This is Possibly the Best Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole Ever
Let me say this early on, I LOVE TO COOK. And, the most candid reason I love to cook is because I LOVE TO EAT! I also love to experiment in the kitchen, shake things up, and add to my recipe repertoire. My most recent culinary exploration involves what is possibly the Best Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole Ever.
All joking aside, my earliest memories took place in the kitchen with my grandmother, Mama. She’d concoct all sorts of deliciousness: beef stew, shrimp stew, the fluffiest rice you could imagine, steak smothered in onions and peppers, and papas rellenas, translated to my husband as Potato Surprise, deep fried mashed potato balls stuffed with a chopped meat stew.
Mama used to say that feeding your family a good meal was the best way to show them your love, and I believed her. Regardless of reproachful judgement from modern day doctors, nutritionists, and dietitians alike, I still believe her.
Healthy recipes have their place, and I happen to love them just as much as "traditional" recipes. But sometimes you just need that 'ole classic comfort food. Click To TweetCHICKEN BACON RANCH CASSEROLE
A casserole, with all its creamy, cheesy goodness, is a sure-thing for comfort classic. I came across this Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole recipe while surfing through Pinterest and decided to give it a shot. I must say, it wasn’t half bad.
My son rated it a 5/5, my husband rated it a 4/5 (he prefers a mac/cheese version from scratch with ham and broccoli), my daughter rated it as “great”.
I haven’t quite rated it myself yet, because you know, I’m my own worst critic. However, by all merits, the dish was pretty good.
I might’ve preferred a more viscous Alfredo sauce and combined both chicken breast and chicken thighs. The original recipe called only for thighs. Here are the cast of characters:
{The small Barefoot Bay wine bottles are modified salt, pepper and garlic shakers, my spice trinity. I simply punched small holes into the caps}.
KNOW THIS: I hardly ever follow a recipe perfectly. I love to tweak it to my family’s palette.
For instance, we love heat so I added a Cajun pepper sauce to this recipe. The pepper sauce didn’t make an appearance in the picture above because I didn’t know I was going to use it until I used it! Modify on the Fly!
I had an issue with the Alfredo Sauce not thickening up (probably because I had to double the recipe for my family). I’ve worked on cheese sauces before and I had ideas on how to fix it, but after all the bacon frying and chicken searing, I’m ashamed to admit, I was too lazy for the effort.
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Instead, I continued to modify via improvisation. My son Michael recently visited his girlfriend in Wisconsin; cheese worshiper that he is, he brought back 3 bags of Bucky Badger Cheese Curds:
Adding these little nuggets of joy really jazzed it up! I’m pretty sure this is the reason my son rated this dish a 5, he certainly does love his cheese!
The Hubster, Tom, almost gave this dish a 3.8 due to the kitchen clean up it produced.
He stated The recipe should call for one of these guys (pictured below) because not only was he a fantastic sous chef, thank the Lord, but he cleaned up the entire kitchen for me along the way, #RelationshipGoals.
This recipe did make it into the rotation though. Below is a picture of the final result.
I intend on tweaking the recipe a little further and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
If you try the recipe, let me know how it turns out by commenting below, especially any tricks you might care to share that makes it better, or easier. #Sisterhood #Community.
If you liked this post, I’d surely appreciated a share on Pinterest or Facebook, thanks!
Be Well!
Cynthia
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