Panera’s Frontega Chicken Panini, My Way
July 14, 2009 | Print | E-mail | Filed under bread, cheese, chicken, grilled
I can’t help myself; I love Panera. Pretty much every time I go in, I order their broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl. One of the guys even knows me, and my order (scary). Once in a while I want something a little different though, so I’ll order their Frontega Chicken panini, which is also very good. Since I still had half a batch of olive oil dough left after making grilled cheese on focaccia last week, I decided to try to go on another adventure in reverse food engineering. I felt that the resulting panini was pretty close to the original – if not better simply because the focaccia is fresh. For all you Panera lovers out there, this one is for you!
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked
- 1 tomato
- 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 Tbsp canned green chili peppers
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Basil
First, make the focaccia. Make sure you have a broiling pan in the oven, and then preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll the olive oil dough out on it, and sprinkle it with basil and olive oil. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Use your fingers to make imprints into the dough, and then place it in the oven. Pour 1 cup of water into your broiling pan and bake for about 25 minutes. Let it cool before slicing.
Chop up the red onion and tomato into bite-size chunks.
Now, make the spicy mayo. Combine the mayonnaise, chilies, red pepper, black pepper, salt, and lime juice.
Give it a good stir. If it’s not spicy enough, add a bit more red pepper.
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, and then shred the pieces using two forks.
Slice up the focaccia into triangles.
To assemble the panini, spread the spicy mayo on a slice, then pile on the red pepper, tomato, chicken, and mozzarella cheese.
Top with the other slice and then grill.
Oh, yes. This is definitely going into our normal meal rotation!
July 14th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Oh my God! I want that , it looks soooooooooo tempting and mouth watering
July 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hear about the wonders of Panera’s broccoli and cheese soup! But I think their sandwiches wouldn’t hold a candle to what you made!
July 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
awesome…i LOVE Panera too! Yours looks better than theirs!
July 16th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Oh, yum! I LOVE Panera, too….french onion soup in a bread bowl for me. And if they are OUT of bread bowls…don’t even get me started!
Can’t wait to try this!
July 17th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
All we can say is yum after looking at this. Panera is good, but when you can make it at home, it’s going to be better. Guaranteed!
November 14th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Your blog is awesome! I’ve been scrolling through your recipes, and they look fabulous.
December 9th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Ok…I’m so glad I just found this. This is my favorite Panera sandwich as well! I’m SO going to have to try this…and soon!!
Thanks for sharing!
Willa