Whoa, that is quite the mouthful of a name and quite the mouthful to eat as well. If you are looking for a fun and exciting meal, particularly if entertaining, then look no further! If you are looking for a nice, light and healthy meal, move along, nothing to see here.
This is a fun a creative meal preparation that is bound to delight guests and family. You can use a variety of chilies/peppers pending on your taste preference and heat tolerance. I used two types of chilies for this cook.
Hatch green chilies are currently in season so we decided to use them. Note that Hatch chilies do have a decent amount of heat to them, even when de-seeded. They are also best when roasted which you can easily do at home on either a grill or gas stove top (see video).
We also had a few mild chilies in our garden that were ripe so we used those for the kids.
Fast Facts
Category: Chicken – Pork - Vegetables
Cut: Boneless chicken breasts, regular cut bacon
Weight: 4 breasts and 1 pound of bacon
Grill: Traeger
Heat Source: Wood pellet
Type of Wood: Traeger Signature Blend
Estimated Cook Time: 2-3 hours pending thickness of chicken breasts
Actual Cook Time: 3 hours
Estimated Cooking Temperature: 250 degrees
Actual Cooking Temperature: 250 degrees for 2.5 hours and last half hour bumped to 275 degrees
Location of Purchase: Sprouts Farmers Market
Cook Date: August 4, 2020
Ingredient List
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 Hatch green chilies (you want one per chicken breast. You can use other chilies if you desire: banana, poblano, jalapeno, anaheim, etc. This is dependent on the time of year and heat tolerance.)
1 pound of bacon or 4 slices per chicken breast
Arthur Bryant’s Original BBQ Sauce (or your favorite BBQ sauce - per their website, https://www.arthurbryantsbbq.com/bbq-menu.html the sauce is gluten free)
Cream cheese
Gouda (finely shredded – other cheeses work too, just personal preference here)
Supply List
Paper bag (Grocery store bag or a lunch bag)
Thermometer - These are critical tools to have there are two main types. First, instant read thermometer like this one or this one. The Thermapen is worth it's weight in gold and one I use almost every day. I know the price tag seems excessive but it's the best in the business for a reason. If you're looking for a dual temperature thermometer for both grill temperature and meat, this is the way to go. I use my Smoke for longer more specific cooks.
Instructions
Step 1: Roast your hatch green chilies over an open flame. Please see video above. Once the chilies are nice and roasted, place them in brown paper bag and roll it closed. This allows the chilies to steam a bit and help the skin release from the pepper.
Note: You can use a bowl with a lid or cover with tin foil.
Step 2: Carefully remove the skin from the pepper, remove the top and deseed. You can rinse them under water to help.
If using other peppers as well, clean and deseed them too.
Step 3: In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and shredded gouda. Use the mixture to stuff the peppers. For the Hatch chilies, roll them up.
Step 4: Carefully slice the chicken breast from the side and butterfly the chicken breast. Careful not to cut the breast in half. Lightly season the inside of the breast with some of the Sweet Rub. Place the stuffed pepper in the chicken breast and fold them closed. Lightly season the outside of the chicken breast as well.
Step 5: Wrap each stuffed chicken breast with 3-4 pieces of bacon. Do NOT use thick or thin cut bacon. Thick cut bacon won’t render in time and thin cut will fall apart.
Tip: Use room temperature bacon as that helps it stretch and become more workable. If you are using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place, be sure to soak them in water for 15-30 minutes prior.
Step 6: Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees and place the wrapped chicken breasts on the grill.
Step 7: When the chicken reaches 155 degrees, baste with your BBQ sauce. For this cook, I used Arthur Bryant’s Original BBQ Sauce.
Tip: Use a meat thermometer to get the right temperature. Every cook needs to have one (if not more) of these handy at all times.
Step 8: When the chicken reaches 163-165 degrees, remove the chicken and let rest for 5-10 before serving.
Enjoy!
Lessons Learned (Note: I will update this section to include your lessons learned from the comment section)
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