One Pot Chicken Ranch Pasta
This cheesy baked pasta comes together so effortlessly in ONE PAN, topped with crisp bacon. It just doesn’t get any better!
I hope you are all staying cool by the pool this weekend.
Butters and I will either be home, stuffing our faces with this epic pasta here, or we’ll be by the pool, also stuffing our faces with this.
What? Pastas, bikinis, pools and margaritas. Aren’t they supposed to go together?
I mean, let’s be real here, you guys. With this Ranch cheesy goodness and extra topped bacon, it’s welcome anywhere.
One Pot Chicken Ranch Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup milk, or more, as needed
- 1 ½ cups leftover diced rotisserie chicken
- 8 ounces rotini pasta
- 1 1-ounce package Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Drain excess fat; reserving 1 tablespoon in the skillet. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth, milk, chicken, pasta and Ranch Seasoning; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is cooked through, about 15-16 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Remove from heat and top with cheese. Cover until cheese has melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bacon and parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Great this is such an easy recipe. It taste really good when you use the spicy ranch seasoning.
We love this.
SO delicious! My husband can’t wait for he to make this again. This will definitely be a dish on our weekly menu. Thank you for your easy one pot recipes!!
The pasta was a little gummy (maybe because I used a creuset instead of a skillet. The taste was pretty good though. I also used some fresh broccoli florets and a small amount of diced fresh tomatoes.
It was great? Not too heavy. I added a bag of steamed broccoli, drained before the cheese! Yum.
We love this recipe and it’s now my daughters favorite meal. It’s quick and easy . I also have made it without the chicken as a side dish, it’s like an awesome Pasta Roni.
This is really delicious. I followed the recipe as written and the skillet was wiped absolutely clean. I love to make these one-pot pasta meals when my 2 teenager boys have conflicting practices and they need a good meal ready at different times. I have it ready on the stove and they serve themselves until it’s gone. They always love them. Cooking the pasta this way makes it irresistible! I’ll add diced broccoli next time for some green. Thank you and keep these one-pot pastas coming!!
While I did enjoy this recipe I wouldn’t call it “one pot” anything considering it requires about 2 pots and a baking dish. It definitely just need to be called a “casserole.”
??? It’s all done in one skillet.
How?? It’s literally all cooked in the same pot if you follow the directions..
I’m making this tonight, looks great but I don’t think the nutritional information is correct. One packet of Ranch dressing seasoning has 2160 mg of sodium. That would be 540 mg for four servings alone. That’s not even adding in the other ingredients. Just wanted to point this out for anyone who is on a sodium limited diet.
By my calculations it’s more like 1155 mg of sodium per serving for four servings.
Can this be made ahead and frozen ?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I used Gluten Free penne which comes in 12 oz box. I deglazed the pan with dry sherry after I cooked the garlic–just a splash of sherry. I used 2 1/2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups milk. The last minute of cooking I added three handfuls of baby spinach. Super yummy!
This was a winner at my dinner table. I added in mushrooms, and a half a cup of heavy cream, soo good.
It’s high time I gave a review of this easy and delicious recipe! Been making it for a year now and everyone who eats it, loves it. I like the “look” with bow-tie pasta. I really look forward to your recipes and have pinned many. Thanks!
could use ground beef or ground pork in this recipe instead
Yes, of course.
I’m always hesitant to try one-pan meals because I’m afraid it’ll just turn out with just one texture and flavour. This one was great! I made it just as listed and everyone liked it, including my picky toddlers. Super easy and with great flavours and textures. Thanks!!
I know you made this a while ago, but just wanted to thank you for this recipe which is a nice change from my meat & veggies/salads riff, and to thank you your blog in general. The half-hour easy prep stuff you do has been reliably delicious, gets devoured & allows us to eat together when week nights get crazy. I have you to thank for helping me get everyone together even when I’m not together!!
Would this recipe work in the oven??? Any suggestions?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Just tried this one pan dish very good liked by all.
You just made my day! Loooove these.
Genius!!!!! I am so making these this week!
Great simple recipe! I didn’t have bacon or rotisserie chicken so I used bacon bits and cooked some chicken cubes. This tasted great and was super quick to make. Next time I will add some broccoli to get a serving of veggies. Thanks for sharing this! 🙂
This is really good and my family all enjoyed it. I have made it twice and both times I forgot that you don’t cook the pasta ahead of time, but you cook it in the sauce. !!! My bad for not reading thoroughly. It would be a great meal for guests.
I have no luck with recipes like this. My pasta always seems to turn out gummy and/or undercooked. I am going to try this one again and cook the noodles separately because the flavor is so delicious!
I have everythjng but the ranch mix? Can I use skmethj g else or skip that ingridient?
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
GREAT recipe–thank you!! It was a perfect Friday comfort meal! I used about a cup of homemade ranch dressing on hand, omitted the chicken broth, but did add the milk. (Out of habit, I cooked my pasta separate.) I sauteed my chicken in the same pan as my bacon, so once everything was done and I added the ranch and milk, the pan deglazed and all the flavors combined for an awesome tasting sauce! My young kids liked it, so that was a plus! I hope to try more of recipes from your blog!
Another kid pleaser in this household! Thank you Chungah! I didn’t change a thing (never do the first time) but I did use pennette instead of rotini…now I’m wondering if some crumbled Italian sausage would work 🙂
Yes, absolutely. What a great idea!
How would this work if I just used actual ranch instead of the packet of ranch mix? I have none and have already started cooking the bacon 🙁
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
This seems absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing, miam ! 🙂
Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner! I doubled the bacon and stirred in the cheese. Truly a great recipe. Thank you 🙂
What an easy recipe! Served with a side of steamed broccoli and my family gobbled it up. Thanks!
In my house, at this point in my life with three teenaged sons, there is no such thing as leftover ANYTHING! My boys are remorseless eating machines…so with that being said, I fried my bacon and then added a chicken breast to the bacon fat and cooked that up with a bit of bbq sauce…like a teaspoon. This is such a kid friendly meal…also me friendly meal…cheese, bacon, chicken….all good 🙂
This was really quick and easy and very tasty! Like other commenters, I think I’ll add some veggies next time. Yum!
This is truly a SIMPLE one pan recipe. I had leftover rotisserie chicken but not all of the other ingredients. Plus, I’m being careful about choosing not only easy but calorie friendly recipes, so I substituted a few items in this recipe and it still came out delicious. Here’s my version with substitutions: Dry Lipton vegetable soup (instead of the ranch), 8 oz. of corkscrew pasta instead of the rotini, 2 tbsp of bacon flavored bits and chopped cilantro for the parsley. Once the pasta was completely cooked, I added 6 oz frozen mixed veggies. You won’t be disappointed with this recipe. It’s delicious!
My son is 3 and he has asked for this every night for dinner since we made it (four nights in a row)! So wonderful for this mommy! And super yummy! It’s going to become a regularly rotated recipe in our house! Thank you for sharing!
I accidentally bought the ranch dip mix, do you think it would be okay to substitute it for the ranch dressing mix?
Yes, absolutely.
This was a delicious recipe. I like cooking with a lot of veggies and so added in sautéed onion, corn and bell pepper. The flavours were very good. I will certainly make this again.
Looks delicious! Only problem is no ranch powder in Australia. I prefer to make my own of that sort of thing anyway but again, the recipes I’ve seen call for buttermilk powder and again the local supermarkets don’t have it. Any ideas?
It is available on amazon.com. 🙂
Hi Chunga! love your website!
Are you cooking the chicken before you add it with the broth/pasta etc? Or is it added in uncooked?
Sam, the recipe calls for leftover rotisserie chicken – it’s a great way to repurpose leftovers from the night before!
Italian taste… I love it!
Will this be a good dish for potluck? If I have to prepare the night before and warm it up in the microwave at work?
Would you suggest to add anything to make it moist the following day ?
I will definitely add this to my weekly menu at home for weekends. Thank you for sharing your recipe
Yes, absolutely.
Very nice recipe. I made this using Chorizo instead of bacon and it is also delicious. Thanks for the recipe !
Sounds amazing!
Please include nutritional content of your recipes … certainly calories per serving, at the very least. Thanks
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
I don’t know if this will help you, but I’ll share what I do. I have Mastercook software. Use any edition except 15.0. Enter your recipes & you will get complete nutrition breakdown as well as diabetic exchanges. You will create your own cookbook which can be printed if you want a paper copy.
Oh, how awesome! I have had the biggest problem, having recipes from this site and a couple of others, keeping them straight, and even remembering where I saw that “great thing I made last week”! This will be so helpful! Thanks for that tip.
One-pot meals are my jam! Oh, and anything with bacon, cheese, and ranch. So…this is pretty much perfect in my book. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Chungah,
Thanks for this easy one pan meal recipe!! 🙂
We love making one pot cheesy baked dishes, whether it’s with pasta, rice, or fried rice.
This would be perfect for those busy weeknights. 😉
Amy
This sounds amazing! I love the idea of using leftover chicken for it to help cut down on some of the work.
Keshia
http://www.queenlifeblog.com
Might try a blend of grated cheeses, eg. Tex-Mex, nacho blend …. Otherwise sounds like a winner.
Thank you.
I added a cup of diced tomatoes and increased cheese to 2 cups (by mistake lol
I had used both, cheddar and Mexican blend it was soo good.