Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta: A comforting baked dish casserole recipe that’s an easy dinner idea to make with everyday ingredients that the whole family will love on a busy weeknight!

Using ingredients like crispy bacon, chicken breasts, and creamy ranch dressing, makes this a delicious recipe, ultimate comfort food in only 30 minutes!

Why you’ll love this recipe

You all… I had NO idea how much you were going to love the bacon ranch pasta salad recipe.

I mean, I don’t blame you. When you combine ranch and bacon with ANYTHING, it’s going to be amazing… but adding it to pasta (carbs) is the ultimate combination.

So when realizing how much you loved it, (and this cream cheese pasta) I knew it was time to add a warm bacon and ranch pasta to the mix, and even a little chicken to make it a bit hearty to classify it as a main dish.

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Easy Ingredients

If this is your first time here, I must tell you that we LOVE easy recipes that use everyday ingredients. This recipe is no different. It uses:

• Penne pasta (or pasta of choice)
• Chicken (boil/bake & shred or use a rotisserie chicken for ease, and then make a chicken stock out of the rotisserie chicken!)
• Jarred Alfredo sauce (my favorite is Bertolli)
• Ranch dressing
• Bacon
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Green onions, (if desired)
• Fresh parsley (if desired)

Use Chopped Bacon – How to Bake Bacon (if desired)

If you don’t already have cooked bacon, you’ll want to cook the bacon before baking this pasta dish, and since you’ll need the oven hot anyway, it’s easy to place the bacon in a cool oven on a baking sheet.

Bake at 425˚ until bacon is crisp. Then lower the heat of the oven to 350˚ so it’s ready to bake the pasta. (Or, you can cook bacon in the air fryer if you prefer.)

After the bacon has cooled a bit, go ahead and chop in to bacon pieces and set aside.

What Kind of Chicken to Use

You can absolutely use any kind of chicken that you want to for this recipe but make sure it’s cooked chicken before mixing it with the other ingredients and before baking. Some suggestions are:

• chicken breast
• rotisserie chicken
• leftover chicken

What Kind of Pasta to Use

Penne is LOVELY for this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite short pastas or whatever you have on hand.

Farfalle or bowtie pasta is another favorite that we have here, and it looks super pretty if you’re feeding a crowd.

Cook pasta according to package directions, (usually al dente) drain and pour cooked pasta into a large bowl with the chicken, alfredo sauce and ranch dressing and mix gently until combined.

Step by Step Directions

• To finish off this easy chicken bacon ranch pasta, pour mixture into a greased 9×13 in. baking dish and evenly spread it out.
• To add some depth to this dish, add a ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese along with the mozzarella for some added cheesy “oomph”.

Bacon and Bake

Sprinkle the chopped bacon on top, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350˚ for 10 minutes.

Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Now you have an easy recipe for dinner tonight, that the entire family will love!

Garnishes Ideas

Garnish with fresh parsley if you wish, but definitely not required.

We also love topping this with parmesan cheese and adding green onions!

Substitutions

If you want to mix things up or if you’re out of some of the ingredients for this recipe, it’s really easy to substitute items! For instance:

• Use monterey jack cheese
• Add cream cheese (like in our cream cheese pasta recipe) or sour cream and ranch dressing mix
• Store bought bacon bits instead of cooking bacon
• Whole wheat pasta
• Use crab meat instead of chicken, like we did in this crab casserole recipe.

Freezer Pasta Meal

Do you love making pasta dishes as a freezer meal? Whip up this chicken bacon ranch alfredo pasta recipe and instead of baking, cover with aluminum foil (or however you prep your freezer meals) and place in the freezer.

Now I’ve yet to try this myself with this recipe, so I’m assuming that this should work just as great as the other freezer pasta meals. So if you try this, I’d LOVE to hear how it did for you and what worked.

How to Bake a Freezer Pasta Meal:

Thaw in the fridge (may take up to 48 hours) or thaw in the microwave on defrost setting. Bake at 350 degrees according to instructions.

If cooking frozen, bake for 60 minutes at 350˚ (time may vary, so check it after 30-45 minutes depending on your oven – mine cooks super fast and hot- with foil on. Then remove foil and bake another 10 minutes to brown the cheese.

How to Store

If you have leftovers of this delicious pasta dish, you can store it in an airtight container and in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Simply reheat in the microwave or place back in the oven on 350° until heated through.

What to Serve with Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

If you’re looking for a delicious side dish, some of our favorite recipes to serve with this easy pasta recipe, are this side salad, garlic bread and this focaccia bread!

More Pasta Recipes

Pasta recipes are sort of our “thing” around here. They’re easy and most use everyday ingredients that we usually have on hand. So you’re also going to love this ham casserole, cheeseburger macaroni in the Instant Pot, and this creamy chicken and noodles recipe!

Or, one of our recent favorites to have for dinner, is this garlic parmesan linguine.

You’ll Also Love:

If you love the combination of these flavors, then you’re really going to love this grilled cheese with chicken, Chicken Bacon Ranch Crescent Bites, and these Chicken Casserole Recipes!

Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a review below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!

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