What ingredient always makes a recipe better? BACON! Everything always seems to taste better if you add bacon. 😀

Honey Bacon Chicken Cigars

Servings: 4 | Yield: 22+ chicken cigars

Adapted from Honey Glazed Chicken and Bacon Bites « Kayotic Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 pkg.. of chicken breast, raw, sliced into 22 strips
• 11 bacon slices, halved
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 7 tbsp. honey
• 3 tsp. garlic, finely minced
• 2 tsp. lemon juice, freshly juiced
• maple flakes, grated*
• salt and pepper to taste

Spicy Honey Maple Sesame Sauce Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• ½ tsp. Franks Red Hot
• 1 tsp. garlic, finely minced
• ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
• ½ tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. cornstarch, mixed with water into slurry
• 1 tsp. thyme, fresh, chopped

Cut the chicken breasts into strip/fillets. You can also purchase package of tenders only.

Tip: If the chicken is sliced too thin it’ll get dry before the bacon gets crispy.

Season the chicken strips with salt and pepper on both sides.

In a bowl, combine honey with Dijon mustard, and finely minced garlic.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, approx. 2 tsp.

 

Cut a bacon strip in half.  Place the chicken strip on the end of bacon and wrap.  It will look very similar to a little “cigars”.

Line a roasting pan or a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  In the pan, place the chicken cigars into rows.  Grate the maple flakes over the cigars. Using a silicone pastry brush coat the chicken cigars with ½ the marinade.

In a preheated oven at 425F (225C) for 10 to 13 minutes, bake the cigars until the bacon is crispy.

Flip them over and brush them with the remaining marinade.

Place the cigars back in the oven for another 10 to 13 minutes, until the other side is crispy as well.  Do not overcook, or the chicken will be dry. Keep an eye on them.

Sauce for Serving or Dipping:

In a saucepan mix together the sauce ingredients:

Honey, maple syrup, garlic, Franks Red Hot, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and toasted sesame seeds.

Simmer on low, in a bowl make a slurry of cornstarch and water.  Add in the slurry to sauce and heat until thicken approx. 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add fresh chopped thyme.

Serve with vegetables such as broccoli, Bok choy, and sauté pineapple.  You can also serve with a side of rice.

* In my pantry, I found Maple Flakes that I had purchased from Wal-Mart a while back. It comes in a grater. I decided to grate the flakes over the wrapped chicken cigars for extra sweetness. It is not a necessary ingredient.

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