Crispy Chicken Butterfly With Bacon And Olives

Sometimes you can't help but think of the good old days – chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs, alphabet soup, and cartoon character-shaped pasta just tasted better than regular old food for some reason. Whoever said that growing up meant that food had to be boring, anyway? This recipe for a chicken butterfly is an homage to the fun meals of the past. Tap into your inner child and transform 3 chicken breasts into a beautiful butterfly! Whether you're cooking for a 9-year-old or a 90-year-old, this butterfly-shaped breaded chicken will definitely hit the spot. 

Yield: 1
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy

You'll Need:

For the crispy breaded chicken: 

• 3 chicken breasts
• ¾ cup flour
• 3 whisked eggs for the egg wash
• 3 cups crushed flavored potato chips

For the filling:

• 10 black olives
• 4 strips of bacon
• roasted red peppers
• red onion slices

For the topping:

• 1 carrot
• lemon slices

Here's How:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Use a meat tenderizer to pound the 3 chicken breasts until they're an even thickness. Cut 4 equally spaced slits into 1 side of each chicken breast, making sure you don't cut all the way through.

2. Whisk the eggs for the egg wash and crush the flavored potato chips, then set up the breading station with separate bowls for the flour, egg wash, and crushed flavored potato chips. Cover the chicken in flour, dredge it in egg wash, and coat it in crushed flavored potato chips.

3. Arrange the chicken breasts into a butterfly shape on the baking tray, making sure the uncut edges of the chicken breasts all meet in the middle. Position the top 2 chicken breasts so that they form the top halves of the butterfly wings and the third chicken breast at the bottom so that it forms both bottom halves of the wings, leaving small circular wells in each section of chicken. 

4. Wrap 4 black olives in bacon and 6 black olives in roasted red peppers. Place 2 of the roasted red pepper-wrapped olives inside a ring-shaped slice of red onion

5. Place the olives in the wells in the breaded chicken. Peel the carrot and cut off its greens, leaving 2 short stalks attached to make the butterfly's antennae, then place it in the middle of the chicken butterfly. Transfer the baking tray to the oven and bake the chicken butterfly at 350°F for 25 minutes.

6. Garnish the crispy chicken butterfly with lemon slices and chow down before it flies away!

This is your sign to start playing with your food! Have some fun in the kitchen making this crispy chicken butterfly and by the time it comes out of the oven, you'll have butterflies in your stomach – in the best way possible!