It’s no secret that Haggis is basically the national food of Scotland.
However, you might be unprepared for how much it actually appears on restaurant menus across the country and how many people enjoy it at home too.
The most classic Haggis dish is Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties, which is Haggis served with potatoes and Swede/Turnip but there are definitely other more adventurous uses of this savoury pudding.
We even have a post with 33 haggis recipe ideas!
One favourite is Haggis Bon Bons, which are little balls of haggis that are crumbed and fried and usually served with some sort of whisky dipping sauce. (See our recipe here!)
However, another is Chicken Balmoral, which is chicken stuffed with haggis and then wrapped in bacon. It can be served with whatever vegetables you like but is usually liberally covered in a whisky cream sauce.
We’ve made a lot of sweet recipes on Scottish Scran since we started, other than Cullen Skink and Tattie Scones, so we decided it was about time to showcase some more of Scotland’s best savoury dishes! And we’re starting with Chicken Balmoral, or chicken stuffed with haggis.
Our Balmoral Chicken recipe is fairly standard, as there’s not a lot of variation to be had, but we also made our own whisky sauce recipe to go along with it (which you can find here) and have given you some options for what vegetables you might want to serve it with too.
Scroll to the end or use the table of contents to be taken straight to the Printable Recipe Card.
What is Balmoral Chicken?
Chicken Balmoral, Balmoral Chicken, or even Highland Chicken. They’re all the same! To make the dish a chicken breast is slit open on one side and stuffed with haggis, then wrapped in bacon and lightly fried before being finished off in the oven.
We can’t find any history to this dish, and it’s likely that it’s a more recent addition to the Scottish kitchen.
The reason for the name is also unclear, although “Balmoral” undoubtedly refers to the estate owned by the Queen and used as her Scottish holiday home.
Balmoral Chicken can be used as a substitute recipe for a Burn’s Supper if you still want to celebrate Robert Burns and the Haggis, but want to serve something a little different than the traditional Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties.
Unfortunately (we think!), haggis has been banned from being imported to the USA since 1971. While this means that making a Chicken Balmoral with real haggis isn’t possible, you can definitely make a vegetarian haggis substitute to use instead. Check out our veggie haggis recipe here!
Ingredients for this Balmoral Chicken Recipe
Serves 2
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 70-100g haggis, depending on the size of the chicken breasts
- 4 rashers of bacon
- Vegetables of your choice to serve with – we had neeps and tatties!
- Whisky Sauce (see recipe here)
How to make Balmoral Chicken – Step by step method
This recipe serves two people, but you can easily double for four or more of course.
We served it with mashed neeps and tatties, which is Swedish turnip and potatoes, as well as some broccoli. You can choose whatever you like to serve with it!
Turn the oven on to 200C (400F).
At this point, it depends on the haggis you have. Commercially sold haggis is generally served already cooked, so it just needs to be reheated to piping hot. This will happen when you cook the chicken, so you can go ahead and stuff the chicken as below.
If you’ve bought haggis from a butcher, it may not be cooked, so ask when you buy it. You’ll want to cook it first, then allow it to cool enough to stuff the chicken breasts.
We find it easiest to buy a small haggis, open it, and cook only what we need, leaving the rest for another meal or freezing it.
Take the chicken breasts and make a slit in the side at the largest point, slicing through until about 1cm is left on the opposite side.
Take the cooked haggis and stuff half into each chicken breast. You don’t want them to be too full, as the chicken should basically seal back around the haggis to form a circle of chicken with the haggis at the centre.
Lay the bacon out and then place the chicken breast on one end, rolling it to cover the centre and seal the slit. Ideally, the ends of the bacon will be on the underside of the chicken. If you really need to you can secure it with a toothpick but it should stick fairly well to the chicken itself.
Fry the wrapped chicken breasts so that the bacon browns a little and starts to crisp a bit.
Put them into a pan or on a baking tray and bake in the oven for around 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts. The juices should run clear when you insert a sharp knife.
Meanwhile, cook any accompanying vegetables and the whisky sauce (check out our recipe here).
To serve, slice the chicken breast in half so you can see the haggis inside, place on the plate with the vegetables and liberally pour over whisky sauce!
Recipe Variations
As mentioned, you could definitely make this recipe with vegetarian haggis if you don’t have access to the real thing. Many people actually prefer vegetarian haggis too!
There are lots of different recipes that it is usually made of lentils or split peas and the same sort of herbs and spices as haggis itself – see ours here.
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Printable Balmoral Chicken – Chicken Stuffed with Haggis Recipe Card
Balmoral Chicken Recipe: Chicken Stuffed with Haggis
Balmoral Chicken is chicken stuffed with haggis and wrapped in bacon. It's a great way to serve haggis, especially for those who might be a little unsure about it! This recipe can be served alongside whatever vegetables you like, but we recommend you also make our whisky sauce to accompany it too.
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 70g-100g haggis, depending on the size of the chicken breasts
- 4 rashers of bacon
- Vegetables of your choice to serve with
- Whisky Sauce
Instructions
- Turn the oven on to 200C (400F)
- See notes regarding haggis*
- Take the chicken breasts and make a slit in the side at the largest point to form a pocket. About 1-1.5cm should remain unsliced on the opposite side.
- Take the cooked haggis and stuff into each chicken breast. You don’t want them to be too full, as the chicken should basically seal back around the haggis to form a circle of chicken with the haggis at the centre.
- Lay the bacon out and then place the chicken breast on one end, rolling it to cover the centre and seal the slit. Ideally, the ends of the bacon will be on the underside of the chicken. If you really need to you can secure it with a toothpick but it should stick fairly well to the chicken itself.
- Fry the wrapped chicken breasts so that the bacon browns a little and starts to crisp.
- Put them into a pan or on a baking tray and bake in the oven for around 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts. The juices should run clear when you insert a sharp knife.
- Meanwhile, cook any accompanying vegetables and the whisky sauce (check out our recipe here).
- To serve, slice the chicken breast in half so you can see the haggis inside, place on the plate with the vegetables and liberally pour over whisky sauce!
Notes
*At this point, it depends on the haggis you have. Commercially sold haggis are generally served already cooked; they just need to be reheated to piping hot. This will happen when you cook the chicken, so you can go ahead and stuff the chicken as below.
If you've bought haggis from a butcher, they may not be cooked, so ask when you buy them. You'll want to cook it first, then allow it to cool enough to stuff the chicken breasts.
We find it easiest to buy a small haggis, open it, and cook only what we need, leaving the rest for another meal or freezing it.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 695Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 261mgSodium: 1182mgCarbohydrates: 13gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 76g
The nutritional data in this recipe is provided by a third party and these values are automatically calculated and offered for guidance only. Their accuracy is not guaranteed.
Other Haggis Recipes:
- How to Make a Haggis, Neeps and Tatties Stack
- Delicious Creamy Haggis Pasta Recipe
- Easy Haggis Sausage Rolls Recipe
- Tasty Haggis and Cheese Turnovers Recipe
- Easy & Tasty Haggis Bon Bons Recipe
- Super Easy Haggis Burger Recipe
- Tasty Vegetarian Haggis Recipe
- Recipes for Haggis: 32 Ideas for Using Haggis
- Whisky Sauce for Haggis
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Made this for dinner with the Whiskey Sauce and it was amazing!
We’re so glad you liked it!!! You’ve made our day!
Phil & Sonja
I would like to make this for my family on Christmas day as part of our meal. Can I make ahead of time and maybe freeze till the big day?
Hi Sally. Hmmm tough question. We’re honestly not sure if it’s just the chicken and haggis then there should be no reason not to but it’s not something we’ve ever tried, it gets eaten too quickly in our house!
Good recipe. Straight forward and delicious. I don’t believe for a minute that many people prefer vegetarian haggis though. Except vegetarians, but that’s more a necessity. But I applaud your assuaging of the American people 😉
There are a lot of vegetarians out there David! 😉
Going to make this but why do you heat the haggis before stuffing? Haggis is already cooked?
I suppose you don’t have to but it’s just to ensure it get’s piping hot!
I think the name should be standardised as Chicken Balmoral.
We’ll let you start that online petition! 😂
We added both titles because that’s what people search for online.
Most imported haggis has lung in it. It’s illegal to use lung as human food here in the United States. I occasionally make a sort of pot-haggis with liver, heart, salt pork, and steel-cut oats. Not quite the real thing but palatable.
Your recipe calls for the haggis to be cooked, cooled and then used to stuff the chicken before cooking that.
My haggis, a Macsween, states very clearly DO NOT REHEAT.
This contradicts your recipe
Please help a confused sassanach trying to celebrate St Andrew’s Day
Linda vr
Hi Linda, no problem, just follow those instructions and stuff it straight from the packet. You’ll just want to make sure that you cook the chicken and haggis all the way through. We can amend the recipe to say this. You can use a meat thermometer and pierce through to the haggis and check it’s reached at least 74 degrees celcius.