Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Creamy, cheesy and comforting! Loaded with Ranch chicken, homemade alfredo sauce and bacon. Can be made ahead of time!
Ranch chicken. Rotini pasta. Homemade alfredo sauce. And bacon. All baked to cheesy ooey gooey perfection. One bite of this and you will be hooked – I promise.
Now there are a few steps to this recipe but if you’re short of time, there’s a few shortcuts that can be taken here.
For starters, leftover rotisserie chicken would be a great way to repurpose leftovers. Store-bought alfredo sauce can also be substituted. And if you are counting your calories for the new year, you can make this sans bacon.
But let’s be real here. The bacon is always a must, am I right?
Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Creamy, cheesy and comforting! Loaded with Ranch chicken, homemade alfredo sauce and bacon. Can be made ahead of time!
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs*, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix, or more, to taste
- 8 ounces rotini
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the alfredo sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup heavy cream, or more, to taste
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9x9 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- To make the alfredo sauce, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Gradually whisk in heavy cream. Cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. If the mixture is too thick, add more heavy cream as needed; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- 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.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag, add chicken, 1 tablespoon olive oil and Ranch Seasoning, shaking to coat thoroughly. Add chicken to the skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes on each side; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Add pasta to the prepared baking dish and layer with chicken and alfredo sauce; sprinkle with cheeses and bacon. Place into oven and bake until bubbly and heated through, about 15-20 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
*Boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be substituted.
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Just made this tonight my kids and husband loved it. I doubled the recipe, and I’m glad I read deep in to the reviews and listened to the couple of people that said to make more sauce. I tripled the sauce and it was perfect for doubling the recipe. Not dry at all and delicious. I used tri color rotini but you could really use any pasta you have on hand with this and it would come out great. Will definitely make again.
Chicken thighs are all different sizes… would you say this recipe uses a pound of chicken? Half a pound? It looks delicious, and I want to try it!
I made this for my family yesterday, and It was a hit! I doubled the recipe and was left with just a 1/4 of the casserole. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
I don’t have a comment, just a question. Does this freeze well without leaving anything out?
We love this meal!! Easy meal that the whole family loves.
Amazing! The whole family loved it. I was out of mozzarella so I just used the cheddar blend.
One word. Yum.
My picky eater said “this is my new all-time favorite food!”
I made this ahead and froze it while preparing for a kitchen reno. I kept the cheese topping in a separate ziplock. Cooked covered with foil from frozen for 90 minutes and then added the cheese topping for 10 minutes. The flavors were delicious. It was lacking creaminess, but was still tasty to eat. It’s probably even better cooked fresh.
Love this recipe, haven’t found anyone that doesn’t love this casserole. Great make ahead meal to take on vacation
Super delicious! I put the rest of the ranch packet right into the sauce mixture, homerun in the flavour department!
I’ve made this several times and love it. I want to prepare it ahead of time as a freezer meal – baby #2 will be here in 2 weeks. My question is, how long should I bake it if coming from the freezer?
I think the sauce would not freeze and defrost well. Probably separate.
Oh, wow! I made this for my teenage son and he gobbled this up! He said that this was so good! I agreed! The garlic, bacon, ranch…yummiest! Definitely a keeper!
This was DELICIOUS!!!! Tasted like restaurant quality! Will definitely make again.
We LOVED this! Made it with evaporated skim milk that I reduced by cooking it longer to cut the fat and used sharp white cheddar. Husband and son loved it!
I made it again and added some Cajun seasoning with the ranch, added a diced shallot along with the garlic and tossed in some fresh rosemary because I had some on hand. I also diced the chicken before adding the seasoning and cooking and this worked well.
This recipe is a great jumping off point! Thank you!!
Absolutely delicious. I used chicken breasts and let sit in the ranch dressing a little longer to absorb more of the ranch flavor. Doubled the recipe to send home with my college son who loves mom’s frozen meal service. Added extra garlic! Was definitely a keeper in our house.
It was delicious! I never ended up putting it in the casserole dish. Just stirred it all together in the big pot on the stove. Used rotisserie chicken that I shredded and cooked in some of the bacon grease. Doubled the alfredo sauce–made some of my own and added a jar. *Not for those wanting to limit their carbs. 🙂
This was so damn good!! My partner and I couldn’t stop digging in for more. Thanks Chungah, your blog is my absolute favorite for recipes! If anyone’s curious about adding vegetables, I added cauliflower to the pot of cooking pasta for the last couple minutes, and cooked some green pepper with the chicken. Because of the extra ingredients I ended up using a rectangular casserole dish instead of a 9×9. I also used a small package of pre-cooked bacon pieces to save myself a step, and just added it at the end the same way you would have added the bacon if you’d cooked it yourself. This made a ton of food and I’m excited for the leftovers!
It was perfect. Thanks so much for sharing.
Made this last night because it has everything my kiddos love – chicken, bacon, alfredo, ranch, and pasta! It was delicious and they gobbled it up after baseball practice. I pretty much doubled up on everything and used a 9×13 dish and it came out perfectly. Also, I substituted pancetta for the bacon cause that is what I had on hand. Any recommendations on veggies to try with this? Thanks in advance!
Great recipe! I did add a bit of Montreal chicken seasoning to chicken as well. Fantastic flavor! My fiancée who is very picky loved this! Only criticism is sauce made by recipe isn’t as thick as we normally like so I used my own personal recipe
Please share your recipe. I also like thick sauce. Thank you!
Google ” Better than Olive Garden Alfredo sauce”… The absolute BEST Alfredo sauce I’ve ever made and I’ll never switch recipes. It’s not just parmesan but parmesan AND mozzarella made with garlic and heavy whipping cream! Thick and tasty.