Pan-Seared Ranch Chicken Recipe (2024)

Just a note to all commenters who chastised the recope for using the contaminated "marinade" ranch as a table sauce. The recipe specifically states to transfer HALF the ranch to a bowl to which the chicken is added to marinate. It's the other half you use to pass at. the table. Gotta read the recipe...

I made this with thighs and ended up marinating for two days. So surprisingly tasty! Loved how the chicken got crispy on the outside. For the reserved dressing, I thinned it with lemon juice and used it to dress leafy greens to serve alongside.

Cook several pieces of bacon in a pan. Set the bacon aside and drain most of the fat, leaving enough to cook the chicken. Cook the chicken in the bacon grease and when ready to serve, crumble the bacon over the top or add to the remaining ranch dressing set aside for drizzling.

Great recipe but got lazy and just used the original bottled Hidden Valley Ranch dressing to half fresh Greek yogurt. Perfect!!!

Everyone loved this! Something a little different. Used the chives, dill and parsley. Thought the dressing/marinade was a little too salty. I wouldn’t add more than a pinch until the end if it needs more at all. Don’t have a nonstick and my cast iron survived. Would definitely make this again.

Why not cut the chicken breasts in medium large chunks and toss them in the marinade?Easier to coat it evenly and easier to cook it!

Dressing is very salty. I think “salt to taste” would be a better directive than 1.5 tsp. Less salt and this would’ve been very delicious.

I notice some people are using garlic SALT, it calls for garlic POWDER. Might be a reason it is too salty for some. I used about a teaspoon of salt between the marinade, dip and breasts and it wasn't too salty for our taste.

Kosher salt (probably Diamond Crystal). If you're using table salt, cut the recipe amount in half.

But it does not recommend that. It says to use half for the marinade and reserve half for the table. So many people didn't read carefully.

For those who asked about baking: the chicken breast halves were very large (1.5 lb total) so I cut them crosswise and then into smaller pieces, ten in all. Marinated for 30-40 min. (just 1/2 tsp salt). Topped w/ panko crumbs toasted in butter. Baked at 375 convection for 20 minutes. Perfect. Squeezed half a lemon into remainder of marinade. Served with roasted potatoes and crunchy cucumber salad. Got rave reviews.

Dressing is very salty. I think “salt to taste” would be a better directive. I followed other commenters’ advice by adding lemon juice to the dressing.Used the chives, dill and parsley.

I used dried chives and dill and cut the salt down to 1tsp for pan-fried chicken tenderloins. My family agrees that this is the best chicken tenderloin recipe that we've tried so far!

This was just okay. Very fussy and not worth the effort—there are yummier ways to cook chicken. The homemade ranch however, that was amazing! I will be taking along that portion of the recipe for other food ventures.

It calls for garlic powder, not garlic salt.

It’s definitely ranchy. Unfortunately, (I guess this is what messed it up) I missed the part about only using 1/2 the ranch marinade. Didn’t caramelize, probably due to too much of the sauce. It didn’t get crispy, very disappointing. Probably won’t try again even with the correct instructions. Leftovers tomorrow might be fantastic though so we’ll see.

By far our favorite recipe on NYT. I often double the ranch to make a jar to keep in the fridge for salads/dipping. Add about 1/4 cup of water to thin it out.

Easy and quite tasty. Did not use a non-stick and had to clean a very messy pan, but worth it.

I love this recipe and it has earned a place in my weekly rotation. HOWEVER, I use only a heaping teaspoon of kosher salt instead of the full 1.5 teaspoons. I love salt more than most people and still think the original instruction is too salty.

Add half of the salt to the marinade portion and only a 1/4 t to the dressing portion (taste dressing and adjust if needed). Also, seems like Diamond Crystal kosher salt is now ground finer than it used to be.

This was quick and good. Sautéed a couple pieces bacon. Used the fat to cook the chicken and crumbled the bacon over the chicken. Be careful adding water to loosen saved marinade. Only need 1-2 TBS. I overdid it, and sauce to drizzle was too loose. I added extra dill, chives, and garlic to marinade. Taste as you go. Definitely worth making on a weekday night.

Perfect as written. Delicious!

Make double the Ranch!

Definitely squeeze some lemon over the chicken when plated.Could also be good with the chicken on a sheet pan in the oven at 425.

Anyone saying it’s too salty…did you use kosher salt? If you used table salt, you added about 2x the amount specified in the recipe

I did this as a last-minute recipe - just mixed the spices with some vegetable oil and some red wine vinegar to replace the acidity of the sour cream, and then my husband grilled the chicken. It turned out really well!

Really good!! And so easy!I agree the sauce is too salty- I added some more yogurt, buttermilk and lemon juice and it toned it down. I don’t think the marinade is too salty though, so maybe it would be better to salt them separately next time. Served with potatoes and broccoli and both were good with the marinade!

Brilliant, great happiness in the mouth. The sauce is key, for the marinade, and again for serving. Fresh herbs are *so* worth the trip to a local place where you can get parsley etc. cheap (I used parsley, dill & a bit of tarragon). I used thin chicken cutlets (they didn't brown like they did in the photo but were delicious). Served with a baked potato, which made sense to me because ranch dressing is so sour cream-adjacent. Will def. make again, and for company.

I will never buy bottled ranch dressing ever again. This was amazing.

Winner winner. This was great and cooked as directed. Simple and easy but felt special to my family. I did add lemon juice to the left over sauce and it was perfect so thanks for that suggestion. We used it to dip our asparagus in and on the side for the chicken and it was sooo good.