Nothing says Mid-Western like a side of ranch dressing with every meal, no matter what was ordered! Oh, you want the surf and turf with a side of ranch? Yes, please! I don't personally understand the obsession with ranch dressing, but at least it has some flavor compared to every other bland thing most of them enjoy. Well, I decided if I was going to live amongst them I might as well join 'em so I present today's recipe, Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad! We all know bacon makes everything better so why not pimp out a chicken pasta salad, add some ranch, and watch all the people rejoice? Exactly what I was thinking so whether you are a Mid-Westerner or not, take in all the glory that is ranch dressing and prepare your tastebuds for something new....Let's get Cooking!
Since we are making a pasta salad, I suppose we should start with the pasta, eh? I personally think Penne works best for this recipe, but almost any pasta will fit the bill. Whichever pasta you ultimately decide on, make sure to heavily salt the boiling water before adding the pasta to the pot. This is the best time to actually season the pasta itself so don't pass up the opportunity! As for everyone using penne, as I suggest, boil the pasta for 12 minutes and not a minute longer. We definitely want the pasta al dente to have enough bite, or tooth as some say, to stand up to the chicken and ranch dressing in this recipe. Drain the pasta and immediately rinse with cold water to prevent overcooking. Once cooled, transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside for now while we prepare the rest of the ingredients.
As always, I prefer chicken thighs for most chicken recipes, but feel free to use breasts or tenders. We don't need to worry about seasoning the chicken very much as the ranch dressing is this flavor showrunner of the recipe, but be sure to use a little salt and pepper while cooking it. I broke mine down to 1-inch bite-sized pieces and sautéed it for 14-16 minutes over medium to medium-high heat in a pan with olive oil. This is the only real cooking step of the recipe so make sure you get that internal temperature above 165 degrees for white meat and 175 for more tender dark cuts. If you happen to have leftover rotisserie chicken or anything similar, it could also be substituted in at this point. Once the chicken is cooked, be sure to drain any excess oil or grease and set it aside a couple minutes to cool a bit.
While the chicken is cooling, we can return our attention to the pasta. There isn't an exact order for the remaining steps, but I figured out if you make the ranch dressing and coat the pasta first everything else seems to fall into place better. You can simply grab the ranch dressing from your fridge and add a cup or make some ranch from scratch if your feeling adventurous. I found a dry powder you just add some mayonnaise and sour cream to make a very nice ranch dressing so I went that route this particular time. Either way you choose to go about it, add the dressing to the pasta and stir to make sure all the individual pieces are well coated. 1 cup of ranch is adequate for a pound of pasta, but be my guest to add a bit less if you want to save a few calories or add another half a cup or so if you're a true Mid-Westerner! I won't judge you either way, but your guests and family might so try to keep your ranch consumption in semi-check, lol.
Next, add the bacon crumbles and stir well. You can obviously cook your own bacon, prob 6-8 pieces, for the amount needed or use prepackaged crumbles. I was actually lazy this time and use prepackaged crumbles I had on hand, but if you decide to cook your own, do it prior to the chicken so it can benefit from cooking in that leftover bacon fat! It's probably a better idea to cook the bacon yourself and double-down on that extra flavor for the chicken, but I made ranch from semi-scratch, so I forgave myself for cheating with the packaged bacon crumbles. There are no rules in the kitchen!
If you are still tracking, that only leaves one ingredient left before we can enjoy this doctor-ordered salad! Add the cooked chicken and give everything a final stir. This is where you are best off to make a judgement call on adding more ranch or not, depending on how the pasta and chicken absorb what you already added. I found mine to be adequate and left it as is, but like I previously mentioned, I was not born in the Mid-West, lol.
Delicious as it may be, this "salad" is high in calories thanks to the bacon and ranch, so watch your portions and serve it as a side dish or small appetizer. Or go to town and splurge and eat a whole bowl....sometimes you just have to enjoy life, eh? What do you think? This Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is super simple, relatively quick, and will surely satisfy even the pickiest of eaters, especially those annoying kids that keep bugging you for nuggets 24/7! And it has bacon...what else can you ask for in life? My favorite part of the entire recipe is that you can serve it hot or cold, and both ways are delightful in their own manner. Be sure to try it both ways and let me know which you prefer down in the comments. Until next time my cooking family, get in the kitchen and make something tasty....Just Keep Cooking!
CHICKEN BACON RANCH PASTA SALAD
Comments