You just need 5 minutes of prep, 5 ingredients, and 1 dish for this easy dinner: Dump-and-Bake Smothered Chicken with Bacon! It's cozy, comforting and super easy to put together. Best of all the whole family will love it too!
How about an easy dinner that's guaranteed to make everyone around your table smile?
This tender, juicy Ranch-seasoned chicken is baked in Alfredo sauce and smothered with cheese and crispy bacon. Most importantly, it's a recipe that you actually have TIME to make! This Dump-and-Bake meal only requires 5 ingredients (hello, quick grocery store run!), 5 minutes of prep, and 1 dish. Can't beat that!
How To Make Smothered Chicken With Bacon
You'll start by placing the chicken in a baking dish and sprinkling Ranch seasoning over top.
Add a jar of Alfredo sauce, cover it with foil, and pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Once the chicken is cooked through, it's time for the good stuff! The meat is smothered with provolone cheese and a little bit of chopped, cooked bacon.
I like to break the cheese slices into a few pieces so that they fit neatly on the chicken before finishing with the bacon.
Then the dish goes back in the oven for about 5 more minutes so that the cheese melts and the bacon gets crispy. Then...BOOM! You've got a restaurant-quality dinner to serve your family with practically ZERO effort involved.
Serving Suggestions
I like to serve this chicken on top of spaghetti squash for a lighter option, but regular pasta, rice, or crusty bread would also be perfect. You want to make sure that you've got something tasty to soak up that cheesy, creamy sauce! My Make Ahead Garlic Mashed Potatoes would be perfect, too!
Tips For Making Smothered Chicken
- Cooking for Two? You can easily cut this recipe in half and bake it in an 8-inch square dish.
- Want to Prep Ahead? You can add all of the ingredients to the dish, cover, and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
- I prepare my bacon ahead of time by baking in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 13 minutes. You can also use the microwave or just take a shortcut and buy the precooked bacon at the grocery store, crumbling it with your fingers as you sprinkle it over the chicken (that saves a step and doesn’t require any dirty dishes)!
I hope that you'll add this 5-minute dinner to your next meal plan. Even my little guy can tolerate the shopping trip for just 5 ingredients!
More Chicken Recipes You Might Like:
- Dump and Bake Tortellini Alfredo with Chicken
- Southern Baked Chicken Parmesan
- Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Casserole
- Dump and Bake Chicken Pot Pie Pasta
Dump-and-Bake Smothered Chicken with Bacon
Ingredients
- 6 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 2 large breasts thinly sliced, about 24 ounces total)
- 1 tablespoon Ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix (just the dry seasoning)
- 1 (15 ounce) jar (about 1 ¾ cups) Alfredo pasta sauce
- 4 slices cooked, chopped bacon*
- 3 slices provolone cheese
- Optional: fresh parsley or chives for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven the 375F (190C). Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place chicken in prepared dish and sprinkle both sides of the meat with Ranch seasoning mix.
- Pour Alfredo sauce over top of the meat, toss to coat, and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.
- Remove chicken from the oven; top with cheese slices, breaking the cheese to fit on each piece of meat. Sprinkle with chopped bacon and return the dish to the oven (uncovered) for 5 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- If desired, garnish with fresh herbs just before serving.
Notes
- Cooking for Two? You can easily cut this recipe in half and bake it in an 8-inch square dish.
- Want to Prep Ahead? You can add all of the ingredients to the dish, cover, and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
This looks amazing, Blair! My husband and I eat chicken a lot,so I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it. I love the choice of cheese in here, and of course, the bacon! What a perfect weeknight meal. Can't wait to try this!
Thank you, Gayle! As far as I'm concerned, you can never go wrong with the combo of chicken, bacon, and cheese! 🙂
Yum! One question...I love everything about this dish except for the ranch. I just hate ranch dressing and ranch flavor. Any suggestions for a replacement that would pair well with the other ingredients?
Hey, Lauren! No problem! You have a few options instead of the Ranch: you can keep it simple and just season the chicken with salt and pepper (there's plenty of flavor in the sauce, so it will still be delicious), or you could substitute some Italian seasoning instead of the Ranch (usually a combo of basil, parsley, garlic, thyme, oregano, and sage). Hope that helps!
Chicken and BACON?!? OMG YUM! I need to try this friend. Love your dump and bake recipes. They are so fun.
Such a great combo right, Megan?! Thanks for stopping by...I know you appreciate easy recipes too!
Another awesome dump and bake recipe! Jesse would LOVE this!
Thanks, Kristy! It's totally man-friendly!
When do u put the ranch dressing in it ! It doesn’t say! I’m ready to cook this!
Hi, Regina! It's just the dry Ranch seasoning mix that you use to season the chicken -- the instructions are in Step #2 of the recipe instructions above. 🙂
Enjoy!
I know I will thanks!!
instead of provolone cheese can I use mozzarella or cheddar
Absolutely, Taylor. Enjoy!
Which brand of Alfredo do you like?
Hey, Suzie! I used the Classico Four Cheese Alfredo and it was good! 🙂
Yay! Another yummy, quick and easy dinner recipe! Made your Garlic Parmesan Chicken Broccoli Potato bake and it was delicious!!
Awesome! So glad that you enjoyed the Parmesan Chicken, Kelly! Thanks for letting me know, and I hope that you'll give this one a try too! It's a keeper! 🙂
Wow ! That is for sure a lovely and comforting dinner 🙂 Who doesn't love cheese ,chicken and bacon 😉 This is must make in my list !
Thanks, Ruwani!!! Such a great combo, right?
I tried this tonight and I was iffy at first, but it actually turned out DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for posting this recipe, I will make it again!
Awesome! It's always nice to find a new (and easy) dinner idea! Glad that you enjoyed it. 🙂
Holy crap that's a lot of sodium. Do you know of any lower sodium options?
Hey, Lisa! If you want less sodium, you can start with a homemade Ranch seasoning mix. That would help. I don't have any specific ranch recipes on my website, but I know that you can find a bunch of options on Google. Also, the nutrition information includes all of the sauce in the pan. If you want to lighten it up a bit, I would focus on eating more of the chicken, and leaving any excess sauce in the dish. That will also help eliminate a lot of extra sodium. Hope that helps! 🙂
Would this work in the crock pot?
Yes! That's such a great idea, Stephanie! I think it would work well! I would try 4-6 hours on low (or 1 1/2 - 2 hours on HIGH), and add the cheese and bacon to the top at the end (allow cheese to melt, and then serve). Cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken and on your individual slow cooker. Let me know if you give it a try!
This looks SO good! But i was wondering, is there any way i could use pepper jack cheese instead of provolone? Would it change the taste? We love pepper jack in this brand!! Would love to try this out!
Hi, Haleigh! Of course! You can use any cheese that you love. The pepper jack sounds great!
Excellent and easy to make
Thanks, Michael!
WOW! This recipe was excellent, and super simple.
Thanks, Jo! So glad that you liked it! 🙂
If using frozen chicken breast how would you get the ranch to stay on?
Hi, Shelly! If you have time to thaw the chicken, that's ideal. If not, then I would just sprinkle the ranch seasoning over top of the chicken in the exact same way that you would if it was thawed. 🙂
This recipe was delicious. We thought it was so good we would try it on pork chops using an Italian/Pizza seasoning instead of the ranch dressing and prosciutto instead of bacon (out of bacon) and served it over penne with a caprese salad. My family loved it. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I can't wait to try others.
Thanks, Kim! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! I love the twist with the pork and Italian seasoning. SO good!
Make this all the time!! We love it!!
That's awesome! Thanks, Tammy!