This Ranch Chicken recipe is an easy skillet meal with creamy sauce and zesty Ranch seasoning. Serve with a side of vegetables and spoon that delicious sauce over some warm baked potatoes!
Be sure to try my Bacon Ranch Chicken for a twist on this recipe with bacon and cheese!
Creamy Ranch Chicken
This meal is definitely one of my favorite easy meals. It actually came about because I was trying to put a different spin on my super popular creamy chicken stew recipe. And this skillet meal is the perfect way to do just that.
The chicken is perfectly seasoned and so flavorful, (with a little brush of melted butter for an extra crispy golden sear, I might add). And the sauce takes just minutes to make from there.
I have to insist that you serve up some baked potatoes with this meal. Spooning this sauce over some warm, fluffy baked potatoes is truly heavenly. Your family is definitely going to request this often!
Want to take it over the top!? Sprinkle some crispy bacon on top right before serving!
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Slice each chicken breast into 2-3 thinner slices, about 1/2 inch thick. Season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Brush 1 side of each piece with melted butter and sear in olive oil for 4-5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Set aside.
Combine sauce ingredients over medium heat. Let it bubble gently for 5 minutes.
Add chicken back to the skillet and spoon sauce on top. Cover partially and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with mashed or baked potatoes and vegetables.
Pro Tips
- Important! Be sure to get Ranch seasoning mix for this recipe, not Ranch dip mix, they do taste differently and have different uses.
- If you’re not a ranch lover– don’t worry. Ranch seasoning adds a lot of zesty, savory flavor to this sauce, but it doesn’t make it taste like bottled ranch dressing.
- Frozen vegetables can be mixed into the sauce as well. Add them when you add the other sauce ingredients and give them sufficient time to heat through, then add the chicken.
- Brushing the chicken with melted butter not only gives it more flavor, but enhances the golden brown crusty sear. I prefer to brush it right onto the chicken instead of letting it melt in the pan, this way it’s more likely to stay right on the chicken and not burn in the pan.
- If using smaller chicken breasts, consider using 3-4 instead of 2 large.
- Adding Bacon and Cheese: Try my Bacon Ranch Chicken for a fun twist on this recipe!
- Pork Chops: Try my Ranch Pork Chops to switch up the protein!
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 115!
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- It does freeze well, you can freeze baked potatoes with it as well as a side of veggies for easy microwavable lunches or dinners.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- This is the skillet I used in this recipe, (and in 90% of my recipes). It’s pricey, but it conducts heat really well and is oven safe. The size is perfect and the quality is great.
- Meat Tenderizer – Using this tool really does make the chicken more tender, you’ll barely have to chew it!
- Kitchen Tongs– makes it easy to handle the chicken when searing and even easier to flip individual mushroom slices as they cook.
- Ranch Seasoning– I like to buy mine in bulk for all of my Ranch Recipes.
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Creamy Ranch Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 large boneless/skinless chicken breast
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Salt/Pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, can sub vegetable or canola oil
Sauce
- 10.5 oz. cream of chicken soup
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 cup sour cream, at room temp
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 oz. packet Ranch seasoning mix, about 3 Tablespoons
Instructions
Season/Sear the Chicken:
- Slice the chicken into 2-3 thinner slices. Pound with a meat tenderizer if needed, the chicken will plump up more when cooked. Aim for ½ inch thick slices.
- Sprinkle each side of the chicken with Italian seasoning and salt/pepper. Brush one side of each piece with melted butter, make sure the butter isn’t too hot.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add 2-3 pieces of chicken, (buttered side down), leaving room around each. Sauté for 4-5 minutes per side, until a golden brown crust has developed. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
- Pro Tips: Make slight adjustments to the heat, (up or down), as needed during cooking. Add an additional splash of oil if needed throughout cooking. Try to leave the chicken undisturbed as it cooks to get a nice crusty sear. Don’t force it up from the pan, it will release when the crust has formed.
Make the Sauce
- Remove any excess oil from the skillet if needed. Add the sauce ingredients over medium heat. Stir until combined. Let it bubble gently and reduce for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and spoon the sauce on top.
- Cover the skillet partially and let the chicken heat through and absorb the flavors from the sauce, about 10 minutes.
- Optional: Serve with baked potatoes and spoon the sauce over each potato (it is so good that way)!
Notes
- Important! Be sure to get Ranch seasoning mix for this recipe, not Ranch dip mix, they do taste differently and have different uses.
- If you're not a ranch lover- don't worry. Ranch seasoning adds a lot of zesty, savory flavor to this sauce, but it doesn't make it taste like bottled ranch dressing.
- Crispy crumbled bacon is also great on top of this!
- Frozen vegetables can be mixed into the sauce as well. Add them when you add the other sauce ingredients and give them sufficient time to heat through, then add the chicken.
- If using smaller chicken breasts, consider using 3-4 instead of 2 large.
- Adding Bacon and Cheese: Try my Bacon Ranch Chicken for a fun twist on this recipe!
- Pork Chops: Try my Ranch Pork Chops to switch up the protein!
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 115!
Storage:
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- It does freeze well, you can freeze baked potatoes with it as well as a side of veggies for easy microwavable lunches or dinners.
The nutritional information shared is an estimate and is per serving. There are 4 servings in this recipe.
Just made this recipe. We really enjoyed it! I have a lot of sauce remaining even with using it on our potatoes. But that’s what the freezer is for! How long do you think I can keep it frozen? Thanks, Laurie
Hi Laurie, I’ve actually got freezer instructions in the post 😃 , I’ll cut and paste “Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.It does freeze well, you can freeze baked potatoes with it as well as a side of veggies for easy microwavable lunches or dinners.”
Could you substitute cream cheese instead of sour cream? If so how much would you use?
Hi Stacy, the consistency of the sour cream is needed for this recipe, I wouldn’t sub cream cheese here unfortunately.
Just made it! Easy to follow directions and it turned out GREAT! Will definitely cook this again! Thanks ♥️
You’re very welcome Ashley, thanks so much for the great comments and review, I’m so happy you liked it!💗
I’m about to make this. But I’m wondering if Greek yogurt could take the place of sour cream. I do this in many recipes. I feel like it will work, just wanting a second opinion. Thank you for posting this wonderful tasty chicken idea. I get bored with the usual.
I have head other readers say that they have used that as a sub and really enjoyed it! 🙂
We love this recipe!
Wahooo! Great to hear Kathy, thanks so much for the review!💖
This recipe seems wonderful I can’t wait to try it! What recommendation would you have for using ranch dressing instead of a ranch seasoning mix? Perhaps lessening the sour cream or cream of chicken quantity and adding in extra herbs?
Hi Catherine! I haven’t tested this with Ranch dressing, but using less sour cream seems like a logical way to go! If you are able to get your hands on ranch seasoning, it really does make this recipe! ☺️
The recipe came out well. I just wish it would have been a little thicker. But my husband enjoyed it:
I’m glad that you enjoyed it!! The longer the sauce simmers, the thicker it gets. A wide cooking vessel with plenty of surface area will thicken it up more quickly. 😊
This recipe was SO easy and fabulous! Followed it exactly and the flavors were just wonderful. When I tasted the sauce before I put the chicken back in, it seemed salty, but once the chicken married the sauce, it was perfectly seasoned! The sauce was so good that we were dipping our baked potato in it! This goes in our regular rotation. Thanks for creating it!
I’m so happy this was a hit Deb! I know what you mean about soaking up every bit of this sauce with potatoes, yum! Thanks so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review!💗
What would you recommend as a substitute for the cream of chicken soup? One of my daughters is Celiac and that soup has wheat in it.
Hi Alyson! Great Value (Walmart’s brand), makes a glute-free version of cream of chicken soup!
This was so delicious!!! I used 8 boneless, skinless thighs instead since it’s what I had. Also omitted the ranch seasoning and added garlic and onion powders instead. Was a winner with the whole family!
I’m so happy this was a winner with the whole family Tina! Thanks for sharing your tweaks and for taking the time to leave a review!💗
It was so good! My kids even liked this dinner! The flavor of the sauce is too good!
Thanks so much for the great comments Jessica! I’m so happy the kiddos loved it, such a victory!❤️
Definitely recommend bacon, mushrooms would be great too.