British BBQ Hunters Chicken

Hunters Chicken comes in many guises, mine is influenced by British Pub versions, a chicken breast wrapped in bacon, with cheese & BBQ sauce.

It is a wonderfully easy dish to cook and both the chicken and sauce can be prepared in advance, then cooked when ready, with a total prep and cook time of around 50 minutes.

Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with Cheese and BBQ Sauce

I will put my hands on my heart and say that I have no idea how or why this dish became known as hunters chicken.

In Italian, it is called cacciatore and it is a simple but rather elegant dish that I adore. I have both a slow cooker chicken cacciatore and rabbit cacciatore recipe here already.

The French have a version called Chicken Chasseur. Again it is a simple and elegant affair. Both the Italians and French use wine, maybe tomatoes, a little bacon and cook it nice and slow as a stew.

Us Brits seem to have taken a very different approach!

I’m a pluralist at heart when it comes to food, so I’m equally at home with the rustic elegance of old-school European dishes as I am with this daft but gloriously satisfying recipe.

I “cut” my BBQ sauce with a few things to knock back the sweetness and add a little spice. But this recipe is obscenely easy to make.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I prepare this in advance?

Absolutely! You can cut the chicken, stuff it, wrap it in bacon and then wrap it in cling film.

This can be done 2-3 days in advance and kept in the fridge. This actually results in a slightly better-looking and tighter-wrapped chicken.

Likewise, you can make the sauce days in advance, although it is so simple there is little time to be saved.

What other cheeses can I use?

This recipe is full of big flavours, sweet BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco so you need a cheese with some flavour.

You could go for something Swiss, like Gruyere or maybe even some shredded mozzarella. They will deliver all of the glory of stretchy cheese but lack the right punch of flavour.

A perfect alternative to cheddar would be a hard-aged goats cheese.

Are Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce essential?

Not at all and you can add them to taste if you like to play with the balance, this sauce is fine to eat uncooked so you can taste it as you go.

What BBQ sauce do you use?

Just like my slow cooker sausages, I have landed on Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce for this recipe. But you should absolutely use something that you like, but you do want something quite sweet!

Why is there no salt?

This recipe contains loads of bacon and cheese and as a result, does not need any additional salt as far as I am concerned.

Serving Suggestions

For me, this is almost always hunters chicken and wedges, but here I have served it with some delicious polenta chips.

I tend to cook my wedges in an air fryer as it is quick and stress-free.

It is equally as good with proper chippy chips if you regularly use a deep-fat fryer or even air fryer chips. It’s also wonderful with a good old-fashioned jacket potato!

I often see it served with a simple green salad, although I would personally stick with some peppery rocket or watercress.

When I am feeling as though I need some real comfort food, I serve this with mashed potatoes and peas.

Although you need to undo your belt buckle a notch after that one!

Equipment Used

I only mention specific brands of equipment if I think they make a material difference to a recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

• Oven.
• Baking dish.
• Kitchen knife.
• Chopping board.
• Grater.
• Mixing bowl.
• A combination of weighing scales and measuring spoons.
• Quick read meat thermometer.

Hunters Chicken Step-By-Step Photos

1. Cut the chicken breast along the side roughly halfway through.
   
2. Fold open the sliced chicken (like a book) and season well with black pepper.
   
3. Place the chunk of cheese in the middle, fold the chicken over to encase the cheese, and then season again with black pepper.
   
4. Set the chicken aside for a moment and use the back of a large knife to flatten the bacon slices, you will need 3-4 slices per chicken breast.
   
5. Now wrap the bacon around the chicken starting underneath the chicken, try and cover the chicken the best you can without overlapping the bacon slices.
   
6. Place the chicken in a baking dish and place in a pre-heated oven 200°C or 400°F for 15 minutes.
   
7. While the chicken is in the oven make the BBQ sauce. Mix bbq sauce, tomato passata, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco.
   
8. Cover the chicken with the BBQ sauce and sprinkle over some grated cheese and place back in the oven for around 15 minutes.
   
9. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes, ensure the chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 73°C or 165°F. Serve with your favourite side dish.