Gluten Free Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast

One of my many goals for 2013 is to introduce more variety into our dinnertime meals. Like most things in life, meal planning can easily fall into a rut. Toward the end of the year, The Youngest subtly hinted that he would like me to change things up a bit in the food prep department. So, in order to quell the rising familial unrest, I put together the following gluten free (and pork free) recipe.

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
12 slices turkey bacon
12 slices Swiss cheese
BBQ sauce

Coating
1/2 cup gluten free breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Prepare your cooking vessel (I use a shallow, rectangular casserole dish) by lining with tin foil and coating with non-stick cooking spray. Pam Olive Oil is a gluten free product that I use regularly.

Combine and thoroughly mix the coating ingredients. I like to do this by adding everything to a Ziplock bag then shaking it vigorously to mix. Dredge both sides of each chicken breast to achieve a thorough coating. Place one slice of Swiss cheese on the inner side of the breast, rolling moderately tightly and securing with toothpicks. Next, wrap two slices of turkey bacon (Jennie-O is gluten free) around each rolled breast. Use the toothpicks to secure the bacon to the chicken.

GF bacon-wrapped chicken breasts before baking

Place the rolled breasts into the casserole dish and bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Remove the breasts from the oven and top each one with a dollop of your favorite gluten free BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory & Brown Sugar). Place one more slice of Swiss cheese atop each breast and return to baking for another 15 minutes.

The cheesy, delicious finished product

This simple recipe was bursting with flavor, though the medley was perhaps a bit too much for The Youngest to fully appreciate. Wonderful Wife and I, as well as The Daughter, enjoyed it very much and so this dish will definitely make a repeat appearance.

Update: The next time we tried this dish, Wonderful Wife experimented with pineapple slices as filling for the rolled chicken and was very pleased with the results - The Youngest even gave a thumbs up!