Eight ingredients and one oven-safe skillet. Forty minutes, and the last five of them decide what the dish looks like.
Everything here is assembled in one pan in a fixed order: chicken, sauce, cheese, heat, bacon. Move any of those and something is lost — most obviously the bacon, which is the only component that has to stay crisp.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the chunks before the sauce goes in gives the dish colour the BBQ sauce alone would not.
- Six to eight minutes of simmering takes the chicken to temperature while the sauce reduces and turns glossy.
- Scattering the cheddar evenly means it melts into a layer rather than pooling.
- One to two minutes under the broiler melts and bubbles the cheese without cooking the chicken further.
- Adding the bacon after the broiler keeps it crisp against the sauce.
Ingredient Notes
- Bacon
- Six slices, cooked crisp and chopped before they are needed. They are cooked separately and never go under the broiler.
- Sharp cheddar
- A cup, shredded. Sharp against a sweet BBQ sauce, and one of the two components the dish is named for.
- BBQ sauce
- Three quarters of a cup. It is the cooking liquid as well as the sauce — six to eight minutes of simmering is what makes it glossy.
How to Make It
Brown the chicken
Heat an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown it in olive oil.
BBQ sauce, to 165F
Reduce heat to medium, add BBQ sauce, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes until the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cheddar, evenly
Scatter cheddar evenly over the chicken.
Broil until bubbling
Broil 1 to 2 minutes until the cheese melts and bubbles.
Bacon and parsley on top
Top generously with crisp bacon and parsley.
Serve straight away
Serve immediately so the bacon stays crisp against the glossy BBQ sauce.
Five Layers, and Only Four Meet Heat
The skillet is the plate here, and the whole dish is built up inside it. Reading it from the pan surface upward explains why the last layer is added when it is.
Parsley
2 tbsp, with the bacon, on top of everything.
The bacon - after the heat, not before
6 slices, cooked crisp and chopped, scattered generously once the skillet is OUT from under the broiler. This is the second defining component and the only one that never meets the heat in this pan: under the grill it would soften into the melted cheese and sauce, which is exactly what the dish is not. The recipe's last step says to serve immediately for the same reason.
One to two minutes of direct heat
The broiler, and the only heat that touches the cheese. It melts and bubbles it without adding cooking time to chicken that is already at temperature.
The cheddar
1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar, scattered EVENLY over the chicken. Even matters: a heap melts into a pool and leaves bare chicken next to it, and the cheese is one of the two things that define the dish.
The BBQ sauce
3/4 cup, simmered with the chicken for 6 to 8 minutes on medium until it reaches 165F. The sauce is the cooking liquid at this point; the simmer is what reduces it to the dark gloss the finished dish shows.
The chicken
1 1/2 lb of breast in large chunks, seasoned with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and browned in 1 tbsp olive oil. Large chunks, so they stay identifiable pieces under everything that follows.
Success Tips
- Cook and chop the bacon before you start, so it is ready the moment the skillet leaves the broiler.
- Use a skillet that can go under the grill, so nothing has to be moved.
- Watch the broiler; one to two minutes is the entire window.
Serving Ideas
Four servings straight from the skillet onto white plates, the chicken under its melted cheddar and dark glossy BBQ sauce with the crisp bacon and parsley scattered over the top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the bacon go under the broiler with the cheese?
It should not. It would soften into the melted cheese and sauce, and crisp bacon is one of the two components this dish is built on.
When is the chicken done?
165 degrees Fahrenheit, after six to eight minutes simmering in the sauce. The broiler afterwards is for the cheese, not the chicken.
What if my skillet is not oven-safe?
The whole recipe is built on one pan going from the hob to the broiler. Transferring it works, but the dish is written for a skillet that can do both.
