Bacon Wrapped - Chicken Tenders

This is not an original recipe, but it looked and tasted so good, I wanted to share it.  It’s from Martha Stewart’s website and just the sight of these delectable chicken tenders made my mouth water.  Of course I had to switch things up a little, but the basic premise remains the same – chicken with crispy bacon!

As well, I expressed in my last post that I am desperate to liven up the chicken that sits so patiently in my freezer.  Actually, I usually have a lot of chicken in my freezer.  My wonderful husband does the majority of shopping for our household basics and he is a bit of an “extreme couponer”.   About every six months our local supermarket puts Foster Farms chicken on sale for buy one, get one free.  That is when my freezer fills up!  I am fully stocked with chicken tenders, chicken fillets, chicken bone in, chicken wings and whole chickens.  Although my freezer is overly crowded, I enjoy what seems to be an endless supply.  But you do have to be inventive to avoid dinnertime boredom.

These tenders are super easy to prepare and I replaced Martha’s sage with basil and fresh oregano.  Sage seemed kind of wintery and I had basil and oregano in my herb garden (you can put the sage back in if you like).  I also added a side of tomato sauce, homemade or store bought, for some Italian flare.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders

serves 4

10 chicken tenders

5 slices bacon

16 basil leaves

8 sprigs of fresh oregano

1 tablespoon of olive oil

side of homemade or store bought tomato sauce

Place 2 basil leaves and one oregano sprig on each tender.   Cut bacon slices in half and stretch a little, so that they wrap around the tender twice.  Heat a large sauté pan with olive oil and cook tenders on each side until bacon is crispy and most of fat is rendered (approximately 6 minutes per side).  If you have a smaller pan you can cook two batches of five.

Serve with warm tomato sauce.