The combination of chicken, bacon, and ranch is delicious and adding it to macaroni and cheese makes it even better. This dish does require a little work cooking the chicken, bacon, and noodles but it is well worth the effort. If you are not a fan of ranch dressing there is no need to worry because this recipe does not use actual ranch dressing at all. Instead, it uses a ranch dressing style mixture of milk, cream of mushroom soup and fresh dill. The chicken itself has amazing flavor because it is cooked in the applewood smoked bacon grease. This recipe is loaded with delicious cheeses such as Italian cheese blend and Colby-jack. This chicken bacon ranch mac and cheese is great for the colder months and for dinner any night of the week. Enjoy.
(Makes 4 Servings)
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Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac and Cheese Recipe
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
- 3 slices applewood-smoked bacon
- 1/2lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1/3 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup
- ¾ cup shredded six-cheese Italian blend
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon fresh dill (chopped)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- cooking spray
- ½ cup shredded Colby-jack cheese
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium-high cook bacon slices until crisp, turning once. Remove bacon slices from the pan and drain on paper towels. Reserve the bacon grease in the pan. Finely chop bacon and set aside. Increase the heat of the skillet to medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts to the pan and cook turning once until the chicken is fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Remove from the pan and chop the chicken into ½ inch chunks.
- In a medium bowl whisk together milk and cream of mushroom soup. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle flour evenly into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes while stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add the milk and soup mixture to the saucepan while whisking. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from the heat. Let stand for 4 minutes. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt. Stir until the cheese melts. Stir in pasta, chicken, and half of the chopped crispy bacon.
- Lightly spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon the macaroni and cheese mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with Colby-jack cheese and remaining bacon bits. Place into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the mixture is heated through. Remove from the oven and top with green onions.
Angora
Monday 4th of November 2013
WOW!! I gained 5 lbs just reading this yummy recipe!! This will be my football game day meal Saturday!! My family wil love, love, love it. I cannot have MSG so Campbells soup is out. In the past I have had to make my mushroom soup for use in some recipes. If anyone can recommend a brand without MSG I would love to know about it. Thanks again for this yummy!!!!
Adina
Tuesday 24th of September 2013
I haven't made this yet, but I'm sure you could stir in a packet of dry ranch dressing mix if you wanted to truly make it a chicken bacon ranch.
Karla
Tuesday 30th of April 2013
AMAZING!!! I got the basics but added my own touch..doubled butter, used 5 strips of bacon, doubled up on Italian cheese (5 cheese Italian) , sauted onions instead of powder, used whole can of mushroom soup ( by accident ) but didn't use all of milk/ soup mixture. ..I know it seems like a lot of changes but it still turned out fantastic! ! I guess that's just the fat kid inside of me...lol..my family loved it n had seconds...highly recommend this :-) Thanks
Dani
Thursday 11th of April 2013
Being able to pin these on Pinterest would be great too, sharing on Facebook doesn't allow me to save it for later use. But this looks amazing, can't wait to try it!
Bobby
Thursday 11th of April 2013
glen - The sauce for this recipe is just a ranch style dressing. There is no actual ranch in the recipe.