Recipe Background
Experience a flavor explosion with cheesy, bacon-topped chicken over creamy pasta.
To say this dish is a blast would be underselling it! Cheesy Chicken Explosion brings its own boom with crunchy, savory chicken breasts slathered in a dynamite mustard and barbeque sauce swirl and mixed with bacon for an extra crackle. But you can't have a Cheesy Chicken Explosion without the cheese, and the melty half-pound of creamy, buttery Monterey Jack cheese provides that and then some! With all this piled atop tender pasta, the Cheesy Chicken Explosion bursts with flavor, and your tastebuds will be in awe!
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) box penne
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 6 (4-ounce) chicken breast halves skinless and boneless
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound bacon sliced
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 (18-ounce) bottle honey mustard barbecue sauce
- 3 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- 1 (8-ounce) package Monterey Jack cheese shredded
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pasta to al dente, according to package directions.
- Drain the pasta and transfer it to a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and the milk.
- Season the egg-milk mixture with the salt and the pepper.
- Dip the chicken halves in the egg mixture.
- Place the chicken halves in the breadcrumbs, turning to coat them.
- Heat the olive oil and the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Fry the chicken halves in the olive oil-butter mixture until they are cooked to 165 degrees F, the juices run clear, and they are well-browned on both sides, about 5-7 minutes per side.
- Transfer the chicken halves to paper towels to drain.
- Drain the excess oil from the skillet, leaving some just coating the bottom.
- In a separate deep skillet, add the bacon.
- Cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer the bacon from the pan, crumbling it.
- Place the skillet used to cook the chicken over medium heat.
- Add the tomato, the onions, and the cooked bacon and cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add the honey mustard barbeque sauce and the spicy mustard to the tomato mixture.
- Simmer the tomato mixture for at least 5 minutes.
- Pour the sauce over the pasta in the dish.
- Place the chicken on top of the pasta.
- Cover the chicken with the shredded cheese.
- Bake until the cheese is melted and the dish is heated through, about 15-20 minutes.
- Serve.
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