Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Stuffed Chicken with Fresh Mozzarella

That's a mouthful of a title, right? Well, it's an even better mouthful of moist chicken, crisp bacon, tender asparagus, and fresh mozzarella cheese. I pretty much named all the ingredients, which means this dinner is as quick and easy as it is a show-stopper.

When I served this to my sons, Luke said, "I have no idea what you just said, but it looks amazing". And then it was quiet for a while. A long while, and the noshing went on and on.

I created this dish because I wanted to combine two of our favorite things - roasted chicken with fresh mozzarella and bacon-wrapped asparagus. And I didn't want the asparagus to be the side dish. It made total sense to me at the time, and now it will definitely become a dinnertime staple.

Even if you just want to make the asparagus - as an appetizer or side dish - this recipe is full-proof. The key is thin bacon, slightly overlapped, all the way down the spears. Many recipes for bacon-wrapped asparagus yield soggy bacon because it's overlapped too much, right in the middle of the spears. Not a fan of soggy bacon. Seems undercooked to me. This technique yield perfectly cooked asparagus and crisp bacon every time.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Stuffed Chicken with Fresh Mozzarella

Cooking spray
12 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for coating the pan
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Freshly ground black pepper
12 thin bacon slices
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
Salt
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat an ovenproof wire rack with cooking spray and place the rack on a baking sheet.
Place the asparagus in a shallow bowl and drizzle with the 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Add the onion powder and black pepper and toss to coat. Wrap one slice of bacon around each asparagus spear, slightly overlapping from one end to the other. The bacon will shrink a little, so you need to overlap slightly, just not a lot. Transfer the asparagus to the prepared baking rack. It will look like this.

Roast for 10 minutes. Flip and cook for another 10 to 12  minutes, until the bacon is crisp or almost crisp if that's the way you like it.
Using a sharp knife, slice a pocket into each chicken breast as (as if you were cutting a bagel), stopping before you cut all the way through. Arrange three bacon-wrapped asparagus spears into the center of each chicken pocket. Secure the chicken with wooden picks so it doesn't open when roasting.
Coat the bottom of a baking dish or ovenproof skillet with olive oil. Arrange the chicken in the pan and season the top with salt and pepper.
Arrange the mozzarella slices on top of the chicken. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the wooden picks before serving.

Serves 4