Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce is one of our favorite recipes to make for dinner.

white platter with chicken with cider and bacon sauce

Every once in a while, I feel like it’s time to eat a little healthier and cut back a bit. This is a good recipe for that. This recipe comes from one of my go-to cookbooks:  Cooking Light:  Way to Cook– the Complete Visual Guide to Everyday Cooking.  It has pictures- LOTS of them (850 to be exact- for 200 recipes).  And it has process pictures, which are tough to find nowadays.  The cookbook goes through ways to do things… way to saute, way to grill meats, way to make yeast breads, way to braise, way to cook healthy, etc. And I’ve always loved this recipe for Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce.

chicken on a cutting board with ingredients for making cider and bacon sauce displayed in bowls

Ingredients needed:

  • chicken breasts
  • bacon
  • salt and pepper
  • sweet onion
  • apple cider
  • chicken broth

chicken on board and spices in bowl

How to make Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce:

Chop up two slices of bacon and sizzle away until it’s nice and crisp. Use the real stuff (2 slices of regular- not turkey-bacon aren’t going to kill you, are they?) You’ll need the bacon grease to do the next part.

While your bacon is cooking, pound out chicken breast halves to 1/2-inch thickness (for two reasons… ONE: the chicken cooks more evenly and will stay nice and moist, and TWO: It will make your serving of chicken look really big and therefore you will be more satisfied!)

cooked chicken on white pan

Remove the bacon from the pan & fry up that chicken in the small amount of bacon grease that accumulated.

cider and bacon sauce in pan

Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and tuck it into some foil to keep it warm. Add the onion, apple cider and chicken broth to the pan and boil until it reduces a bit. Add the bacon the pan, stir and the sauce is done. If you would like to have more sauce than is pictured here, plan to double the sauce ingredients and you will end up with a lot more. Some people like more bacon too. It’s up to you!

chicken with cider and bacon sauce in white skillet

Add the chicken back to the pan and spoon the sauce over it to coat the chicken and warm it up a little bit.

chicken with cider and bacon sauce on white platter

Serve the sauce over the chicken and you’ve got yourself a yummy, quick, healthy chicken dinner.

chicken with cider and bacon sauce plated with salad

Rice is a good choice to tuck underneath the chicken and absorb some of those sauce juices too. And if you’re trying to stick with a lower carb meal, just serve the sauce over the chicken and plate it with a salad. Enjoy!

The Best Chicken Recipes:

white platter with chicken with cider and bacon sauce
5 from 1 vote

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce

Easy, healthy chicken recipe!
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
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Ingredients

  • Four 6-ounce skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 slices bacon, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup finely chopped sweet onion
  • ¾ cup unsweetened apple cider
  • ½ cup fat free , lower sodium chicken broth

Instructions 

  • Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap (or waxed paper); pound to ½-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt and pepper.
  • Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan. Add the chicken to the drippings in the pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove the chicken from the pan and tuck it inside some foil to keep warm.
  • Add the onion to the pan; saute 2 minutes (or until tender), stirring constantly. Add the cider and broth; bring to a boil, scraping the pan to loosen any browned bits. Cook until the broth mixture is reduced to ½ cup (about 5 minutes). Stir in the cooked bacon. Add the chicken back to the pan and spoon the sauce over to coat and heat up the chicken again. Serve the sauce over the chicken.

Notes

  • If you are following the WW diet plan, one serving = 1 chicken breast and 2 tablespoons of sauce.
  • If you not following a lighter diet, you may wish to use larger chicken breasts and double all of the other ingredients to make a more substantial sauce.
  • If preparing this recipe as GLUTEN FREE, just make sure you are using brands of bacon and chicken broth that are designated as GF.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 269kcal, Carbohydrates: 7g, Protein: 38g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 116mg, Sodium: 427mg, Potassium: 736mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 51IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 12mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce on a white plate

 

5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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8 Comments

  1. Carolyn says:

    Oh my word, this looks amazing!

  2. Kimberly Lewis says:

    This was a GREAT recipe! I used turkey bacon and the husband was none-the-wiser. We both really enjoyed this! Great recipe!

  3. Linda Hielscher says:

    Hi again Lori, I made this tonight and oh my … It was yummy! I did mess around with it a little. I had a lot of points still left so i added a few more pieces of bacon, doubled the apple cider and broth, also as I cooked the onion I added 1-2 tbsp of Wondra Flour to kind of make a roux before adding the apple cider and broth. I’ve made something similar to this before from etools. Of course it did not have bacon in the recipe and we all know bacon can make anything taste better. it definetly worked in this recipe! Thanks

  4. Jessen says:

    This would be great served over mashed Cider Sweet Potatoes!

  5. Jennifer says:

    So good! I made this last night and it was a hit. My kids gave me a million stars for this recipe (Can you tell we watch Top Chef?)

  6. Terri A. says:

    I made this last night, but cut it in half, since it’s just me. It was very tasty and I will make it again (so easy), but I didn’t get as much sauce/topping as you did. I still really enjoyed it, though. I’m going to definitely get that book.

  7. Fran says:

    Awesome! I like that you include nutritional values. This recipe’s calorie count is great! I think I’ll make the dish this week.

  8. LilSis says:

    Wow! That looks great. I’m actually trying to get to Barnes & Noble today to use a gift card and I am looking for a good Cooking Light cookbook. If I don’t find this one there, I also have an Amazon gift certificate that I need to use. 🙂

    I’m a very visual person and LOVE to see photos of the recipe. That’s one reason I love Jamie Oliver’s cookbook so much is that he has a photo for every recipe!

    Thanks for this great recipe. I’ll be serving it to my family soon! I’m bookmarking now.