A keto-friendly recipe, loaded chicken bites have dried beef, bacon, and a cream sauce.
This appetizer is a spin-off of a main-dish recipe that uses large chicken breasts. This appetizer version uses smaller chicken bites, a dipping sauce, and a shorter cooking time.
This appetizer starts with dried beef. To make all the cutting go quickly, I suggest you stack the dried beef and use a knife or kitchen scissors to cut all the pieces at once. The dried beef is cut into four slices, as shown in the photo below.
The bacon slices should also be stacked and cut into six small pieces, as shown in the photo below. It can be precooked in a microwave (prior to assembling the appetizer) for a couple of minutes to ensure that it gets crispy during the baking time. The recipe details how to do this in a microwave oven.
While the chicken pieces cook for 25 minutes, the sauce is heated on the stovetop for about five minutes.
Loaded chicken bites are a hearty choice that disappear quickly around a hungry crowd!
Loaded Chicken Bites
Equipment
- 56 wooden toothpicks or small skewers
- 9 x 13-inch baking dish
Ingredients
- (1) 2.25 ounce jar dried sliced beef (14 slices) (Armour brand used in this recipe)
- 56 small single-bite pieces chicken breast, skinless and boneless (about 4 medium-sized breasts)
- 10 slices bacon, uncooked and each slice cut into 6 pieces (There will be a partial slice leftover)
- 8 ounces sour cream, room temperature
- 1 can condensed mushroom soup
- ½ cup light cream, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Stack the bacon slices on top of each other. Use a knife or kitchen scissors to cut the stack into 6 small stacks for a total of 60 pieces. You will only need 56 of these. On a large microwave-safe plate, place a paper towel. Then place the cut bacon, spread out, on the paper towel. Place another paper towel on top of the bacon. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
- Cut the chicken breasts into approximately 1-inch x 1-inch bite-sized pieces for a total of 56 pieces. (For a quicker fix and if available at your store, buy precut bite-size pieces of chicken.)
- Open the dried beef jar and keep the beef slices stacked. Cut the stack into 4 pieces by cutting a plus pattern. You will have 56 pieces. Place the dried beef pieces in a baking dish. Place a chicken piece on top of each slice of dried beef. Cover each chicken piece with one of the small slices of partially-cooked bacon.
- Cook the chicken bites for 25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- While the chicken is cooking, mix the sour cream, soup, and cream together in a medium-sized saucepan. Heat on medium-low until the sauce is hot, about 5 minutes. After the chicken bites have cooked, remove them from the oven and pour some or all of the bacon grease into the sauce (about 4 tablespoons) and stir until combined. Pour sauce into a dipping bowl or fondue dish with a heating element.
- Place a toothpick into each chicken piece. Dip in the sauce. Serve hot.