Bacon Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

by JULIA on DECEMBER 20, 2015

in ASPARAGUS, BACON, CHEESE, CHICKEN, DINNER, GLUTEN FREE, MOZZARELLA, RECIPE,VEGETABLES

Bacon Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce – sauce made with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, shredded Mozzarella cheese, and cream. So good!  The chicken is moist and tender! Serve with steamed asparagus.

This recipe is perfect for low carb, high protein diet. There are hardly any carbs in this recipe, and it tastes so good – like something you would order from a good restaurant! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small jar (6 oz) sun-dried tomatoes in oil, or use 6 oz fat-free sun dried tomatoes
• salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (either from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes, or just use olive oil)
• paprika (just a little bit)
• 2 large chicken breasts, halved horizontally (about 2 lb)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon basil (if using dry basil), if using fresh basil you can add more
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (at least, add more to taste)
• 8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• asparagus, steamed (for serving)

Instructions

1. Note: if using sun-dried tomatoes in oil (in a jar), make sure to drain sun-dried tomatoes from oil, before using them. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this drained oil for sauteing as described below:
2. In a large pan, on medium heat, saute garlic and sun-dried tomatoes (drained from oil) in 2 tablespoons of oil (olive oil or oil reserved from the sun-dried tomatoes jar - see note above) for 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
3. Remove sun-dried tomatoes and garlic from the pan, leaving the oil, and add chicken breasts, halved horizontally, salted and lightly covered in paprika (for color) and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. (that will make 4 flatter chicken breasts). Cover the pan with the lid, remove from heat, and let the chicken sit, cooking in its own juices, off heat in a skillet, until completely cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
4. Remove the chicken from the skillet. Chicken could have released juices - in my case it was 1/2 cup of juices. Remove the juices from the skillet, to avoid greasiness.
5. To the same skillet (from which you removed the chicken and the juices), add 1 cup of heavy cream, bring to boil, add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, immediately reduce to simmer, constantly stirring to melt the cheese. Add 1 cup of milk gradually, whisking until nice and smooth, while on simmer. Add back the cooked sun-dried tomatoes and the garlic. Add basil and crushed red pepper - mix to combine. Add cooked chicken breasts. Top with crumbled bacon. Reheat until warm. Serve with steamed aspragus