Baked Ranch Chicken

Tuesday – Baked Ranch Chicken, Loaded Mashed Potatoes w/ Salad

I was searching for another way to season baked chicken and found these two recipes. Since I didn’t like either recipe in its entirety, I took the recipes and modified them by taking a portion from each.

What I didn’t like about the original recipes:

recipe 1:
melted butter as a binder
cornflake crumbs

recipe 2:
fying the chicken
regular bread crumbs

To start, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. Per recipe 2, I used bottled Hidden Valley Ranch dressing as the binder. From recipe 1, I coated the chicken in a mixture of ¾ c breadcrumbs (I used Panko breadcrumbs instead) w/ ¾ c grated Parmesan. In addition, I seasoned the mixture with pepper, cayenne and garlic powder. I decided to go with the cooking instructions on recipe 1 and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on a rack.

Unfortunately, we barely could taste the ranch dressing and we didn't taste the Parmesan at all. It was very strange. Maybe the bottled dressing was not strong enough to hold up against the chicken? Possibly all the Parmesan offered was saltiness? Next time I will use something else to bind the coating to the chicken. The coating mixture will be in 1c Panko breadcrumbs and 1 dry ranch dressing mix packet instead.

The final verdict is that the chicken it turned out good…nothing special. This is an easy and quick protein to make up on a week night so I’m not ready to give up on it yet. I believe with more modifications I can get this to taste much better.

I served this with loaded mashed russet potatoes and a salad.


Sources:
Recipe 1: Hidden Valley Ranch Chicken
Recipe 2: Ranch Chicken
Rating: 3 forks

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