Thinly sliced or pounded pieces of boneless chicken breast are grilled, then topped with barbecue sauce, bacon and shredded cheeses, and finished with a garnish of fresh chopped tomatoes and sliced green onion.
Grilled Cheesy Barbecue Chicken
This is a such a quick, easy and super tasty meal that's really perfect for any weeknight. Known across the net as a copycat of Chili's Monterey Chicken, it's really nothing more than a simple boneless, skinless chicken breast that is brushed with barbecue sauce, topped with bacon, a little shredded cheese and finished with a garnish of fresh chopped tomato and sliced green onion. Cheesy, smothered and covered y'all. Not a thing wrong with that!I've never seen or tasted the actual Monterey Chicken from Chili's restaurant. I don't even know if it is still a menu item to be honest, but all of the recipes I've seen follow this basic method, though for my adaptation, I did make a few minor adjustments.
I didn't bother with a brine, or even a marinade, though a quick brine would certainly do nothing but enhance it and help prevent overcooking - something that is especially easy to do with boneless skinless chicken breasts. Instead of pounding the chicken breasts flat, like for a chicken fried chicken, or a schnitzel, I decided to slice them in half lengthwise. I guess I didn't have any aggression to take out at the time! Whether you pound it or slice it, get a few slices of bacon going too while you're preparing the chicken.
Most recipes I've seen seem to use two slices of bacon for each breast, crisscrossed over the top of the chicken, but that seemed a bit overboard to me. I know - y'all can't believe I just said that, can ya? Well, it's sort of like that raw bacon on top of baked beans to me - it's just awkward when it comes time to eat it, and besides, have you seen the price of bacon lately? I try to stock up when it goes on sale, but Geez Louise y'all!
I decided to use a thick cut applewood bacon and go with only one slice of bacon per whole breast, which I then cut in half, giving me a half slice of bacon for each piece of chicken. It ended up being plenty of bacon flavor to me, but use more if you like. You'll want to cook the bacon, but crisp it up to the point that you like, just not too hard.
I ended up with 8 pieces of chicken and truthfully one piece of chicken was enough for me with a side salad, vegetable and bread, though the chicken is so tasty you'll be tempted to eat more. Season both sides of the chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder and a little Cajun seasoning. We are gonna start off with grilling these and then finish them in the oven just to get the cheese all melty. I used my George Foreman grill{affil link}, but you can also just pan fry them. Now remember, these breasts are thin and it won't take long to cook them - so don't overcook them. Place them all on a foil lined baking sheet.
Put about a tablespoon of barbecue sauce on each breast and brush it on.
Cut the four slices of cooked bacon in half and top each piece of chicken with one half slice of cooked bacon. You could also crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top of the chicken and frankly I think that'd be much easier to eat. Evenly divide the cheese over the top of each piece. I used a combination of Cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses mixed together, but if you happen to have some Velveeta Queso leftover from a party, warm it up (or make a fresh batch) and spoon that over the chicken instead. Delish!
Slide those uncovered, into a preheated 350 degree F oven, or under the broiler, just long enough to finish the chicken and melt the cheese. I prefer the oven.
Garnish with the chopped tomato and sliced green onion. Yes. It tastes as good as it looks y'all!
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| How delicious does that look? Smothered. Covered. Cheesy chicken. With bacon! |
Serving Suggestions: Add a tossed green salad or a green veggie like Southern Style Green Beans with Bacon and Onion, alongside my Perfectly Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin, or Cheesy Baked Mashed Potatoes. Add some French bread and sweet tea.
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