On a rainy autumn day, nothing beats a pub, a pint of Guinness and a plate of Hunters Chicken with chips. It is British pub grub at its most comforting, and it is my top choice when the weather turns.
Hunters Chicken is chicken breast wrapped in bacon, coated in BBQ sauce and topped with cheese, then baked or grilled until the cheese bubbles. The heart of it is the sauce, so I make my own with a little fennel seed for depth. You can prepare it ahead, or reach for a shop-bought jar when time is short.
Serve it with chips or mash, and maybe some Easy Crispy Onion Rings on the side.
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Pin itHunters Chicken: A British Pub Classic
Three questions come up about this dish more than any other: what exactly is in it, whether it is really British, and what makes the sauce worth making rather than buying. Here they are in order.
What is Hunters Chicken?
Chicken breast wrapped in streaky bacon, baked, then covered in barbecue sauce and melted cheese. That is the whole dish. Mine uses mozzarella for the stretch, and the chicken is marinated first, which most versions skip. It is pub food and it is usually eaten as pub food: chips or mash, and something sharp on the side to cut through it.
Is Hunters Chicken British? And What About Chasseur and Cacciatore?
Yes, it is British, and it is younger than it feels. Hunters chicken is a pub and chain-restaurant dish, not an old country recipe: chicken breast wrapped in bacon, covered in barbecue sauce and cheese, and it turned up on British menus in roughly the form you know within the last few decades. You will also meet it as chicken New Yorker, which is the same plate under a different pub’s name.
The name causes more confusion than the dish deserves, because two other things are also called hunter’s chicken and neither is this. French poulet chasseur is chicken braised with mushrooms, shallots, white wine and tomato. Italian pollo alla cacciatora is a slow braise with tomatoes, herbs and often olives or wine. Both mean hunter’s chicken in their own language, both are old, and both are rustic braises with no bacon, no barbecue sauce and no melted cheese anywhere near them. If you came looking for one of those, this is not it.
What ours has that the pub version does not is a marinade and a bed of sliced onion underneath, and both are deliberate. Almost every published recipe for this dish goes straight from packet to oven. A couple of hours in garlic, oil, salt and pepper will not perfume the middle of a chicken breast, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. Marinades penetrate slowly, and an oil rub like this one carries no water to take anything inwards with it, so it stays near the surface. The salt is the part that travels. A wet brine is a different animal and does draw its aromatics in alongside the water, but that is not what this is. And the surface is exactly where the bacon and the sauce end up, so seasoning it properly is the whole job. The onions underneath are the other half of it: they stop the chicken sticking to the dish and caramelise while it bakes, which makes the base worth eating rather than washing up.
The BBQ Sauce, and What Makes This One Different
The sauce is the reason to make this at home rather than order it, and mine is not a standard barbecue sauce. Alongside the ketchup, dark brown sugar and cider vinegar it carries three things you will not find in the shop-bought jar or in any other hunters chicken recipe I have read.
Dark soy sauce does the work salt would, and brings a savoury depth with it, which is what stops the whole thing tasting like sweet ketchup. Fennel seeds are the unusual one: fried in the oil at the start, they give a faint aniseed warmth underneath the sweetness that people notice without being able to name. And smoked paprika supplies the smoke that a real fire would, since almost nobody is actually barbecuing this.
It makes more than the two portions need, which is on purpose. It keeps in the fridge for a fortnight and it is a better sauce than most jars, so it is worth having. A shop-bought sauce works perfectly well on a weeknight, and I would not pretend otherwise, but this is the version worth the extra ten minutes.
Pin itHow to Make Hunters Chicken, Step by Step
Two parts: the sauce, which you can make days ahead, and the bake, which takes half an hour. The recipe card below has the quantities.
The BBQ sauce
- Soften the onion. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat and cook the finely chopped onion until it turns translucent and loses its raw edge, five minutes or so. This is a cooked sauce rather than a stirred-together one, and the onion is its body: skip this and you get a thin sauce that tastes of ketchup.
- Fry the garlic, chilli and fennel. Add the minced garlic, the chilli flakes if you are using them, and the fennel seeds, and give them two minutes until they smell fragrant. This is the step that makes the sauce mine. Fennel seeds need fat and heat to open up, and two minutes in hot oil is what turns them from a hard little seed into that faint aniseed warmth underneath everything else.
- Caramelise the sugar. Stir in the dark brown sugar and let it bubble and darken for a minute or two before anything wet goes near it. Sugar that has been allowed to caramelise tastes of more than sweetness, and that is most of the difference between a homemade sauce and a jar.
- Add the liquids. Pour in the dark soy sauce, ketchup, cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and stir it smooth. The soy is the unexpected one and it is doing two jobs: it seasons the sauce so no salt is needed, and it brings a savoury depth that keeps the whole thing from sliding into sweetness.
- Season it. Add the smoked paprika and the black pepper. The paprika is standing in for a real fire, which is worth saying plainly since nobody making this is anywhere near a barbecue. Hold off on salt for now, because the soy has already brought a good deal.
- Simmer to meld. Bring it up to the boil, then drop it to a simmer for ten to fifteen minutes. It needs that time: straight after mixing you can taste every ingredient separately, and by the end of the simmer they have become one sauce. It will also reduce and darken a little, which is what you want.
- Taste it. Now taste and adjust. This matters more here than in most recipes because ketchup and soy vary enormously between brands in both salt and sugar, so the same quantities can land quite differently. Sharpen it with a splash more vinegar, sweeten with a pinch more sugar, and only now add salt if it genuinely needs it.
- Cool it, and let it thicken. Take it off the heat and let it cool. It thickens noticeably as it cools, so judge the consistency cold rather than hot, or you will reduce it to a paste chasing a thickness it was going to reach anyway. Anything you do not use keeps in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
The chicken
- Marinate the chicken. Mix the minced garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl, turn the chicken breasts through it until they are properly coated, and refrigerate for at least two hours and preferably overnight. Then take them out twenty to thirty minutes before they go in the oven so they are not fridge-cold. Nearly every other recipe for this dish skips the marinade entirely and quotes five minutes of prep. It will not reach the middle of the breast, and no marinade does, but it seasons the surface properly and the salt works its way in a little further, which is more than an unseasoned breast under a sweet sauce ever manages. Starting from room temperature is what stops the outside drying out while the middle catches up.
- Heat the oven. Preheat to 200°C, or 180°C if yours is a fan oven, which runs about 20 degrees hotter than the dial suggests. Let it come properly up to temperature before anything goes in.
- Line the dish with sliced onion. Lay the sliced onion across the bottom of the baking dish. No other recipe for this dish does it and it earns its place twice over: it stops the chicken catching on the base, and it collapses into the juices as it cooks and turns sweet underneath everything.
- Wrap each breast in bacon. Wrap each chicken breast in two rashers of streaky bacon and sit them on top of the onions. Tuck the loose ends underneath so the wrap does not unravel as the bacon shrinks. If the breasts are thick at one end, bash or butterfly them to an even thickness first, or the thin end will be dry before the thick end is done.
- Bake it plain, sauce later. Bake for about 25 minutes, with no sauce and no cheese on it yet. This is the part people get wrong: bacon under a wet topping steams rather than crisps, so it needs this time dry and exposed to firm up and take colour. Check the thickest part of the chicken reaches 75°C before it comes out, which is the figure the UK food standards give and the reason a probe is on the equipment list.
- Sauce it. Spoon the barbecue sauce over each breast and around them into the dish. It will look like too little. Resist adding more, because it loosens in the heat and spreads, and sauce piled on before baking is what makes the dish watery rather than glossy.
- Cheese on top. Scatter the mozzarella over the chicken. Mozzarella is chosen here for the stretch rather than the flavour, since the sauce is already doing the flavour. Grate it yourself if you can, because pre-grated cheese is dusted with starch to stop it clumping and it sits greasy instead of melting cleanly.
- Grill to finish. Switch the oven to its grill setting and give it about five minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling and just starting to colour. Stand and watch it. Grills go from bubbling to burnt inside a minute, and this is the only step in the recipe that cannot be rescued once it has gone.
- Serve it hot. Serve straight away, with chips or mash and something green. Hunters chicken does not improve for sitting: the cheese sets, the bacon softens in the steam, and the whole point of it is the moment it comes out from under the grill.
Recipe Card for Hunters Chicken
Hunters Chicken: British Pub Grub Recipe
The British pub classic, made properly at home: chicken breast marinated, wrapped in streaky bacon and baked on a bed of onions, then finished with a homemade barbecue sauce carrying dark soy, fennel seed and smoked paprika.The British pub classic with a baton of cheddar hidden inside: chicken breast marinated, stuffed, wrapped in streaky bacon and baked on a bed of onions, then finished with a homemade barbecue sauce and mozzarella.
Cheddar rather than more mozzarella: a wet cheese goes properly liquid around 55C and the chicken still has twenty degrees to climb, so it runs long before the meat is done. Cut the pocket deep, stop short of the edges, and let the bacon seal it. A little will escape into the onions, which is no loss. The extra cheese brings salt and fat, so take the sauce a shade sweeter to carry it.
Equipment I Use
Ingredients
Instructions
In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent.
Add the minced garlic, the chilli flakes if you are using them, and the fennel seeds. Cook for another 2 minutes until fragrant.
Stir in the dark brown sugar and let it caramelise slightly for about 1-2 minutes.
Stir in the dark brown sugar and let it caramelise slightly for about 1-2 minutes. Add an extra tablespoon for the stuffed version: the cheddar in the middle brings salt and fat with it, and the sauce has to lean sweeter to carry them.
Pour in the dark soy sauce, tomato ketchup, apple cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well.
Season with the smoked paprika and the black pepper. Hold off on salt at this stage - the dark soy sauce has already brought a good deal of it, and you can adjust at the end once the sauce has reduced.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow the flavours to meld together.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Once done, remove from heat and let it cool. The sauce will thicken as it cools.
In a mixing bowl, combine minced garlic, olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Add the chicken breasts, ensuring they are thoroughly coated with the mixture. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, or preferably overnight. Before cooking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow it to reach room temperature, approximately 20-30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F).
Place sliced onion at the bottom of your baking dish.
Take each chicken breast and wrap it with two bacon rashers or strips. Once wrapped, position them on top of the sliced onions in the baking dish.
Cut a deep pocket along the side of each breast, stopping short of the ends and the far edge so it stays a pocket rather than becoming two halves. Push a baton of cheddar in, then wrap each breast with two bacon rashers, tucking the loose ends underneath so the wrap holds the opening shut. If the pocket still gapes, a cocktail stick through it will hold. Position them on top of the sliced onions.
Transfer the dish to the preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes, with no sauce or cheese on it yet. Check the thickest part of the chicken has reached 75°C before it comes out.
Transfer the dish to the preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes, with no sauce or cheese on it yet. Check the thickest part of the chicken has reached 75°C before it comes out, and take that reading in the meat rather than through the pocket: a probe sitting in molten cheese is not telling you anything about the chicken around it.
After baking, remove the chicken from the oven. Evenly spoon your BBQ sauce over and around each chicken piece.
Generously sprinkle the mozzarella over the chicken.
Switch the oven to the grill setting. Return the dish to the oven and grill for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Once done, serve the chicken hot, accompanied by chips or mashed potatoes plus veggies of your choice.
Chef’s notes
No salt in the sauce. The 75 ml of dark soy is already seasoning it, and it is also what keeps the sauce from sliding into sweet ketchup. Bake the chicken plain for the first 25 minutes. The sauce and cheese go on only for the last 5 minutes under the grill, or the bacon steams instead of crisping. Check 75C in the thickest part before the sauce goes anywhere near it. Do not walk away from the grill: the cheese goes from bubbling to burnt inside a minute. The sliced onions underneath stop the chicken sticking and caramelise as it bakes, so the bottom of the dish is worth eating too. Leftovers keep 3 days in the fridge. Reheat in the oven rather than the microwave if you want the bacon crisp again.
Nutrition per serving
Check out my other recipes:
Pin itFor another cosy British pub dinner, try my Steak and Ale Pie.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Streaky bacon - swap for back bacon or lean bacon medallions if you want a leaner wrap, though you’ll lose a little of that crisp, fatty edge.
- BBQ sauce - swap shop-bought for a quick homemade one of ketchup, brown sugar, a splash of vinegar and smoked paprika when you want to control the sweetness.
- Mozzarella - the card uses it for the stretch. Swap in mature cheddar if you want more flavour, red Leicester for colour, or half and half for both. Grate it yourself whichever you choose.
- Chicken breasts - swap for chicken tenderloins for smaller portions, reducing the cooking time so they don’t dry out.
- Dark soy sauce - there is no direct swap that keeps the same depth, but light soy plus a pinch more brown sugar comes close. Do not simply leave it out, because it is the seasoning as well as the savoury note.
- Cheese in the middle - there is a switch on the recipe card for this. Flip it to Stuffed as well and it gives you the pocket, the cheese and the times. Use cheddar inside rather than more mozzarella: mozzarella goes liquid well before the chicken is cooked and runs out, where cheddar stays put. Keep the mozzarella for the top. Readers on two different sites arrived at the stuffed version independently before any recipe writer suggested it.
A Lighter Version, and Where the Calories Actually Are
This is a generous plate. The card works out at around 917 kcal a serving, with 33 g of sugar and enough sodium to sit above a whole day’s recommended salt in one portion. That is worth knowing rather than hiding, because the parts responsible are not the ones people assume.
It is not the chicken. A skinless breast is a lean piece of meat and contributes very little of it. Nearly all of the sugar comes from the sauce, which carries 55 g of dark brown sugar and 280 ml of ketchup, and most of the salt comes from the dark soy in that same sauce plus the bacon. So the dish looks low carb and is not, which is the thing that surprises people when they read the numbers.
The largest lever is one nobody mentions: how much sauce goes on. This recipe spoons 240 ml over two breasts. Most published versions spread that same 240 ml over four. Use half and you are still saucing it as heavily as everyone else, and you have taken out a good share of the sugar and salt without touching what the sauce tastes of.
After that: back bacon or lean medallions instead of streaky, which is the swap in the substitutions above and the one the slimming versions of this dish are built on. A reduced-sugar ketchup, which takes the sugar down without touching the fennel and soy that give the sauce its character. Reduced-salt light soy, with a pinch more brown sugar to keep the depth. And go easy on the salt in the marinade, because the sauce is bringing plenty on its own.
What I would not do is swap the sauce for a shop-bought sugar-free one and call it the same dish. The fennel seed and the dark soy are the whole reason this tastes like a pub sauce rather than a jar, and they are not where the calories are.
What to Serve With Hunters Chicken
🍽 I keep it proper pub-style with a pile of chips or a fluffy jacket potato and something fresh alongside, like a crisp green salad or a spoonful of coleslaw. Buttery mash with green beans is lovely for a cosier plate, and sweetcorn or corn on the cob rounds it off nicely for the family.
FAQ for Hunters Chicken
Can I make it ahead?
Yes - wrap the chicken in bacon and sauce it ahead, then keep it in the fridge and bake when needed. Add the cheese for the last few minutes so it melts fresh.
Which cheese is best?
Grated mature cheddar for flavour, or mozzarella if you want that extra melty stretch. A mix of both is lovely.
Can I use chicken thighs?
Yes - boneless thighs stay especially juicy. They are a little smaller, so check they are cooked through and adjust the timing.
Do I need to pre-cook the bacon so it goes crispy?
This is the question I see most, because bacon wrapped straight into a saucy dish tends to steam rather than crisp. I like to bake the bacon-wrapped chicken on its own for the first 25 minutes before I add the sauce and cheese, which lets the rashers firm up and take on colour. If you want them crispier still, give the finished dish a couple of minutes under a hot grill at the end and keep a close eye on it.
It doesn’t look like enough BBQ sauce when I spoon it on - is that normal?
Yes, don’t panic and drown it. A modest amount of sauce loosens and spreads as it bakes, coating the chicken and mingling with the juices so it goes further than you’d think. If you like it saucier you can warm a little extra to spoon over at the table, but I’d resist adding loads before baking or it can turn watery.
Can I make hunters chicken in an air fryer?
You can, and it’s brilliant for one or two portions. Cook the bacon-wrapped breasts at around 180°C for 12 to 15 minutes until nearly cooked, then add your BBQ sauce and cheese and give it another 3 to 4 minutes until melted and bubbling. Always check the thickest part reaches 75°C, as air fryers vary a fair bit.
Can I freeze it, and how do I cook it from frozen?
It freezes really well, so I often assemble extra and freeze the bacon-wrapped breasts before saucing. Thaw fully in the fridge overnight, then bake as normal; if you’re cooking from frozen, use the same oven temperature but add 15 to 20 minutes and check it’s piping hot all the way through. I’d add the cheese fresh near the end either way so it melts properly rather than drying out.
Can I make hunters chicken in a slow cooker?
You can, with one caveat that matters: a slow cooker will never crisp the bacon or brown the cheese, because nothing in it gets dry enough. Cook the bacon-wrapped breasts on low for three to four hours with the sauce, then lift them into a dish, add the cheese and put them under a hot grill for a few minutes to finish. Doing the whole thing in the pot gives you a perfectly good chicken dinner that is not really this dish.
What temperature should the chicken reach?
75°C in the thickest part, which is the UK food standards figure for poultry and the reason a probe is worth owning. Bacon-wrapped breasts are genuinely harder to judge by eye than plain ones, because the wrap hides the colour of the meat and holds the juices in, so the usual look-and-poke test is less reliable here than usual.
A Few Words from the Chef
Hunter’s chicken is proper British pub grub, and I have ordered it more times than I can count. It is one of those easy, quick comfort dinners I love to make at home too, chicken wrapped in bacon under barbecue sauce and melted cheese, what is not to love. Give it a go and tell me how it went.
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I trust you’ll relish this outstanding Hunters Chicken recipe! Did you customise the BBQ sauce to your taste? Or perhaps you paired it with a unique side dish? I’m eager to hear about your culinary adventures with this classic. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you loved it, don’t hesitate to give it a star rating! Happy cooking!