These Chicken Bacon Caprese Bites are the perfect appetizer to add to your tailgate or football party menu. ![Chicken-Bacon-Caprese Bites are perfect to add to your tailgate menu. Chicken, cheese and a caprese topping baked in a crescent dough cup.](https://grandmahoneyshouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Chicken-Bacon-CapreseBites.jpg)
Football season has officially began and this calls for lots of tailgate and finger food recipes. We love to watch high school, college and NFL games. I serve the usual dips, subs, pepperoni rolls, cheese tray and chili, but I like to try new recipes also. I had leftover rotisserie chicken one day and developed these Chicken Bacon Caprese Bites.
I used rotisserie chicken from the deli but you could use a can of chicken breast or cooked chicken. These are best served warm so they would be better at a party where they are served soon after baking instead of packing and taking to a stadium.
Assemble the ingredients.
Combine the tomatoes, basil and vinegar.
Mix cream cheese and spices.
Stir in chicken and bacon.
Roll out crescent sheet.
Cut into 24 squares. Press a square into each cup of mini muffin pan.
Add chicken filling.
Top with cheese.
Bake.
Remove from pan and place on a cooling rack.
Top with tomato-basil topping.
Arrange on serving platter. Serve warm.
Ingredients
- 2 Roma tomatoes (or 24 cherry) diced
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic, from jar
- 8 medium basil leaves, chopped
- 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
- 1 Tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup cooked chicken, diced (rotisserie from deli is best)
- 1 can refrigerated crescent dough sheet
- 1/3- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 24 mini-muffin cup pan with no stick cooking spray.
- In a medium size bowl, place the tomatoes, vinegar, salt, garlic and basil leaves. Toss gently to combine and set aside.
- In a medium size bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and Italian seasoning. Stir in the bacon and chicken.
- Open crescent dough sheet and unroll onto a flat work surface. Press into about a 12 x 9 inch rectangle. Using a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut 24 even squares. Press each square into the bottom and up sides of a muffin cup.
- Spoon even amounts of the cream cheese-chicken mixture into each cup. (About 1 heaping teaspoon each.)
- Top each with equal amounts of the cheese. (About 1/2 teaspoon each). Press cheese down slightly into cream cheese mixture.
- Bake about 14 minutes or until dough cups are light golden brown. Remove from oven to a cooling rack for 5 minutes.
- Carefully remove each dough cup with a knife and place on cooling rack.
- Top with 1 teaspoon of the tomato-basil mixture and then arrange on serving trays.
- Serve warm. Yields 24 appetizer cups.
I would probably stand there and make a meal of those! They look delicious even though I don’t like football!
Thank you…and that is perfectly fine to do!