Woo Hoo!! All of the fall sports are in full swing and we are loving it. No matter if you are a fan of the College, Professional or Youth Sports there is nothing better than a great big TAILGATE!
Now working up some hotdogs, hamburgers and brats always sounds good to me… (Stay tuned next week when we bring the ultimate beer brats with peppers and onions) but sometime you want to bring out a little something different so today we are working on a Grilled BBQ Chicken Hoagie topped with bacon, onion and cheddar cheese.
We will serve these by cutting the hoagie into halves or thirds and this way everyone can save room to sample some of the other great things we will have on our tailgate!
What you need:
- Italian Dressing or a good similar marinade – sometimes I make my own sometimes I buy it in a bottle
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Favorite BBQ Sauce
- Bacon
- Shredded Cheese – We are going with cheddar but mozzarella, colby jack or swiss would work great.
- Hoagie Buns – Sometimes these are called sub buns. I like the ones in the bakery but there are some other commercial ones that are great.
- Onion – Yellow works well on the grill, I had a red one so that is what I am using
What you do:
- Put the chicken in a ziploc style bag and dump in the italian dressing/marinade. Let it sit for an hour or even overnight, I think the longer the better.
- Slice Your Onion
- Prepare your bacon – You can use the oven, skillet or even the microwave, whatever you like.
- Once the chicken is ready remove it from the bag and get rid of the marinade… DO NOT REUSE.
- Grill the chicken on a hot grill
- Place your onions on the grill and let them grill for a bit. I like mine really done, you may or may not…. experiment.
- When you are nearing the end of the cook brush the chicken with the sauce. I like to put it on thick because we are going to be chopping the chicken.
- Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce has caramelized remove it from the grill and let it sit for 5 +/- minutes.
- Now chop up the chicken. You can cut it into strips or into chunks, I prefer chunks.
- Chop up grilled onion and bacon
- Put chicken in the bun and top with bacon, onion and cheese (you can also add mayo, tomato, lettuce…)
- Cut into smaller pieces and arrange on a platter for your tailgate
- Eat the best looking one and enjoy your hard work!
Buckeye FanClub 