These Hot Chicken Subs with Bacon will disappear lickety-split at your house. They are so easy to assemble and make a perfect chicken freezer meal.
Stock the freezer with these Chicken Bacon Subs and a batch of Ham and Swiss Sliders or Turkey Pesto Panini and you’ll have a freezer stash of great freezer sandwiches to enjoy for weeks to come.
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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, some baked bacon, and leftover shredded chicken. Hmmm, says I, I wonder what would happen if I put these together?
What happened was awesomeness!
These Hot Chicken Subs with Bacon are one of the biggest hits to cross my kitchen table. A large loaf of garlic bread stuffed with chicken, bacon, and jack cheese? Where can you possibly go wrong? My picky eaters all love it.
Why Make This
The recipe is super versatile. You can switch up the cheese — I love it with pepper jack — or the bread — my kids love individual ciabatta loaves. With the base of chicken in a hot sandwich, you can make all kinds of swaps, based on what you have in the house.
They’re freezer-friendly. The best thing is that you can make several/many/multitudes at one time and stash them in the freezer.
They can be reheated in lots of ways. Reheat in the oven, toaster oven, or even the slow cooker for personal size subs, and you are good to go. Dinner is served in all its gooey, cheesy awesomeness!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to prep these hot chicken sub sandwiches:
large loaf French bread – This recipe makes one large hot chicken sandwich that you can cut into eight portions. Buy the large fluffy loaf of bread from the grocery store, not the thinner style baguette. If you prefer, you can assemble smaller single-serve sandwiches on sub rolls, kaiser buns, or ciabatta rolls. They’d be amazing on Everything Hamburger Buns!
garlic butter – Make your own garlic butter for best flavor and pricing. It’s basically butter and garlic or garlic powder mixed together. Easy peasy.
jack cheese – I love Jack cheese for how well it melts. You can swap in another melting cheese, like mozzarella, pepper jack, or cheddar.
cooked chicken – You’ll shredded or chopped chicken cooked for your recipe. If you’ve got a rotisserie chicken, this recipe will come together super quickly.
bacon – Baked bacon is super simple and easy to pre, but you can cook the bacon however you like, or even buy precooked bacon. (Just be sure not to waste the leftovers; they’re good in a Bacon and Pepper Jack Salad.)
If you love the chicken-bacon combo, be sure to try Creamy Chicken and Bacon Pasta!
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Assemble the sandwich.
Cut the large French loaf lengthwise, leaving a hinge along one long side. Place the loaf open on a large piece of aluminum foil.
Divide the garlic butter evenly between both halves and spread it evenly to coat.
Layer on the cheese on one side of the bread.
Layer the chicken atop the cheese.
Sprinkle the bacon across the top of the chicken. Close the sandwich and wrap it securely in foil. At this point you can bake it right away or freeze it for another time.
2. Bake the sandwich.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sandwich is hot through.
Carefully unwrap the foil and slice the chicken sub into eight portions. Serve hot.
Slow Cooker Option
If you make single-serve sandwiches, they are ideal for reheating in the slow cooker. Set them for 4 hours on LOW, turning them once or twice.
FAQs & Take-out Copycats
While a Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich typically features fried chicken, you can approximate some of the flavors by the following additions: Toss the chicken with 1 tablespoon Frank’s Hot Sauce prior to adding it to the sandwich and add a layer of bread and butter pickles prior to serving. Serve the sandwich alongside Creamy Coleslaw.
The Chicken Bacon Ranch at Subway contains chicken, bacon, and Monterrey Jack cheese as well as ranch dressing. Serve some Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing with the hot chicken subs and you’re good to go. If you like, you can also add shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and sliced onions.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- French loaf – $1.50
- garlic butter – $0.99
- Jack cheese – $1.00
- cooked chicken – $1.50
- bacon – $1.00
Shopping at a mid-range grocer at non-sale prices, you can expect to pay $5.99 or 75 cents per serving. Compared to a take-out sub or hot chicken sandwich, this is a steal! Plus it’s so very yummy!
More Great Sandwiches
Tell us what you think!
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Hot Chicken Sub with Bacon
Equipment
- cutting board
- bread knife
- offset spatula
- small mixing bowl
- heavy duty aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 large French loaf sliced lengthwise or 12 sandwich rolls, split
- ½ 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.1 large French loaf, ½ cup garlic butter, 2 cup chicken (cooked and shredded), 4 slices bacon, 5 oz jack cheese (sliced)
- 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
- You can use large French bread loaves as directed or make single-serve sandwiches on sub rolls or small ciabatta rolls. Wrap each individually in foil.
- You can swap out the jack cheese for pepper jack, mozzarella, or cheddar.
- Got a different type of cooked meat on hand? Use that instead.
- If you want to make a Bacon Ranch Chicken Sub, swap out the garlic butter for ranch dressing.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on June 7, 2010. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Melissa
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!
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad you like them. I need to try other variations. There are so many options.
Jenny
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?
Jessica Fisher
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?
Jenny
Yes I used both the cheese and butter. The bread was a small bun so it wasn’t that. Oh well 🙂 My husband added ranch dressing to his.
Jessica Fisher
I’m sorry to hear that. I’m going to blame the bun. 😉
Gina
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.
Jessica Fisher
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.
Michelle
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!)
Jessica Fisher
I think it depends on the bread. It could get tough. :/
Heidi C
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! 😉
Jessica Fisher
Yeah! So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know.
Liz
Love these subs!!
Cherie
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.
TuxGirl
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… 🙂
Nancy
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.
Jenna
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!!!
🙂
Jenna
@Jenna,
meant to say that I used them to make freezer garlic bread!!!
Greta @ Mom Living Healthy
Thanks for the tip on how to cook bone in chicken. I have some here and have been wondering what to do with it.
Nicole
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?
Jessica Fisher
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.
April Driggers
Do you change the times or temps when reheating the individually wrapped sandwiches from thawed or from frozen?
Jessica Fisher
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.
Angela Shrader
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!
Jessica Fisher
Grilled chicken sounds great. Maybe we should try an outdoors freezer cooking next time. 😉
angie
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!
Jessica Fisher
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.
Candi @ Family stamping and FOOD
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?!
Rebecca Vonada
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!
Hattie
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!
gina
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!
Jessica Fisher
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.
Susie's Homemade
Lookin good:-)
Christi {Jealous Hands}
This would be a huge hit with my family – I think this is what we’ll have tonight!
jacinda walker
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 🙂
Jessica Fisher
@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.