Hunters chicken baked potato
A few years back we made a bet with our friends that if they named their first born son ‘Hunter’ after the legendary Hunters chicken we were eating at the time, we’d give them £100. Fast forward to 2023 and our friends welcomed baby Hunter to the group. The name grew on them. One very expensive baby present later and we’re now hoping we can recoup the cost when our future child ‘Maris Piper’ is born.
This recipe for the Hunters chicken baked potato is therefore dedicated to my god son Hunter, because who can resist the absolute pub classic. BBQ chicken, bacon, lots of cheese. It’s simple but absolutely delicious and why did I not slather it on a baked potato sooner?! Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post asking for this recipe, I hope it lives up to expectations.
If like me, you feel the baked potato is under appreciated, you’ll love my page DEDICATED to them. We’ve got every topping going and there’s still more to come.
TIPS
Try changing up your sauce – instead of BBQ sauce, swap it out for a tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp onion granules, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp mixed herbs, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1/2 tbsp caster sugar. If you really want to push the boat out, chuck a couple of anchovies or capers in there for an extra flavour hit.
Ingredients
- 2 Maris Pipers
- 2 chicken breasts
- 5-6 slices of smoked streaky bacon
- 100g tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp onion granules
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 100g light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 100g grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese (you can use a bit of both!)
- 2 tbsp butter
- Olive oil, salt and pepper
Method
- Wrap the chicken breasts in bacon, reserving 2 slices of the bacon for later. Pop them into a slow cooker and season with salt and pepper.
- Mix together the ketchup, spices, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and honey in a bowl and then pour this all over the chicken. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 2 1/2-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 200ºc/400ºf. Prick your potato all over and drizzle with olive oil, then season well with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven on a baking tray for 1 hour, or until fork tender.
- When the chicken is cooked, slice into pieces. Pour off the BBQ sauce mixture into a small saucepan and reduce on a medium high heat until thick and glossy. Cut a cross in the top of the jacket potato and fluff up the middle, adding in butter as you go. Top the potato with plenty of the chicken and bacon onto the top of the potato and smother in the BBQ sauce and grated cheese, then return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melty.
- While the potato is back in the oven, fry off the reserved bacon strips in a pan until crispy. Chop these up roughly and sprinkle all over the top of the cheesy potato.