This simple dinner comes together with just a few ingredients, but SOOOO much flavor! Chicken, broccoli, bacon, and ranch dressing all meet together for a high five and winning combination for dinner. Simple, and soon to make a permanent place in your dinner rotation!
I am not sure if anyone has noticed, but this blog is significantly lacking in a certain ingredient that begins with “R” and ends with “anch”.
From an early age, I’ve never liked ranch dressing! You must be thinking, “what is wrong with her?” I don’t really have an answer to that, except that maybe it stems from my hatred of mayonnaise. And my love for tangy, vinegar type foods. I am much more of an Italian dressing or vinaigrette kind of gal. But, but…..
I had a reader request. YES!! You can do that, did you know? Send me an email, or an Instagram message/comment, and I am happy to develop some new ideas. Someone asked me for easy dinner recipes that can be used with their favorite ranch dressing: Tessemae’s.
So I set out to my local Earth Fare and found this coveted dressing. All the while I kept thinking that I probably wasn’t going to like it very much. But I am always willing to try!!
To my pleasant surprise, this dressing is FANTASTIC. Like, I went back and already bought a few more jars of it. I first tried it with some fresh cut veggies: broccoli and bell pepper. My kids loved it, I loved it, and I knew immediately we need something Casserole-y with it.
The broccoli part was a no brainer as was the chicken. It seemed like a perfect match! But I also wanted another element of texture and heartiness. So duh, bacon just seemed to fit. This combo worked absolutely perfect together. So much so, that both my husband and son claimed this was a new favorite dinner. And they don’t say that lightly….
The Tessemae’s ranch is very herby in the best possible way. If ranch tasted like this as a kid, I might have changed my mind about it. It goes without saying that you can use your own personal favorite ranch dressing, or maybe a homemade version.
But the absolute best part of this dish, is you really only need 4 ingredients: ranch, chicken, broccoli, and bacon. You will need to cook the bacon and chicken first, but after that, we dump it all together and let the oven do the work. You can easily use pre-cooked chicken like a rotisserie, too!
The leftovers are tasty too!
Enjoy!
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Bacon Ranch Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon*
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken**
- 2 heads broccoli, about 4 cups chopped
- 3/4 cup Ranch Dressing
- 3 tbsp diced green onion (optional)
- salt to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large pan, cook the bacon to desired crispiness, about 3-5 minutes per side. Set aside. Once cooled, cut or crumble into small pieces.
Grease a 9x13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Toss in broccoli and chicken, then completely coat the chicken and broccoli with ranch dressing. Top with crumbled bacon. Transfer to the oven.
Bake for 15 minutes, then bump up the temperature to 375 degrees. Continue to cook for another 12-15 minutes, or until broccoli is crisp and slightly tender.
Remove from oven. Top with chopped green onion, if using, and salt to taste. Serve as is, or on top of a bed of rice or cauliflower rice.
Recipe Notes
*Use a nitrate free bacon (without sugar for Paleo and Whole30). My favorite brand is Pederson's Farm.
**You can use raw chicken breast, approximately 1.25 lbs. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees before shredding chicken.
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