Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs are one of the best ways I know how to cook chicken thighs easily. With the juicy chicken, the crispy bacon, the bbq sauce, oh my goodness, who knew such an easy recipe would taste SO stinkin’ delicious!!

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs – the PERFECT main, if you ask me!

Bacon Roasted Chicken Thighs

So you see chicken thighs on sale this week or you might have some in your freezer and you’re wondering – what the heck should I do with these things?? Listen, these chicken thighs are SO easy to make it’s kinda laughable – but the level of deliciousness is no laughing matter.

Why are they the perfect main dish, you ask???

• Chicken thighs are super juicy and hard to overcook
• The contrast of the crunchy bacon with the soft tender chicken is excellent
• The saltiness from the bacon with a sweet/smokiness from the bbq sauce is the perfect combo on this chicken!
• They are incredibly easy to make and it’s something a bit different from your normal chicken thigh recipe.

Ingredients List

This is the best thing – these little packages of yumminess take nothing out of the ordinary to make. No crazy, hard-to-get ingredients – I’ll bet you have everything you need right now in the pantry:

• Chicken thighs – Personally, I prefer to use bone-in chicken thighs. The reason is that usually cooking meat with the bone makes for far tastier meat. (Plus bone-in chicken pieces are usually cheaper than boneless chicken) It might take a little longer to roast than boneless, but I think it’s well worth the little bit of extra time. However, that being said, if you have boneless already, or boneless are cheaper than bone-in, on sale, go for it!
• Bacon – Ok, so you can use any kind of bacon you’d prefer here. My preference is thicker sliced bacon because I find it gives it more flavor and it will allow the chicken to fully cook before the bacon burns.
• BBQ Sauce – The sky is the limit here. I used Sweet Baby Rays Hickory and Brown Sugar for this recipe, but I encourage you to use your favorite.
• Spices – The typical characters here, nothing out of left field. Salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder.

How to Make these Scrumptious Barbeque Chicken Thighs with Bacon:

1. Pat dry and season the chicken thighs on top and bottom.
2. Take one strip of bacon and starting from underneath and near the end of the thigh, begin to wrap the bacon around the thigh as many times, moving upwards to cover the meat with the bacon. End with the bacon strip underneath the thigh.
3. After repeating this on all 8 thighs, place in a shallow baking tray and roast the thighs for 40 – 45 minutes or until the internal temp of the chicken comes to 165F
4. About 10 minutes before cooking time ends, baste the chicken with the bbq sauce. Flip the thighs over first and baste, then flip them back, right side up, and baste again.
5. Two minutes before cooking time ends, baste any remaining sauce over the thighs.
6. Remove the chicken thighs from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes.

What Can I Serve With This Bacon & Chicken Thigh Recipe?

Oh, my dear reader, so many ideas come to mind.

3 Minutes Maple Cinnamon Carrots, or Instant Pot Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes, would pair perfectly, especially if you are partial to maple flavors.

Also, you could try:

Mediterranean Vine Tomatoes – these are delicious and easy to roast alongside the chicken in a different roasting dish.
Ninja Foodi Perfect Buttery Rice – If you don’t have a ninja foodi, this recipe works exactly the same in an Instant pot!
Orange Pecan Roasted Broccoli
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes – I absolutely love this recipe and it couldn’t be easier. You just have to remember to throw the potatoes in the pot a few hours ahead of time. The bonus is that you’ll have baked potato flavors without using up valuable oven space!
Creamy Garlic Shells from Iowa Girl Eats

Questions You Might Have About This Chicken Recipe

Well, that’s it for today my lovelies! When you give this yummy bacon and chicken thighs recipe a try, please let me know what you thought about it! Shoot me an email at joanne@thesaltypot.com or you can comment below. I’m interested to hear what you thought about it, or how you might have switched it up!