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 – 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.
Chicken Bacon Subs for the Freezer
Ingredients
- 1 large French loaf sliced lengthwise or 12 sandwich rolls, split
- 1/2 cup garlic butter
- 2 cup chicken (cooked and shredded)
- 4 slices bacon chopped and cooked crisp
- 5 oz jack cheese (sliced)
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Are you looking for more good cheap eats?
- grab one of my deluxe meal plans
- read through the recipe archives
- check out my cookbooks
- subscribe to my weekly newsletter
- check out my recipes on Life as Mom
- follow my Good Cheap Eats pinboard on Pinterest
- subscribe to the Good Cheap Eats YouTube channel
Originally published June 7, 2010. Updated September 17, 2016.
A
Delicious! I always make on homemade rolls, when we have that rare occurrence of leftover cooked chicken and leftover bacon (only because I stealthily hide it). Thumbs up from kids and husband.
Thanks so much!
Kristy/Mama K MeYeR
I’m 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 I’m 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, I’d give them 5 stars!
Jessica Fisher
Thank you, Kristy! We haven’t updated this post with a rating system yet. Will let you know!
Vanessa B
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!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you enjoyed them!
Cassi Bradley
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?
Jessica Fisher
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.
gina
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!
Jessica Fisher
Yep! The sky is the limit!
Carolyn
When you reheat in the slow cooker do you leave them wrapped in foil?
Carolyn
Oops, just read a previous response to the same question. Leave em wrapped, good to know. Thanks
Kevin
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!
Jessica Fisher
so glad you liked them!
Janice MacRossin
In.the crock pot to reheat, do you unwrap them?
Jessica Fisher
No, I leave them wrapped. Otherwise the garlic butter may drip out.
Rachel Lackie
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.
Jessica Fisher
So glad you like the recipe!
Diana
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 🙂
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!
Jessica Fisher
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.
Amy McConnell
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!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you love them as much as we do. 🙂
susanne
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!!
Jessica Fisher
I’m going to reheat mine in the slow cooker. Haven’t updated the post yet until I know it works. 🙂
Dawn
How long do you reheat them in the crockpot?
Jessica Fisher
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.
Carla
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!
Jessica Fisher
Mixing it all sounds brilliant. You could mix in cheese that way, too. Yum!