Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches – Emily Bites

These Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches are easy to make at home, but taste like they came from a restaurant! Juicy chicken breasts in a flavorful marinade covered with fresh bruschetta topping, warm Mozzarella cheese, and a tangy Balsamic drizzle, all nestled within a crispy toasted ciabatta roll. It’s perfection! A pizza and sub shop near me has a similar bruschetta chicken sub on their menu, and it’s so good I was inspired to make my own version at home. I actually like these Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches even better! Plus, one delicious and satisfying sandwich is just 449 calories or 7 WW Points on the Weight Watchers program. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here.

Calculating the Marinade

If you’re wondering how I calculate the WW Points and nutrition information for the marinade used in this recipe, I’m happy to fill you in! Since the majority of the marinade is discarded, it wouldn’t make sense to use the full amount of the ingredients used when calculating. To solve this, I weighed the marinade before and after the chicken was in it (I marinated for 5-6 hours) and about 1/6^th of the marinade was absorbed. Consequently, I used roughly 1/6^th the amount of all the marinade ingredients when calculating the nutrition information and WW Points.

Recipe Notes

• Cooking Method: I baked the chicken, which worked great. The chicken came out perfect! Alternatively, if you would prefer to grill the chicken, you could definitely do that instead. You could toast the rolls on the grill as well!
• Mozzarella: Fresh Mozzarella cheese works best in this recipe! I used Bel Gioioso Fresh Mozzarella Pearls, which are little balls of fresh mozzarella. I’ve seen these in a few different types of packaging in the cheese section of all my local grocery stores. If you’re unable to find the pearls, you can definitely just buy a ball of fresh Mozzarella and cut it into small chunks.
• Balsamic Glaze: Balsamic glaze is a reduction of balsamic vinegar and is thicker and sweeter than just using the vinegar. Lots of brands sell a version of pre-made balsamic glaze. I’ve used Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Delallo, Gia Russa, and many other brands. You should be able to find it in most grocery stores!
• Tomatoes: I used cherry tomatoes in my bruschetta topping because they’re easy to chop up and don’t make it too wet. I also love the flavor in this context. You could alternatively use grape tomatoes or plum tomatoes!
• Ciabatta Rolls: These Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches taste so good on ciabatta. It just works so well together. I buy the four-pack of ciabatta rolls at Trader Joe’s (which freeze well, by the way), but you can get similar ciabatta rolls elsewhere. If you can’t find ciabatta as rolls you could always buy a loaf of ciabatta and cut it into roll-sized squares!
• Chicken Cutlets: Thin chicken cutlets are sold in the meat section of most grocery stores, so definitely feel free to just grab those for this recipe. I usually buy big bulk packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at my grocery store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down into the shapes and sizes I use frequently in recipes. It’s cheaper to buy the breasts in bulk and since I use chicken breasts a lot in my recipes it makes sense for me! I generally cut the big chicken breasts widthwise into cutlets (usually 4 oz – 6 oz each) like the ones used in this recipe. Any chicken that is cut off to make those I then cut into small chunks to make chicken bites. It’s easy to weigh out 1 lb of chicken chunks and some 4, 5, or 6 oz cutlets and freeze them for later in quart size freezer bags. That way, I always have cutlets and chicken chunks on hand to use in my recipes! I recommend cutting the chicken down using kitchen shears like these (affiliate link) rather than a knife, it just works more quickly and easily, in my opinion.

More Tasty Lightened Up Chicken Recipes:

Looking for more tasty, lightened up recipes using chicken breasts? Check out my Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches, Spicy Chicken Sandwiches, Crispy Pickle-Brined Chicken Sandwiches, Air Fryer Chicken Tenders, Cheesy Garden Vegetable Baked Chicken, Barbecue Rubbed Chicken Bites, Mexican Street Corn Chicken, Cheesy Broccoli Stuffed Chicken, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, Crispy Chicken Parmesan, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Blackened Chicken Bites, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Barbecue Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and many more in the Chicken section of my recipe index!

Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Minimum Marinade Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Yield: 4 sandwiches

These flavorful restaurant-quality Bruschetta Chicken Sandwiches are easy to make at home!

For the Chicken Marinade

• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 (5 oz each) thin uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets

For the Sandwiches

• 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons sliced fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• ½ teaspoon olive oil
• 4 ciabatta rolls or other crusty sandwich rolls, sliced in half to make a top and bottom (I used Trader Joe’s Ciabatta Rolls)
• 2 oz fresh Mozzarella pearls or chopped fresh Mozzarella, (I use Bel Gioioso Fresh Mozzarella Pearls)
• 2 teaspoons store-bought Balsamic glaze

• To make the marinade, combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in a dish and stir until combined. Place the chicken breasts in a zip-top gallon bag and pour the marinade over the top. Seal the bag, removing any excess air, and toss/massage the contents until the chicken breasts are coated in marinade. Place the bag in the fridge and allow the chicken to marinate for at least one hour/up to 12 hours.

• When the chicken is finished marinating and you’re ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove each chicken cutlet from the marinade, allowing any excess to drip off, and then transfer them to the baking sheet. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 15-16 minutes.

• While the chicken is cooking, combine the chopped tomatoes, basil, red onion, garlic, and ½ teaspoon of olive oil in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

• When the chicken is finished cooking, remove the cooked cutlets to a side plate and remove the foil from the pan, along with any juices released by the chicken. Cover the baking sheet with a fresh sheet of aluminum foil. Place the split rolls on the pan and lightly mist the cut sides with cooking spray. Keep the bottoms of the rolls cut-side-up while turning the tops of the rolls cut-side-down. Bake for 4-5 minutes to lightly toast.

• Remove from the oven and top the bottom of each roll with a chicken cutlet, ¼ cup bruschetta topping, ½ ounce of mozzarella pearls, and ½ teaspoon drizzle of balsamic glaze. Return to oven and bake for another 2-3 minutes to warm the toppings. When finished, place the tops of the rolls on top of each sandwich and serve.

To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here!
WW Points per sandwich: 7 (Points calculated using the recipe builder in the WW app)
Nutrition Information per sandwich
449 calories, 44 g carbs, 2 g sugar, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 42 g protein, 2 g fiber, 571 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com)
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
11 per sandwich (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition information)

Author: Emily Bites

Course: Sandwich

Cuisine: American, Italian