Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake

 Feed a crowd or have yummy lunch leftovers with this Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake! This hearty main dish is baked in one pan and loaded with bacon and chunky ranch flavored chicken breast all over roasted potatoes!

Lately I’ve been seeing requests in some meal prep Facebook groups for meal prep recipes that serve more than four servings.

I saw someone write that they has six people in her house and four serving meal prep recipes just don’t work for their family (I’m assuming there were two grown adults with at least a couple teenagers in the house).

This request makes sense, and it’s a reality I haven’t thought about too much until now. It’s not always clear what recipes make good leftovers, or what recipes are easy to double.

That’s where this Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake comes in. This dish makes eight hearty servings, enough for a hungry family of six with a serving or two of leftovers for lunch.

If you are not a family of six, then you’re going to be set for lunch for the week. I’ll cook a meal like this on Sunday for dinner, and there will be 5-6 portions leftover.

This sounds like a lot, but with two people, it ends up being about 3 lunches each for the week. Turns out, I’m a big fan of leftovers!! Of course, you already knew that!

What are the ingredients in the Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake?

These ingredients scream comfort food to me! Nope, not the most veggie-ful dish, but oh so good.

• russet potatoes – Potatoes are the main bulk of this recipe. I prefer russet here but you can also use yukon gold potatoes. The potatoes get roasted in the oven for 45 minutes before we add the chicken.
• avocado oil – Helps roast all the ingredients to golden and helps disperse the seasonings.
• hot sauce – This casserole is not spicy or hot, but this small amount of hot sauce adds a nice little background heat flavor. Use your favorite hot sauce. I like Frank’s Red Hot or Chipotle Tabasco for this recipe.
• garlic powder – Garlic is a must for seasoning the potatoes and chicken!
• Ranch seasoning packet – One seasoning packet is about 1 ounce of powder, which is about two tablespoons.
• salt & black pepper – I prefer to use fresh ground black pepper in my cooking for the best taste, as well as fine sea salt for this recipe. Keep the salt to a minimum since the Ranch powder has salt in it as well.
• boneless skinless chicken breasts – Cut the chicken in bite sized chunks. This also helps it cook much faster that whole chicken breasts.
• bacon bits – You can use store-bought, or homemade bacon bits for this recipe. I prefer making bacon bits at home with my Butcherbox delivery service bacon.
• cheddar cheese – I feel like cheddar cheese is the best compliment to this bacon chicken ranch goodness we’ve created!
• topping ideas: green onions, sour cream, Ranch, buffalo sauce, more cheese!

What equipment do you need to make this dish?

The most important thing you need to make this meal is a deep 9×13 casserole dish! This will not fit in anything smaller.

I don’t have any particularly strong recommendations, but glass or ceramic dishes are what I use. Anything that can stand up to a little broiling is always good to have. 

How do you make this chicken bacon ranch potato bake?

First, preheat the oven to 425F degrees. Start with some good old russet potatoes, medium in size, about 3 pounds (yes, this is a large dish). Chop them into bite sized pieces, no larger than 1 inch, and add them to a large mixing bowl.

Add oil, hot sauce, ranch powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then mix until all the potatoes are evenly coated.

Next, use a slotted spoon to place the seasoned potatoes from the large mixing bowl into the casserole dish.

Roast these potatoes in the preheated oven for 45 minutes total, but stirring every 15 minutes so the potatoes cook evenly.

Once the potatoes are in the oven, get the chicken out. Cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch chunks (about the same size as your potatoes), and toss them in the potato mixing bowl.

Once all the chicken is cut, toss in the remaining Ranch from the packet and stir it up. You should not need to add any additional oil or salt and pepper, since there was plenty remaining from the potatoes. Let the chicken sit out in the bowl while the potatoes continue to cook. 

After 45 minutes in the oven, the potatoes should be fork tender, but not completely cooked (top left photo in the grid below). At this point, grab your bacon bits, cheese, and marinating chicken.

Stir the potatoes, then add a layer of bacon bits (about 2/3 of them), followed by about 1/2 cup of cheese (top right photo).

On top of this, add ALL of the raw chicken, in as much of a single layer as possible (bottom left photo). 

On top of the chicken, add the remaining bits of bacon and the rest of the cheese (bottom right photo). Bake in the 425F degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through and all the cheese is melty.

Quick bacon chat!

You can either choose to go quick and simple by purchasing pre-made bacon bits at the store, OR, you can get fancy and make your own bacon bits at home. Using premade bacon bits also keeps this recipe down to one pan.

I prefer to use the best bacon I can get my hands on, and that my friends, is ButcherBox bacon (affiliate link!).

The bacon is completely sugar free, which most bacon from the store is not. The bacon is also organic, comes from sustainably and humanely raised animals, and you can legit taste the quality. No preservatives, hormones, nitrates or nitrites either. It’s good stuff.

To make my own bacon bits, I open a full package of bacon (ones from ButcherBox are 10 ounces I believe) and simply use a sharp knife to cut the bacon into little pieces. The bits don’t even have to be as small as store-bought – they will be tasty either way!

I heat up my Dutch oven and then toss all the bits in at once. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, you can cook all the bacon bits in one batch until they’re browned and crispy to your liking. Remove the bacon bits, set them aside in a paper towel lined bowl and save the rendered bacon fat for another dish.

How to store this Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake:

Store in an airtight container and enjoy within 4 days of cooking. 

How to freeze this Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake:

Cooked potatoes do freeze much better than raw potatoes, so I do think this recipe would freeze in airtight containers for up to 1 month. Please note I have not tested this recipe in the freezer.

How to Make Chicken Bacon Ranch Potato Bake (2 mins 3 secs):