Bacon Popper Bites & Bacon Fried Chicken

 Sometimes I like to make food the way I study my Bible. As I pour over the pages that I've spent most of my life reading, I look and pray for insights I haven't seen before. I love it when I find a passage I've read thousands of times, and something new pops up.

In 1 Samuel 5, the Philistines have captured the Ark of the Covenant. This was a bad idea because the Ark represented God's presence with the Israelites. So bad things began happening to the Philistines. In most translations, you'll read that the Philistines began getting tumors. But the most accurate translations  read "Hemorrhoids." I had read about the tumors many times, but when I discovered the actual malady, it opened up my eyes! Don't be a pain in the butt to God's people, because what goes around, comes around! 

Okay, I realize that wasn't the most appetizing introduction to a new recipe... 

Anyways, in the same way I read the Bible, that's sometimes how I like to approach food. In this case, it starts with a Jalapeño popper. A glorious fried jalapeño stuffed with cream cheese, dipped in sweet chili sauce. Now, considering this is another component in the Bacon Fest files, we had to pork this thing up. So we decided to deconstruct the idea a little bit. 

What we ended up with was a delicious single bite of bacon, cream cheese, jalapeño, and sweet chili sauce, topped with a bite size piece of bacon fried chicken. These are great appetizers, but I promise you - they won't last long, so make plenty! 

Bacon Popper Bites

Ingredients: 

Thick sliced bacon, cooked, and cut into 3 inch  strips

8 oz Soft Cream Cheese

2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped

3 Tbl. Sweet Chili Sauce

2 Tsp. Sriracha

Bacon Fried Chicken, cut into bite size pieces (See Recipe Below)

Cook your bacon, and set aside on papers towels. 

Combine the cream cheese, jalapeños, Sweet Chili Sauce and Sriracha. 

Construct the bite, by using your bacon as the foundation. Place a tablespoon of the cream cheese mix on top of the bacon, and finish with a piece of bacon fried chicken. 

Grab some napkins! The goal is to eat the whole thing in one bite, but I'm not making any promises that some won't end up on other parts of your body...

Bacon Fried Chicken - Easily A Meal By Itself! 

I don't know if this has ever been done before, but if it hasn't - why not??? Enjoy this recipe with the recipe above, or with a good sweet, smoky barbeque sauce or in a sandwich, or just by itself with some french fries. 

Ingredients

2lb Chicken Tenders

1lb Thin sliced bacon, cooked

1.5 Cups Flour

1.5 Cups Plain Bread Crumbs

1/2 Tbl. Salt

1/2 Tbl. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Pepper

6 Eggs

Seasoning Salt To Taste

Oil For Frying (Canola or vegetable)

Cook your bacon SUPER Crispy. This is important - we don't want soggy bacon for this meal! Combine your flour, bread crumbs, and spices in a food processor. Break up your bacon into smaller pieces, and then add to the food processor. Pulse everything together, until you've got an even, consistent mix of flour, bread crumbs and bacon. This is your coating! Genius, right???

Place your eggs in a bowl, and lightly mix. Take your chicken, and dip each piece, first in the egg, and then in the coating mix. Once you've got all your chicken coated, it's a great idea to let them sit for at least half an hour. An hour would be better, but it depends on what kind of time frame you're working with. 

Heat your oil, about 2 inches, over medium high heat in a deep skillet or pot. Test that it's ready by throwing in a pinch of the coating mix. If it sizzles, you're ready! 

Carefully place your chicken, a little bit at a time, in the oil. Flip the chicken every 2 minutes, until done, for about 8 minutes. Place on some paper towels to let drain, and sprinkle with some seasoning salt. 

NOTE: You don't have to, but I love adding the bacon grease to the oil for frying the chicken. It's a bit over the top, but who cares??!? It's bacon! 

Because eating good is a calling of it's own!