Give your Game Day chicken tenders a tasty twist with caramelized bacon + a hint of spice!

Even my little ones LOVED these Sweet & Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Tenders. Sprinkle them with a little parsley before serving for an extra-gourmet-looking presentation. 🤩

SWEET & SPICY BACON-WRAPPED CHICKEN TENDERS

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Ingredients:

• 10 chicken tenders (approximately 1 lb)
• 10 strips uncooked Coke-soaked bacon*, sliced in half length-wise
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp rosemary
• ½ tsp basil
• ½ tsp thyme
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 Tbsp chili powder

*For Coke-soaked bacon, marinate bacon strips in Coca-Cola for 2 hours.

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350º.

2. In a small bowl, combine the salt, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, rosemary, basil, thyme, and black pepper. Use this seasoning mix to coat both sides of the chicken tenders (top and bottom).

3. Cut the 10 strips of Coke-soaked bacon in half, lengthwise. You should end up with 20 “skinny” strips of raw bacon. Wrap each seasoned chicken tender in bacon, using 2 pieces per tender.

4. Mix the chili powder and brown sugar together and stir until well combined. Roll each bacon-wrapped chicken tender in this mixture until well coated. Don’t be shy! ;)

5. Place the chicken tenders on a greased grill pan (ideally) OR on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet (which is what we used here). Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until bacon is crispy. Broil for the last few minutes if desired. Note: Cook time can vary depending on the size of your chicken tenders and the desired crispiness level of your bacon.

6. Remove from oven, garnish with a little more fresh parsley, and ENJOY!

Note: This is a hearty-sized appetizer. If you’d prefer them as small bites, cut each tender into 3 or 4 bite-sized pieces and use toothpicks to serve.

For another tasty game day recipe featuring Coke-soaked bacon, check out my Bacon-Ranch-Cheddar Football Cheese Ball! (Yes, it’s a mouthful to say, I know! Maybe just BRC Football Cheese Ball for short.) 😉

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Coca-Cola® and NABISCO for this post. As always, the content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that make it possible for us to keep the creative content coming!