These Chicken Bacon Subs disappear lickety split at my house. They are so easy to assemble, and make a perfect freezer meal.
Are you ready for a freezer meal that’s going to knock your socks off? This is it! Chicken Bacon Subs, a FishFamily favorite since 2010.
I created this recipe on a whim one day. I was in the middle of a freezer cooking session, and found myself with the fixings for garlic bread, baked bacon, and shredded chicken. Hmmm, says I, I wonder what would happen if I put these together?
What happened was awesomeness!
Freezer Cooking with Bone-in Chicken Breast
One of my favorite ingredients for freezer cooking is chicken. And since our family prefers white meat, I often buy bone-in chicken breasts. While boneless, skinless chicken breasts are certainly more convenient, chicken on the bone has a richer taste, and the cost is much lower than the boneless version.
For freezer cooking sessions, I often buy chicken in bulk when I see a good sale and then bake it all in the oven at one time. I then shred all the chicken at one time to use in chicken freezer recipes, like these:
- Shredded Chicken ā to use for an easy sandwich filling, pizza topping, or to add protein to a salad
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Chicken and Cheese Flautas
- Chicken Enchilada Bake
- Homemade Curried Chicken Casserole
- Chicken Chili with White Beans
But these Chicken Bacon Sub Sandwiches are one of the biggest hits to cross my kitchen table. They are basically a large loaf of garlic bread stuffed with chicken, bacon, and jack or mozzarella cheese.
The recipe is super versatile, allowing you to switch up the cheese — I love it with pepper jack — or the bread — my kids love individual ciabatta loaves. The best thing is that you can make several/many/multitudes at one time and stash them in the freezer. Reheat in the oven, or even the slow cooker if you make personal size subs, and you are good to go.
Dinner is served in all its gooey, cheesy awesomeness.
- 1 large French loaf sliced lengthwise or 12 sandwich rolls, split
- 1/2 cup garlic butter
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1/4 cup chopped bacon cooked crisp
- 5 ounces sliced mozzarella or jack cheese
- Place the French loaf on a large sheet of aluminum foil or each roll on its own square of foil. Spread the garlic butter on both halves. Layer cheese slices over the bread. Next layer the shredded chicken over the cheese. Sprinkle bacon over the chicken. Place the top half of the bread on the sandwich. Wrap in foil.
- If serving right away, bake in 350 oven for about 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bread. If preparing to serve later, freeze.
- On serving day, bake for 50-70 minutes if frozen. If thawed, bake for 25-30 minutes.
I like to make these on small ciabatta rolls and wrap them individually in foil. I've found that they reheat really well in the slow cooker, for about four hours on low, turning once if possible.
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Originally published June 7, 2010. Updated September 17, 2016.
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Hello, I am actually prepping for my freezer cooking as well, but I have a bunch of boneless skinless, so because yours has the bone in, would that make a difference in cooking time/temp? Just wanted to know how to cook mone. Thanks very much š
@jacinda walker, if you’re baking boneless chicken, you’re going to reduce your baking time. Start with 30 minutes and then check to see if the juices run clear. If not, add another 5 minutes and check again.
This would be a huge hit with my family – I think this is what we’ll have tonight!
Lookin good:-)
I am going to try the freezer cooking this month for the first time! I want to try your shredded chicken recipe. Do you cook your chicken with the bone in? I noticed Amy on another site takes the chicken off the bone….just curious! thanks for all your information…I am really enjoying your blog!
Thanks for your kind words, Gina. When I buy bone-in chicken, I bake it on the bone. It enhances the flavor. I think Amy takes it off the bone when she’s chopping it or using it like b/s.
Love being able to try out your freezer cooking recipes! I’m easing my way into freezer cooking with baby #2 coming any day now. I’ve been making one meal a week for the last few weeks that I either double or half into two smaller pans, freezing the second pan. Up for this week–your lawnmower taco casserole!:)
Thanks for sharing all of your freezer cooking advice!
My husband loves the Chicken Bacon Ranch subs from Subway, but we often make them at home, too. Would be a simple addition to your recipe – just add Ranch dressing, lettuce, tomato, onion and banana peppers to it! YUM!
YEAH!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Can’t wait to try it next month! Sounds delicious and I know my family will love it. Who doesn’t love bacon?!
Jessica – do you capture the broth any way when baked? I put mine in the crockpot to get the broth, but I’d consider in the oven in winter (to warm up the house) if there was a way to get broth from it. Thanks!
I actually had about 6 cups of broth from the 20 pounds of chicken. Maybe not as much as with a crockpot, but still a good amount.
Thank you so much for all the new recipes!!! I’m going to try the sub prep tonight and give it a taste tomorrow (but I see no reason to not like it!) Also we’re going to grill our chicken for a different flavor!
Grilled chicken sounds great. Maybe we should try an outdoors freezer cooking next time. š
I am wondering if this would work with smaller bread? Like a french roll, wrapped individually and then baked? The french loaf would be huge for my family! What do you think?
Absolutely! I made a batch on kaiser rolls and they worked really well. I wrapped them individually and then heated as many as we wanted.
Do you change the times or temps when reheating the individually wrapped sandwiches from thawed or from frozen?
I’ll add time to the frozen ones. I usually check a few times to make sure they’re hot. They cook better if they are thawed.
Thanks for the tip on how to cook bone in chicken. I have some here and have been wondering what to do with it.
Just did freezer cooking this weekend…but for only a few weeks out. Mark my word…next time I see some reduce bread it’s on!!!
Bought 3 LARGE Italian loaves fro $0.90 each on markdown at WalMart. Cut them into 4 seperate pieces for 4 seperate meals since they are so dig. Yummo!!!
š
@Jenna,
meant to say that I used them to make freezer garlic bread!!!
I made a variation of the chicken bacon subs tonight. I used ciabatta rolls and spread them with some ranch dip that needed to be used up. Layered the chicken and bacon, added provolone cheese and baked. Definitely will be a repeated dinner around here as everyone loved it. Even had just enough leftover for lunches tomorrow.
This is interesting. I have always boiled my chicken, when making a batch to shred, primarily because I’ve found that we go through chicken broth pretty quickly in our house too… I wouldn’t want to boil 10-20 lbs, though… š
LOVE these sandwiches. I use steak rolls instead of a large loaf because I cook enough for a meal and then some for hubby’s lunch. I have tweaked it slightly. I use half mozzarella cheese and half queso blend cheese. I also add a can of petite diced tomatoes drained very well. A little sprinkle of Italian seasoning. I cook till warm and then I unwrap them and open up the sandwich to toast the inside for about 10 mins on 350. Family favorite and freezer staple.
Love these subs!!
Wow. I’ve had this recipe on my list forever, but just got around to making it today. It is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing, I’m about to stock my entire freezer full of these! š
Yeah! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know.
You said you made these for your husband’s lunches, that is a great idea, but I don’t think my husband has an oven at work….have you ever tried heating these up in the microwave? Just wasn’t sure how they would turn out.
Yeah, I kinda goofed on that! A reader asked the same question earlier. I realized I was counting on him heating them in the microwave. Not sure if it will work.
Just wondering if anybody ever tested the microwave re-heating? I was thinking of doing this for work as well, but of course none of us have ovens at the office… Thoughts? (and thanks!)
I think it depends on the bread. It could get tough. :/
I tried these tonight and I have to say they were dry. Do you add anything else to them? I thought about adding mayo but wasn’t sure that would taste very good or not?
Hmmm, did you include both the cheese and the garlic butter? Between the two of those, ours haven’t been dry. Was your bread really thick?
Yes I used both the cheese and butter. The bread was a small bun so it wasn’t that. Oh well š My husband added ranch dressing to his.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m going to blame the bun. š
I have made these many times but I couldn’t remember what to do when you froze them. I’m so excited that I can go to the freezer now at almost 3pm and pull dinner out to make instead of having to hit a fast food or pizza place. Thanks again, Jessica!
Yay! So glad you like them. I need to try other variations. There are so many options.
Finally made some of these. Mixed the chopped bacon into my container of shredded chicken, added some pepper and made the sandwiches. I made these on whole wheat sub rolls and they were quite filling! I let everyone pick their cheese and labeled the foil. Good Sunday evening meal and the second batch will go to the freezer. Thanks!
Mixing it all sounds brilliant. You could mix in cheese that way, too. Yum!
It is getting too hot around here to run the oven, so I think I will try this “filling” on bread in my panini maker! Thanks for a great new idea!!
I’m going to reheat mine in the slow cooker. Haven’t updated the post yet until I know it works. š
How long do you reheat them in the crockpot?
I’ve found that 2-3 hours on LOW seems to do well. Best if you can turn them and move them around at least once during that time.
These have been on my freezer cooking rotation for a while now and they are always a HUGE hit. They have really been a life saver lately as we are in the middle of volleyball/football season and are constantly on the go. Thanks so much for sharing all these great recipes. So many of my go -to recipes started out as yours!
So glad you love them as much as we do. š
I just pulled out NYM’s Freezer Cooking to find this recipe this morning–planning to make double on Saturday and have leftovers on Sunday. And then I come visit your site and lo and behold here it is again! I’m glad to see the photos–helps me visualize which breads I could use because I’m not sure our bakery has them labeled exactly the same as what you called it. And I was wondering if pepper jack would work–glad to know I was on the right track š
Since we’re going to eat them the next day, do you think I need to freeze? Could I refrigerate in the foil or would they get soggy or stale? Thanks!
If you’re making them for the next day, I wouldn’t freeze, just refrigerate. In this version here (as opposed to book), I put butter on both sides and that acts as a barrier against any sogginess.
Super yummy, made ahead of time, wrapped in foil and froze for our camping trip. Tossed in the crock pot after breakfast and they were ready for lunch. Left one in the fridge for our Son who was house sitting. Thumbs up from him as well.
So glad you like the recipe!
In.the crock pot to reheat, do you unwrap them?
No, I leave them wrapped. Otherwise the garlic butter may drip out.
Thank you. Just stumbled on this he has there day and made them tonight. They were delicious. I sous vide the chicken so it fell apart and shredded beautifully. I had planned on freezing to see how well they cooked from frozen, but I got over excited and stuck them in the over tonight instead. Two thumbs up!
so glad you liked them!
When you reheat in the slow cooker do you leave them wrapped in foil?
Oops, just read a previous response to the same question. Leave em wrapped, good to know. Thanks
Cannot wait to try these!
And – I might try a version of chicken/manara/cheese for “parmesan” chicken subs.
Gosh – any variety of baked subs would work really for the freezer. Oh the possibilities!
Yep! The sky is the limit!
hello! I’m new to freezer meals but excited to try! are you freezing the whole sandwich? making the meat and bacon, making the sandwich, wrapping and freezing?
Yes. Assemble the sandwich and wrap it for freezing. As long as the ingredients are cold or room temp, it should freeze really well and not get soggy. You wouldn’t want to assemble or freeze warm/hot sandwiches.
These were excellent when I threw them on the grill. Simple ingredients, no muss, no fuss and easy clean up. Everyone in my clan loved them. We’re definitely having this again!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Iām whipping up a double batch of these right now as a way to stay ahead of the game on Thanksgiving. This way I can just pop them in the oven alongside the turkey and keep my people from needing to be in the kitchen at lunchtime while Iām trying to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. My tribe loves these sandwiches and eat them as quickly and i can make them, so they will be delighted to see them on the menu again. Thanks!!
-Kristy-
PS. I am not seeing an option to give these a starred review, but if I could, Iād give them 5 stars!
Thank you, Kristy! We haven’t updated this post with a rating system yet. Will let you know!