Who doesn’t love a good Hot Pocket? They’re a great go-to lunch and B even likes them for breakfast (not the breakfast ones, the regular ones). When he was working in Houston, he found a store that makes a homemade fried version that he absolutely fell in love with and stopped every day on the way to work to get one. Oh no, he was NOT going to love someone else’s food more than mine so I had to figure out how to make this happen. That’s where this recipe for a (much lower in sodium than the ones he got at the store) Fried BBQ Chicken and Cheese Hot Pocket was born and it’s a real keeper.
There’s a whole lot of beauty to this recipe that I need to share. 1) You can use canned crescent rolls for the shell. 2) You can use up that leftover baked or grilled chicken to make these. 3) You only fry them for about 1 minute because they are pre-baked so that lowers the fat. 4) Assembly takes no time at all. 5) Your family will love these more than the “real” ones!
I always keep shredded BBQ Chicken in the freezer to use in recipes throughout the week, but you can pull this together pretty quickly without that if you have some leftover chicken. Just shred it and mix it with some low sodium BBQ Sauce, grab a can of crescent rolls, some waxed paper, your favorite cheese, and some avocado oil, and you’re ready to assemble.
Simply lay out your waxed paper, spread out a little avocado oil (any oil will do, this is just my preference), roll out 2 of the crescent roll pieces together, place a generous amount of your BBQ chicken in the middle, and top it with your favorite cheese.
Close it up like a pie trying to make sure that you don’t have gaps in the dough (see above right, that’s not cool) and place it in your favorite baking dish while you preheat your oven to 375º.
Pre-bake your Hot Pockets for 10 minutes in the oven until they’re just barely starting to brown.
Then simply fry them in your deep fryer at 300º for about 1 minute, until golden brown. You can use any fillings you’d like including ham, turkey, pepperoni…what ever suits your fancy.
- 1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 cups Shredded BBQ Chicken
- 2 slices Colby Jack Cheese
- Brush avocado oil on waxed paper, then roll the crescent rolls out and split into 2 equal pieces.
- Press crescent roll pieces until they form a rectangle with no holes in them, making sure to press the seams to each other tightly.
- Place 1 cup of shredded BBQ chicken on each of your crescent roll rectangles on just the lower side.
- Pull upper side of rectangle over the meat and close up tightly around all of the edges.
- In a 375º preheated oven, bake meat pockets for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
- Fry the meat pockets in the deep fryer at 300º for about a minute, until golden brown.
- Pat with a paper towel prior to serving.
These are great to make in batches because they freeze well in zipper bags so that you can take them out and heat them up for a homemade and fulfilling lunch without cooking every day. I love semi-homemade recipes that make my days easier and that’s why I always keep a couple of cans of crescent rolls in the refrigerator. This recipe works great for breakfast too if you use eggs, bacon, and cheese. It’s like cheating or something, but it’s a recipe I turn to often to serve my family delicious, homemade breakfasts and lunches. It’s a win all the way around!
[…] up with some tasty chips and a nice, cold glass of sweet tea. When we came across a recipe for Fried BBQ Chicken and Cheese Copycat Hot Pockets® that was lower in sodium, we couldn’t wait to give it a try. These flavorful chicken and […]