Easy Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake
Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake is a saucy, delicious dish that’s made of savory chicken, delicious comforting potatoes, zesty ranch, cheddar, and delightfully crispy bacon.
Best of all? It’s all made in ONE DISH. It’s a perfect, easy meal!
***This post was updated on July 01, 2024
Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake – A One-Pan Complete Meal!
Simple to make Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
When I first made this recipe, I had found a super deal on potatoes, so I bought A LOT. Then of course I had too many potatoes so to start using them, I came up with this Chicken Potato Bacon recipe.
It’s so incredibly versatile, so many of the ingredients can be switched out to accommodate what you have on hand. This dish is crazy easy to make – it basically comes together all in one bowl, and it’s roasted in one bowl, so the cleanup on this recipe is a cinch!
Ingredients for this Chicken and Potato Casserole Recipe
The most excellent thing about this casserole recipe is that it has everything that comfort food lovers fantasize about.
- Chicken: I used leftover chicken that I had cooked previously. Rotisserie chickens are a great idea for this recipe. This recipe is meant to be made in a jiffy, so we don’t use raw chicken here.
- Potatoes: Russets are my favorite because I like the starch factor with these ones. But use what you have on hand.
- Bacon: A nice smoked bacon is perfect. I wouldn’t use a maple-flavored, as it might clash with the other flavors. You also want it cooked to your texture preference.
- Ranch Dressing: Use regular Ranch Salad Dressing, the type in the bottle. The brand is up to you, use what you have on hand, and/or your favorite.
- Sour cream: Just plain old sour cream.
- Onion
- Cheddar (or your favorite cheese): I think cheddar goes the best with these ingredients, but that’s my jam. If you love a different cheese that melts really nicely, use that one!
- Seasonings
How To Make This Loaded Chicken Casserole Recipe
1. Preheat the oven to 375. Start by washing the potatoes, dry them slightly, and dice them up. No need for peeling or perfectionism.
Do I have to leave the potatoes unpeeled?
Not at all. If you want to peel the potatoes, go ahead. I just like this recipe to come together fast, and I quite like the texture of the peel on the potatoes, but you do what you prefer.
2. Add them to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients, reserving some of the cheese and bacon for garnish at the end.
3. Cover with foil and bake.
4. Near the end of the baking time, remove the foil, and add the remaining cheese and bacon. Bake another 5 – 10 minutes.
Specific ingredient amounts and cooking times, plus helpful notes for making this recipe perfect are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Handy Tips and Substitutions
I usually have a lot of chicken on hand which leads to leftovers, so that’s what I use for this dish. If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can certainly substitute cooked turkey as well. Even cubed ham and small meatballs would also work well to replace the protein.
A rotisserie chicken would be ideal for this dish. If you don’t use all the chicken left on it after making this dish, make sure you save the bones from the bird so you can make Homemade Chicken Soup/broth in the future! It’s a great way to stretch those grocery dollars!
Pre-cooked bacon is easy to come by, you can purchase it at most grocery stores in the deli department. However, if you have some thawed and ready to go, quickly cook a few strips in the microwave and make them ready in a jiffy. If you have none of those on hand and you have REAL bacon bits hanging around, those will do for a sub-in.
This dish isn’t fancy but it’s an incredibly easy one-pan dish supper. So what it lacks in plate staging prettiness, it makes up in convenience, wholesomeness, and FLAVOR. I love easy dishes because they’re easy clean-up time, like my Sausage Boursin Pasta and Sausage and Mushroom Pie.
Storing and Freezing
Storing leftovers is simple. They’ll stay great in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, covered in an air-tight container.
If you want to freeze the leftovers, be sure to use a freezer-friendly container. I’ve frozen the casserole in individual portions for quick lunches and convenient dinners. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or reheat in the microwave on a plate, covered, for 4-5 minutes or until it’s 165F throughout. You could even shred a little more cheddar over the top if you want.
Questions You Might Have
Absolutely. This recipe can easily be doubled to feed more people but you’ll want to use a larger baking dish and increase the cooking time.
Try piercing a chunk of potato with a fork. The tines of the fork should go into the potato easily, with no resistance. Also, you can use a thermometer to 165F.
I’ve made this dish with rotisserie chicken that I’ve removed off the bone. You can also use unbreaded chicken strips that are sold in the meat/deli dept and cube them up. Grocery stores often have shredded chicken in the al a cart dept that you can utilize.
Did you make this Chicken Ranch Potato Bake recipe? Did you switch it up with different ingredients? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below! Thanks so much for stopping by The Salty Pot today, and I hope you enjoy this super yummy recipe!
Easy Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake
This Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake is an incredibly easy and super tasty one pan dish using leftovers and pantry items!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs potatoes, cut into a 1/2" dice
- 2 c chicken, cooked, diced/shredded
- ½ c ranch dressing
- ½ c sour cream
- ¼ c onion
- 2 c cheddar, shredded
- 5 slices crumbled bacon
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp dill, dried
- as desired salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, reserving half the cheddar and bacon for garnish.
- Transfer to a greased 9 x 13 square or round casserole dish with high sides.
- Cover with foil and bake for 60 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and soft.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the remaining bacon and cheddar over the top and bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
- Enjoy!
Notes
This recipe is fantastic served with a little sour cream and chives sprinkled over top.
The potatoes should be cut no larger than 1/2" big so they can be cooked in time.
If you want to double the recipe, add another 15 minutes to the cooking time to accommodate the potatoes. It's always a good idea to check the doneness with a fork to be sure they're cooked through.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 564Total Fat: 34gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 105mgSodium: 691mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 4gSugar: 4gProtein: 27g
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
***DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THIS CHICKEN RANCH POTATO BAKE PIN TO YOUR FAVORITE PINTEREST BOARD TO SAVE FOR LATER!!***
Hi Joanne,
Just made this recipe. It’s a good one but I didn’t like the buttermilk dressing. Maybe it’s just the brand I used. I’ll skip it next time and add more sour cream. I also fried up the onions (after the bacon) in the same pan. Potatoes turned out perfect! Used my Dutch oven for everything so I just had one pan (even to cover & bake in).
Thanks for commenting! I’m not sure what you mean by buttermilk dressing – there’s no buttermilk in the recipe. Thank you for trying the recipe, and you can’t go wrong with one pan cooking!
I am wondering, Can this dish be frozen?
Hi Mary, I don’t see why not. I’ll assume you’re talking about freezing it cooked. If you’re talking about freezing it raw, I honestly have never done it, and I don’t know for sure how the sauce and potatoes will cook from raw. I’m sorry I can’t be more help. Typically when I make this, there might be leftovers, but they’re gone in two days! 🙂
Would this be good reheated?
Absolutely, yes 🙂
My family is not a huge fan of Sour Cream. What other ingredients could be used to substitute it? TIA.
Hi Rebecca, you could try using Yogurt! Hope that helps!
Just made this and it’s great! I used red potatoes (which are firmer) so I turned the oven temp up to 400 degrees. Could have baked for a full 60 minutes but it’s still good!
Fantastic!! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!!
Can this dish be made with cooked bake potatoes, I have four that was not eaten
Making this right now—it’s baked for 45 min & the potatoes are nowhere near done…I cut them small too. Are you supposed to cover this while baking?
Hi Jackie. I’m really sorry to hear that you were having problems with this dish! I honestly don’t have any idea why those potatoes would not be done at 45 minutes, especially if you cut them small. Covering it would have helped, but I’ve never had any issues with the potatoes cooking without a cover.
I would suggest using a cover next time because as you know, all ovens differ slightly. I’m just perplexed that in 45 minutes, your potatoes weren’t close to being cooked. Even if I put a chopped potato on a sheet pan, it’s usually done 35 – 40 minutes.
Do you have an oven thermometer?
Is the 1/2 cup of ranch dressing…..
Dry
or
Bottled
?
Thanks!!!!
Hi Susan! Thanks for writing in and I’m sorry I didn’t reply earlier!
It’s 1/2 cup bottled! Hope that helps!
I cut my potato pieces up pretty small and they took well over an hour to cook. Almost 2 hours! What kind of potatoes did you use?
Wholy mackeral Emily! Two hours? I usually default to russets because they’re a starchier type potato and it’s usually what I have on hand. Maybe it was your oven temp? That’s so weird!
What size baking dish and how many serving is this?
Hi Ginny!
It will serve 2 – 3 ppl as a main dish, and 4 – 5 as a side dish. I used a 9″ pie dish. 🙂
Do you think i could use frozen hashbrowns instead of diced potatoes?
Hey Jancee! You know, that’s a good question. I think you could, but I’d just really watch the bake time. Regular potatoes take a lot longer to cook through, and hashbrowns are already cooked, or parcooked. The fact they’re frozen would extend the cooking time, but if you were going to try it, I think I’d bake the dish for about 25 – 30 minutes and then check it. Please let me know if you try it and how it worked out because if it worked for you, then I might do another post using your suggestions!!