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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Smoked Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops

Okay, so I know that bacon is *so* 2009, but seriously, these bacon-wrapped chicken lollipops are too good to ignore. And they’re so easy to make, too!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops

bacon-wrapped chicken lollipops

Living here in Malaysia, we don’t get to watch much American football anymore. Truthfully, I haven’t been that big a fan of professional football to begin with. Like Annie, the only reason to watch the SuperBowl was for the ads, and for the SuperBowl get-togethers. I mean, where else are you going to find so many great hors d’oeuvres?

A Different Kind of Appetizer

So while it’s not likely we’ll be going to a SuperBowl party anytime soon, we still like to dream about all the different kinds of appetizers that we could make if we *were* going to a SuperBowl party. We’ve done chicken wing recipes before (Thai fried chicken wings, smoked shoyu chicken wings, and Malaysian chicken wings: two ways. Those recipes are quite tasty, but I say this chicken lollipop recipe is the easiest of them all to make.

Chicken lollipops start with the drumette section of a chicken wing. The flesh is separated and scraped down toward the “shoulder” end of the wing, creating a ball of chicken meat at the end. It ends up looking like an inverted, chicken “Chupa Chups.

If you’re lucky enough to have a grocer with a properly staffed butcher department, you can just ask them to prepare the chicken drumettes for you. But if not, the steps for preparing the chicken lollipops are quite simple. You can follow the instructions for “How to Make Chicken Lollipops” on Just Bento.

Most recipes for chicken lollipops will have you deep frying or baking them. We wanted to try smoking them on my WSM, which is why we settled on the “Cackalacky Chicken Lollipop Recipe” to riff off of.

Smoked Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops Recipe

Ingredients:

14 chicken drumettes
14 slices of bacon
2 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning

Method:

1. Place the chicken lollipops in a large bowl. Season the chicken lollipops with Old Bay seasoning and toss to coat evenly.

2. Wrap the ball of the “lollipop” with a strip of bacon and secure it with a toothpick.

chicken lollipops wrapped in bacon

3. Start your smoker and bring the temp up to 250*F. Toss on some of your favorite smoke wood for chicken (apple is good).

4. Arrange the lollipops on the grate so that they don’t crowd each other. (Notice that green lollipop on the right? I ran out of bacon slices so I decided to wrap one of the lollipops in pandan leaf and see what happened!)

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops on Smoker

smoking bacon wrapped chicken lollipops

5. Smoke the lollipops for 1-1/2 hours at 250*F. At this point, the juices of the chicken should run clear if pricked with a knife.

smoked bacon wrapped chicken lollipops

6. The Cackalacky recipe calls for the chicken to be glazed with their special sauce, then finished for another 15 minutes in the smoker. (I had run out of time so I skipped this step and just pulled them at 1.5 hours.)

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops

bacon wrapped chicken lollipops 2

We brought these chicken lollipops to a dinner party in the evening. The smoky aromas exuded by the bacon and the chicken started them salivating. When we unveiled the dish, people went, “ooh, what is that?!

The chicken was cooked just right – still retaining the juiciness of the bird. I thought it could have used a little more spicy heat, like maybe some cayenne or black pepper. Annie thought that it would have been better with a sweet chili sauce glaze. Still, nobody complained and before you know it, they were all gone.

Aloha, Nate

(P.S.: that pandan-wrapped chicken was all right. I thought it would have been better deep fried.)

What are YOU making for your SuperBowl party? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Hungry for More chicken wings recipes? Click below:

Seven Secrets for Perfect Thai Fried Chicken Wings

Smoked Shoyu Chicken Recipe

Malaysian Chicken Wings: Two Ways

"How to make chicken lollipops" on Just Bento

Recipe: "Chicken Lollipops" on Appetite for China

15 Comments:

Vagabonde said...

Thank you for coming to my blog and leaving a message. I am pleased you liked my figs. I have been looking at your posts and you certainly have many good recipes. My blog is not a food blog, just recollections of events and travels. I started it last March – actually my daughter in Long Beach, Ca. was the one to tell me to start a blog and helped me create one. I’ll come back to your blog because I enjoy the type of cuisine you show. I was in Malaysia only once, from Singapore and would love to return. My next post will be about travel. I hope you’ll come back to my blog (I am curious – how did you find my blog?) Cheers VB

PageRank Check said...

Lovely creative idea

Unknown said...

"... better deep fried." Does that mean deep fried with the pandan leaf wrapped around, or a regular deep fried like the karaage recipe? Looks really yummy!

Borneoboy said...

Looks delicious ! Think I'll give this recipe a try this weekend.

Bob said...

Man Nate, those look incredible. I love them deep fried Chinese style, but, smoking is a great twist I have to try.

dining table said...

These are nice! I want to make some for a house party this Saturday. I hope I can have the time to buy some chicken lollipops!

Carolyn Jung said...

If bacon is "so 2009,'' I, for one, don't want to be in 2010. Hah! Every year should be full of bacon-y goodness

Blessed Homemaker said...

Cool! I'm sure my kids will enjoy this dish.

Lingzie said...

so what if bacon's 2009? i reckon its here to stay! lol
this looks especially yummy!!

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@all - thanks for your comments!

@vagabonde - welcome to our blog! I do hope you visit again. I found yours as I was looking for Grow Your Own participants.

@J - yes, deep fried with the pandan leaf. But we're not averse to doing karaage! ;-)

@Borneoboy - great! Let us know how it turns out for you.

@Bob - Thanks! I'm sure you'll like it.

@dining table - go for it! If you can't get a butcher to do it, it's pretty easy if you follow the step-by-steps in the Cackalacky link.

@Carolyn - agreed! But the bacon craziness was a bit much last year.

@Blessed Homemaker - what's not to like? :-)

@Lingzie - thanks!

Unknown said...

its discusting gross and horrible this is crazy!!!!!! me and my friends agree :( :(

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@Diana - what are *you* planning to make for the SuperBowl?

Janet @Gourmet Traveller 88 said...

Your chicken lollipops are very cute.

Mrs. L said...

Dang, I may have to go out and buy a smoker just so I can make these.

And bacon will never go out of style in my house!

Nate @ House of Annie said...

@Janet - thanks!

@Mrs L - I highly recommend the WSM. If not, you could just bake these in the oven.