussel sprouts for good measure. They were very good, and very filling!
I made this last night but subbed the ground pork for some hot italian sausage (without the casings)… So rediculously tasty. I’m having tastebud flashbacks!
Making these now. I consider myself a half decent cook but how are you supposed to wrap a flexible substance around another flexible substance with a crumbly substance inside.
That was kind of rough.
Wow this looks delish – esp with some sort of cream sauce.
+1 on the sauce. For my wife I served this on a puddle of Hollandaise sauce.
Yum, I used ground beef and pounded NY strips (what I had). This could have cooked no more than 20 minutes in the oven, though, maybe 15.
(In answer to the above question, having a large surface area post-pounding makes for easiest and tightest rolling. Then it holds together on its own before throwing bacon on it.)
This is similar to what I usually bring with me to work for lunch. Any idea of how long this will last in the refrigerator. Is 4 days too long?
“Pound, do not choke, your chicken” (alt text for the photo with the flattened chicken breast).
My office coworkers are wondering why I am laughing so hard.
Made this last night. Added some sauteed mushrooms to the stuffing. Rolling and wrapping was a little tricky, and I found that pound the breasts didn’t help much. Delicious. Thanks!
Made this tonight, adding some chopped Granny Smith apple to the pork mix:
Ooops…meant to post a link to my post with pictures:
http://urbangrounds.com/2011/02/double-pork-stuffed-chicken/
I hate to do this but I am going to be the first to say that this recipe was so labor intensive and the end product was pretty bland.
It would have been better with hot Italian sausage.
I will stick to my pork medallions wrapped with bacon and brandy apples.
ok, I’ll bite…no pun intended…please give us a rundown on your pork medallions wrapped with bacon and brady apples. This sounds like something I need to cook almost immediately.
Just made this last night for a small dinner party.. HUGE!
These went over aweseomely (is that a word?)
Hardest part was probably rolling the chicken tightly enough – and even that wasn’t particularly hard.
Thanks.
-Steve
Made these last night for dinner, absolutely delicious. Our dog enjoyed the leftovers as well.
You gave the leftovers to your dog?!?! What a lucky pup…
made this dish the beginning of the week, it was flavorful and easy to prepare, thanks!
I made this last night and it was delicious. Thanks Mark! I checked out your blog when Leo Babauta of Zen Habits mentioned it and the first thing I saw was this recipe. My family love it!
Val
I made this last night very tasty indeed! I am have leftovers of it today for lunch.
Thanks
I overcooked mine. Assembling was actually pretty easy (I do this quite often so practice, practice, practice is the watch-word). I also used only one slice of bacon per roll. WHAT WAS I THINKING?????? Whew, glad I’m over that. Definitely cover the whole roll with bacon. I’m going to do this again very soon. I did season the ground pork with herbs de provance which was really good flavor-wise.
one slice of bacon…sheez!
Celery salt was a bit overpowering- I’d cut by at least half next time. I also overcooked mine, but only because I put it in for an extra 5 minutes because I’m a little crazy about potentially undercooked chicken. Will try again!
I got this in the oven right now, except I used different spices. I’m going to do a cranberry cream sauce with it
I made this for dinner last night and really impressed my boyfriend (and myself!). So good! I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to put it all together. Will definitely join my rotation of delicious primal/paleo recipes!
Just made this for my husband and I. Wow! So delicious! I will be an avid follower of your website from here on it. Well done!
Mark, this looks awsome!! I will be trying it soon.
On another recipe you had a recipe for home made mayonaise. I lost it. Would you please post it again. I looked at it in the grocery and every one I could find was full of “JUNK”, so needless I didn’t buy it. Thanks
Mark, I used the wrong Email address before. Please, if you could send me the recipe for homemade mayonaise I would really appreciate it. Thanks
I just made this– it was phenomenal! All joking aside, it actually made for a nice, delicate, balanced protein when sliced and served with salad.
I also just made it. Used onlion, pepper and shrimp as stuffing. came out as very nice and tender. Just follow the recipe as it is and it will come out to be perfect. thanks so much for sharing this recipe. This will be now on my permanent fav recipe list. Cheers!
I mean *Onion. Guess I am too much excited
Thank you for this recipe! I did not pre-cook the filling mixture(by accident) and decided to lower the temp to 350 and bake a longer time to make sure the pork center cooked through. It worked great! I checked with an instant read thermometer ’till the internal temp. was at “pork”-180 degrees, took about an hour? I lost track of time but the final result was a juicy tender chicken extrior, not dried out or overbaked thanks to the bacon and a nice thoroughly cooked interior. Plus, rolling the chicken around the uncooked pork was much easier.
This will make a great main dish for packed lunches!
Made these the other day and they were absolutely delectable. I just made the Jambalaya from the Primal Cookbook and it was also remarkably scrumptious! Keep these recipes comin, baby!
@Barb – basic mayo recipe
!
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 egg yolk
mix with blender and introduce oil in small amount but in constant stream while continuing to whisk/blend.
Stop when happy with taste and consistency.
One warning – egg and mustard must be at room temperature. this recipe takes 2 minutes and is idiot proof since I can do it