I wish we lived closer to a Panera so we could have it more often. A fontega chicken or the chipotle chicken would be my panini of choice. To spice up our lunch lives, I thought about making this Panera copycat of their chipotle chicken panini!
When we were in Manhattan, a Panera was really close. We’d end up grabbing some on the way home from work or after long walks through Central Park. I’m always team apple vs. team bread. A half panini and mac and cheese would be my winter go-to selection, as long as I could forget about the calories and sodium.
Making the Chipotle Chicken Panini
We don’t own a panini press (but I hear this one is great). Would I like one? Sure, but I have too many gadgets. Then Brian, how did you get those beautiful grill lines? Let me tell you, I used a cast iron grill pan and a tea kettle. You’d put the sandwich down on the grill pan and place a tea kettle filled with water on top. Boom. Don’t have either? That’s ok! Just use a pan, like a skillet, and a heavy object, like a sauce pan with water. This is a needs supervision type of situation. My kettle has fallen over and taken down a sandwich once…or twice. It works much better when you have two sandwiches.
You can prep the chicken any number of ways. But if you have the time, leave the chicken in a marinade for some time. I used this marinade from Damn Delicious. We’ve made this chicken a few different ways, and this time, we marinaded the chicken – delicious!
Is this a quick and easy lunch? It could be, but it’s a lot to do in one day. Worth it, but a lot. You’ll want to prep, chop, and bake everything ahead of time. Slice the tomatoes, onion, cook the bacon (we use turkey bacon), and make the chipotle-mayo. Ideally, make this the day beforehand (when you make the marinade for the chicken).
Chicken Make the marinade according to Damn Delicious. Set aside overnight. When ready to cook, take the chicken-in-marinade out of the fridge to get to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Drizzle olive oil in a baking dish. Place chicken (out of the bag of however you stored the chicken) in the baking dish. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and cover lightly with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes. Slice chicken and set aside. Chipotle Mayo If you can, make this ahead of time, too. Add all ingredients to a small bowl. Mix until well combined. Set aside. Sandwich Once everything is chopped, sliced, and cooked, time to make the sandwich. Preheat a cast iron grill pan to medium heat (or panini press if you have one). Lay two slices of bread down (this will be the inside of the sandwich, so line up your slices accordingly). Spread a cereal spoon of chipotle mayo on each slice of bread. Be generous, but not gloppy. On one slice, add bacon then chicken. Top with cheese (we had tiny bread, so we ended up halving our slices). Then red onion, avocado, tomato, and the other slice of cheese. Top with the other slice of bread (chipotle mayo touching the cheese). Now you're staring at a clean side of bread. Spread a thin layer of butter over the top of the bread. Place the buttered side down in the pan (this will be a circus act of flipping, so hold the sandwich tight!). Add a weighted object on top of the sandwich and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown (think grilled cheese colors). Butter the top of the sandwich before flipping over and repeat the last step. Remove from the pan and slice the sandwich in half. Repeat all these steps with the other three sandwiches! Prep as much as you can!Chipotle Chicken Panini
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