These bacon ranch chicken foil packets are a super easy dinner option with minimal cleanup! Chicken breasts are cooked with potatoes and ranch flavored butter, then topped with melted cheese and bacon for a meal that’s sure to please any crowd.
Foil packets are reliable recipes when I need to make a easy dinner that everyone will enjoy. I love the way the flavors of everything in the foil packets complement each other. Some other great foil packet recipes are salmon foil packets and chicken fajita foil packets.
Foil packet meals are all the rage it seems, I’m seeing them all over Pinterest and Facebook with everything from steak to shrimp to chicken. I decided it was high time I made my own foil packet recipe, and this bacon ranch chicken is not to be missed. In fact, my family loved these chicken foil packets so much that I made them two days in a row!
This foil packet chicken recipe is one of my family’s favorite chicken recipes along with pan seared chicken breast, crack chicken and king ranch chicken!
How Do You Make Bacon Ranch Chicken Foil Packets?
For this recipe you’ll need chicken breasts, small red potatoes, ranch powder, butter, bacon and cheese. How can you go wrong with an ingredient list like that? You can find ranch seasoning packets in the salad dressing aisle of your grocery store. The chicken and potatoes are seasoned with ranch flavored butter, then wrapped up and baked or grilled to perfection. The potatoes I used were about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter, and I used average sized chicken breasts. If your potatoes are on the larger side, cut them into quarters so that they’ll bake in the time that the chicken is cooked through. I’d also stay away from the thin cut or oversized chicken breasts for this recipe, each breast should weigh about 4 ounces so that it cooks evenly with the potatoes.
After the chicken and potatoes are done, they get smothered in cheese and go back to the oven or grill for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. Add a sprinkling of bacon and parsley and you’ve got an amazingly flavor packed meal!
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Other Recipes You’ll Love
- One Dish Grilled Chicken Dinner
- Grilled Asparagus in Foil
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- Marinated Salmon
- Grilled Potatoes in Foil
Bacon Ranch Chicken Foil Packets Video
Bacon Ranch Chicken Foil Packets
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons ranch seasoning powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 medium sized chicken breasts approximately 4 ounces each
- 1 pound small red potatoes halved or quartered
- nonstick cooking spray
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees or a grill over medium high heat. In a small bowl whisk together the butter, ranch seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Coat 4 large squares of foil with cooking spray.
- Place the potatoes in a bowl and drizzle with 4 tablespoons of the ranch butter over the top. Toss to coat evenly.
- Place a chicken breast onto each of the foil squares and season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the potatoes evenly among the 4 foil squares and arrange them around the chicken.
- Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over the chicken breasts. Fold the edges of the foil over the chicken and potatoes to make a packet.
- Bake for 45 minutes or grill for 30 minutes. Open the packets and sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and potatoes. Leave the packets open and return to the oven or grill for 2-3 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with bacon and parsley and serve.
Has anyone tried this in an air fryer?
Can you use different type of potatoes? Like Idaho Russet or Gold Yukon potatoes.
Yes that’s fine!
Great recipe did in the oven will try nxt camping trip
I made this on our weekend camping trip over the fire and it was absolutely delicious. My kids tore it up. Thank you sharing
I loved this. The only problem I had was the ranch wouldn’t disintegrate into the butter like yours. It was gummy in it. How do I fix this?
What brand did you use?
I used the hidden valley each seasoning
I want to make this for our camping trip. Do you recommend cooking in oven at home first and then freezing to bring out there and just rewarm on the fire? Or would you cook meat only ahead of time and then assemble into tinfoil packets out there? Or how does this work? I’m new to camping… Thanks!
The optimal solution would be to cook everything together. You could try freezing it but you’d want to add the bacon after the packets have thawed and cooked or it won’t be crispy.
How long should I cook them if I’m using bone in thighs?
Add another 10-15 minutes!
I want to cook these without the potatoes. Would I cook for the same time?
You would cook for 25 minutes!
Is chicken frozen or thawed when you put it in foil?
Thawed chicken!
I made this tonight and it was so simple and tasty plus the clean up was a snap. Absolutely recommend this to any and everyone! This is without a doubt a new staple in our house.
Can you just use ranch dressing instead packets
I’m not sure if that would work as I haven’t tried it!
This recipe is awesome and I have also made the foil pouches with just the potatoes and ranch butter as a side dish, adding the cheese, parsley and bacon just before serving. I get lots of compliments.
Could you tell me please what is ranch seasoning? I’m in UK and never heard of this,thank you for any help ,as great meal 👍
Look for it on the salad dressing isle,, its comes in single packetts or in a box of 4 i believe
You can’t buy dried ranch seasoning in the U.K. However, it’s easy to make. Combine some dill, parsley, garlic power, onion powder, salt and pepper and use that.
For a dry Ranch Dressing Mix I blend 2 tablespoons each dried parsley, onion powder. garlic powder, dried dill, dried chives, Salt (or to taste) and just about 1 teaspoon pepper. (I never add tarragon). After they are well blended, keep mix in a jar with tight lid. Use about 1 tablespoon where one ranch packet is called for.
To make 1 cup of dressing we just mix about 1/2 cup each mayonnaise (not salad dressing) and buttermilk, blending in the tablespoon of dry mix.
My son adds sour cream sometimes to thicken it to use as a dip. He’s even added a dash or two of hot sauce,. I hope this helps.
Could I make the packets ahead of time and put them in the oven when I get home from work?
That would be fine, but I would leave the potatoes whole so that they don’t discolor from being in the fridge all day!
I cut my potatoes at night if I’m putting in the crock pot before work the next morning & I completely cover them in water. This seems to keep them from discoloring.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a fail with one of your recipes. This one was soooo easy to prepare (I used the oven) and my family loved it.
Do you set these foil packets on a pan in the oven
Yes you’d put them on a pan.
This was amazing! I used chicken tenderloins and cut the potatoes smaller so they would cook faster. The chicken and potatoes were nice and brown. The only thing I may do differently next time is to add a bit more ranch seasoning. I used Kroger brand ranch dressing mix and it could have been more “ranchy”. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
I made this tonight and we all absolutely LOVED it!! My kids said thanks for making it!! It was not only delicious but quick and easy which makes it even better! Thanks!!
You most likely do this in a crock pot by eliminating the foil and placing the potatoes in the bottom & chicken on top. Add the cheese towards the end.
Couldn’t you put the foil packets in the crock pot? If so, what temp and how long?
I LOVE THIS , CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE .
THANKS FOR SHARING THIS WITH US
TONI
Could you do this in crock pot
I’ve never tried that so I can’t really say, I’m not sure how well it would work because you’d have to pile up the packets in a crock pot instead of cooking them in a single layer like the oven or grill.