Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

What to cook for dinner? Chicken bacon ranch casserole is the best solution! It has a perfect combination of creamy, cheesy, and smoky flavors to mouthwatering your quality time with your lovely family.

Busy Work, Short Attention to the Crucial

I remember weeks ago, I was handling my busy week with my job and the deadline stuff. I was starving but can not eat because this is an important and urgent task (you can try to imagine how busy it was) I don’t have the energy left and was un-mood to eat. This is not good for my health. Then in the chaotic time, there is a hero behind the cap which is my sister. She came from her work with a happy and excited face. I was not paying attention to her until she said.

“Have you eaten? you sat here from the morning until this evening it is around 8 p.m” said my sister.

I answered her while nodding my head said no “ah I forgot to make dinner, I lose track of time to finish this job, I am exhausting”.

She opened a box and it was two boxes of penne pasta with a load of beef cornet and cheese.

“Take a short break and Let’s eat first, I brought you this. Today I cooked some food with my boss”. That was so fun with her sparkling eyes.

The food smells good and tasty, it was still warm and creamy. I stop doing my job at the first sight when seeing the dish.

That was tasted good, the flavor was so perfect. I still can feel the tastiness of the pasta until the second I write this.

Good Food Lead to Good Mood

I eat the penne pasta with a happy face, such an innocent baby. Then, I feel sorry for my body, you are being forced so much today. While we both eat, I asked my sister how she made this penne pasta because this feels rich creamy, Not to forget I also add some spicy chili powder back then to refresh my mind. She answered me with the recipe and we talking for like two hours about food.

Yes, it is right, sometimes we need to take some short break from the work we do, just to keep back the track with a fresh mind. Good food leads to a good mood, when your stomach feels enough, your mood and mind will be more creative.

As I remember that day, I got inspired for today’s cooking, let’s make a portion of pasta with different meals. I will make chicken bacon ranch casserole. It is better than the pasta I had back then, definitely an upgrade version. The dish looks so complicated meanwhile we still can make it at home and quite easily.

You can still get a good meal on the table, with a few shortcuts to help along the way. Chicken bacon ranch casserole is seriously the perfect comfort food and favorite dinner all of the time! The delicious flavors consist of the ranch dressing, creamy and cheesy, and some smoky flavor from the bacon. Chicken bacon ranch casserole will be your family favorite as well!

What is chicken casserole sauce made of?

In making chicken ranch bacon casserole, generally, alfredo sauce and ranch dressing was used. Ranch dressing fits perfectly with alfredo sauce. So what are those? Ranch dressing is basically an American Salad dressing that consists of salt, buttermilk, garlic, onion, mustard, and herb spices mixed into a sauce. The strong flavor comes from garlic and onion, but this is the secret to make chicken casserole tastes so good. While Alfredo sauce is a rich and creamy white sauce made with garlic, butter, heavy cream, and parmesan.

Even though Alfredo has white creamy color it is different from white sauce because; Alfredo sauce is made with pasta, in the pan, using butter and cheese, It is combined in the pasta or casserole, white sauce is used as a dipping sauce. White sauce is always cooked separately from the pasta. It uses butter, milk, flour, and seasonings.

Are you familiar now with the chicken bacon ranch casserole? Yes? Let’s get jump into the recipe and rock the food!

The Ingredients of Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

• Pasta: usually to make chicken casserole we use short pasta such as fusilli, penne, shell pasta, or rotini. Here I make with Fusili pasta
• Chicken; I use Chicken Breast bite sized both chicken breasts or chicken thighs would be tasty here. For the alternative, you can use boneless chicken or shredded chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken. It is still yummy!
• Bacon; I substitute the bacon with beef bacon here.  If you forget Im not using the “real bacon” because I’m muslim, we are not consumed pork here. Feel free to use bacon to add smoky taste.

• The sauce; the combinantion between Alfredo sauce and ranch dressing. Ranch Dressing; mostly used in salad, this sauce has strong flavour in garlic & onion. And to help thicken and bind all the ingredients together, I added Alfredo sauce, a rich and creamy white sauce made with garlic, butter, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese.
• A mixture of Cheddar Cheese and Mozzarella Cheese for the layering in the pan and adding deliciously cheesy topping and creamy, and melty casserole texture on the top.
• For the seasoning and flavors I use Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Parsley. I recommend using sea salt to make sure the final casserole isn’t too salty.
• Feel free to add some vegetables to it can be broccoli, mushroom or anything you preferred!

How to Make Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

First, we will cook the main ingredients. You can prepare with make the cooked chicken, the pasta and the bacon so the rest of thing to do is bake the casserole. If you have not prepared anything then let’s make one with me!

In the first step adds salt in boiled water, strain the fusilli pasta According to the package direction but no more than 3 minutes, 2 minutes less than recommended. Then, Set aside.

Second, Heat vegetable oil in a pan over high heat then cook chicken breast until no pink color. or golden brown, then transfer it into a bowl. before you cooked you can put some chili and some color seasoning to the chicken in case adding some flavor. After the chicken is cooked, set aside.

Next, move to the beef bacon. If you forget I’m not using the “real bacon” because the majority of my country is Muslim. So I substitute the bacon with beef bacon. Feel free to use bacon to add a smoky taste.

Arrange bacon strips on the pan and cook it over medium heat until the bacon shrink and turns golden brown. Cut the bacon into small pieces, set it aside.

Time for combining the chicken Casserole

After the ingredient is cooked and set aside, now it’s time to Sauté garlic until fragrant, then add the alfredo sauce which contains heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Stir until combined.

Insert the cooked ingredients, add cooked chicken breast, ranch dressing, and fusilli pasta to the pan then stir until mix well.

Next, stirring constantly the mixture of casserole until thickened and creamy Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Transfer the chicken bacon ranch pasta to a 7.5×9.5×2-inch glass rectangular dinnerware. Sprinkle it with bacon then cheddar cheese and in the last layer with mozzarella.  

Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

Before serving, garnish the chicken bacon ranch casserole Sprinkle top with parsley and serve immediately with your favorite side with parsley.

Look at the creamy tasty view! it looks so complicated, while the truth is quite easy to make. right?

Enjoy your most delicious Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole while it is hot and the cheese still melting!

Recipe Notes:

• Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to the dish. I think broccoli and mushroom would be perfect!
• You can give seasoning to the chicken before it fried, you can add some chilli or cajun powder to add spiciness, and it is alright to add some color seasoning to the chicken
• I substitute the bacon with beef bacon here. The bacon position is based on your desire. I reccomend you to put the bacon in the last layering it will make the bacon crispy and little burnt. On contrary, to make the texture creamy, you can put the bacon before the cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
• To save time in the future, It is better to cook the ingredient which is chicken, pasta and the bacon before serving the chicken bacon ranch casserole.
• Chicken breast is perfect to use here. for the alternative, you can use shredded chicken, boneless chicken or leftover rotisserie chicken.

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