As I was rifling through the refrigerator gathering the ingredients for today’s recipe, I noticed that half of what I had purchased was missing. I bet you could understand my confusion as I dug through my fridge searching for the chicken and cilantro that I was positive I bought. I distinctively remember paying for the ingredients, but something about my memory didn’t seem quite right. Then I figured it out.
Not only do I dream about recipes, I’ve apparently started doing my grocery shopping while I sleep too.
I have to admit, it was pretty embarrassing.
After an actual trip to the grocery store, I finally had the ingredients for this Barbecue Chicken Crescent Roll Ring. This recipe is great for a quick lunch or festive enough for a party. This crescent roll ring reminds me of a barbecue chicken pizza, my favorite type of pizza. It’s packed with delicious shredded chicken smothered in a spicy barbecue sauce, bacon, red onions, and ooey gooey melted cheese. And if that wasn’t enough, I added a light drizzle of extra barbecue sauce over the top with a bowl of blue cheese dressing for dipping.
This crescent roll ring is super-easy to make. Start by placing a drinking glass in the center of a silicone baking mat. Then, arrange the crescent roll triangles around the drinking glass, overlapping them. As you can see from the pictures below, quite a bit of the crescent dough is overlapped to create a tight ring. If you space them out, you’ll end up with lots of filling visible between the slices.
If you feel like the crescent dough is too thick in some places, just tear off some of the dough.
After overlapping the slices, it’s time to add the filling. I first cooked the chicken in a slow cooker with Sweet Baby Ray’s sweet & spicy barbecue sauce, then shredded it and turned off the heat. After the shredded chicken cooled a bit, I transferred it to a bowl and placed it in the refrigerator for a few hours. Using a cold filling will allow the crescent roll ring to hold its shape much better. Best of all, this means that the filling can be made a day in advance.
After spooning the cold filling over the dough, fold the crescent dough triangles over the filling and tuck the ends under to secure it. That’s it!
I have a bit of a confession. I nearly made a big mistake when posting this recipe. However, I didn’t notice my mistake until my next trip to the grocery store. I was picking up cream cheese in the refrigerated section when I spotted the crescent rolls out of the corner of my eye. Until then, I never really thought about the number of crescent roll varieties. That’s when this recipe came to mind.
Which crescent roll variety had I used? Oops.
As someone who has never really used crescent rolls before, I was a little lost. However, the cans of “Big and Flaky” caught my eye. I was 75% sure that was the kind I used, but not totally sure. So I picked up a few different varieties (including “Original”) and set out to re-test this recipe.
While I was anyway re-testing the recipe, I also decided to skip the refrigeration step to see if the ring would hold up.
It did not.
Instead of a beautiful symmetrical ring, it was more of a disk. A messy disk.
As you can see from my Instagram post, I used the Big and Flaky crescent dough on the left and the Original variety on the right. The Big and Flaky dough did a better job of covering the filling, but the main problem was using hot shredded chicken. After spooning the chicken onto the raw dough, I immediately noticed that some of the juices were pooling on the baking mat. After folding the crescent dough triangles over the filling, it was nearly impossible to tuck the tips under the bottom layer of dough to seal the ring.
However, even though the ring was not as pretty when it came out of the oven, it still tasted just as good!
Barbecue Chicken Crescent Roll Ring
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup barbecue sauce, plus additional for serving
- 2 tsp olive oil
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 8 slices bacon, cut into lardons
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cans crescent rolls (I prefer the "Big and Flaky" variety)
- 6 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker and pour one cup of the barbecue sauce on top. Toss the chicken in the sauce to coat the chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken is fully cooked and shreds easily.
- Once the chicken is fully cooked, shred the meat with two forks or by using a stand mixer. Return the shredded chicken back to the slow cooker to soak up additional barbecue sauce and turn the heat off. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Allow the chicken to soak up the sauce while cooling, then transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (*see note below).
- About 20 minutes before removing the shredded chicken from the fridge, prepare the onions and bacon. In a medium cast iron skillet, heat 2 tsp of olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sliced onion and cook until just softened, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the onions to a plate and set aside.
- Return the skillet to the stove over medium heat. Add the bacon lardons and cook until the bacon is crispy, about 15 minutes. Add the bacon and onions to the shredded chicken and stir.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place a silicone baking mat onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place an overturned drinking glass onto the center of the baking mat. Arrange crescent roll triangles around the drinking glass, overlapping the edges (pictured above).Spoon the cold shredded chicken mixture onto the crescent roll portion closest to the drinking glass. Place the sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the chicken mixture, then remove the drinking glass.
- Fold the crescent roll triangles over the filling, tucking the tips under the bottom layer of dough to secure it.
- Bake the crescent roll ring for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is thoroughly baked and golden brown. Remove the ring from the oven and let cool on the baking mat for 5 minutes before serving.
