Our four granddaughters went through a period of time where they ate a lot of ranch dressing.
If you served pizza, french fries or chicken strips, they had to be accompanied by a side of ranch dressing. They even ate ranch dressing with some things I would have never thought of eating it with.
Our youngest was really taken with it. If any dressing remained on her plate, she would use a spoon to scrape up every drop. I think she would have gladly put a straw in a bottle of dressing and sipped it like a soft drink.
The oldest went through a period where the only sandwich she wanted from any restaurant she visited was a chicken, bacon and ranch sandwich. No lettuce, sliced tomato or pickle topped her sandwich — just a slab of chicken topped with slices of bacon and ranch dressing on the roll.
Although, as they have gotten older and have expanded their palates, they still like ranch dressing, just as I suspect many other people do.
When I found this recipe for Baked Creamy Ranch Pasta with Chicken and Bacon I knew I had to give it a try.
This recipe isn’t difficult to prepare and it called for many ingredients I already had on hand in the pantry and refrigerator. The casserole would make a great Sunday evening supper and it feeds a lot of people, so leftovers are likely. You may want to consider dividing the casserole into two smaller baking dishes and popping one in the freezer to eat later.
If you wanted to, you could make this recipe a side dish simply by omitting the cooked chicken. You could also add some thawed frozen spinach that has been squeezed dry to the sauce and pasta in place of the chicken.
I cheated a bit on my casserole because I didn’t cook the bacon called for in the recipe. I used a 2.5 ounce package of reduced sodium real bacon pieces. It was a real time saver and no one but me knew the difference. I just used a bit of non-stick spray to cook the garlic.
Baked Creamy Ranch Pasta with Chicken and Bacon
- 8 ounces small shape pasta
- 4 slices of bacon, diced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 8-ounce package reduced fat cream cheese, cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons dry ranch dressing mix
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 8 ounces low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese
Cook the pasta two minutes less than the time allotted on the package instructions; drain reserving one cup of the pasta water.
Place the pasta in a mixing bowl while you prepare the sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the bacon pieces and cook until crisp, approximately five minutes. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb additional grease. Drain all the fat, except one teaspoon from the skillet and add the garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until it is fragrant.
Whisk in the milk and the cream cheese pieces. Continue whisking until the cream cheese is melted and the mixture is smooth, approximately two minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Parmesan, ranch dressing mix, pepper and reserved pasta water. Pour the mixture over the pasta.
Fold in the chicken and one cup of the mozzarella cheese. Pour the mixture into a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top the casserole with bacon pieces and remaining cheese. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the cheese is melted and golden and the casserole is bubbly.
September 15, 2020 at 02:21AM
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Cooking with Dianne: Pasta bake will please your ranch dressing lovers - Clearfield Progress
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