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Creamy Ranch Chicken Casserole Recipe
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Made with minimal ingredients and maximum flavor this creamy Chicken Ranch Casserole is a simple dinner that the whole family will enjoy. Serve with some Butter Rice and Maple Glazed Carrots for the perfect meal!
Chicken Options
An essential part of this recipe, obviously by the title. I love using chicken tenders because they cook much faster than an actual chicken breast. Be aware that your cooking time will increase if you’re using whole chicken breasts. Chicken cutlets would work well and have the same cooking time as listed below. If you only have the thicker chicken breast, feel free to cube it up and throw it in the bottom of the 9×13 dish.
The Ranch Sauce
The creamy sauce for this casserole is made up of cream of chicken soup, sour cream, ranch seasoning, and cheese. All four of these ingredients are mixed together to make the most delicious slather for chicken that there ever was.
Feel free to use light sour cream and a homemade version of cream of chicken soup for a healthier option.
Crunchy Topping Options
I tend to gravitate towards crushed Ritz crackers for any casserole topping because they create a perfectly crunchy and buttery top, but feel free to use club crackers, soda crackers, french fried onions, or even corn flakes (a la funeral potatoes).
Can I add bacon into this recipe?
You can absolutely add bacon to this recipe! You’ll be going from a chicken casserole to a *fancier* chicken bacon ranch casserole. Simply precook the bacon, crumble, and sprinkle it on top with the ritz crackers. I prefer cooking bacon in the oven but you could always use store-bought crumbled bacon.
How to Make Chicken Ranch Casserole
You only need about 10 minutes of prep to get this casserole ready for the oven! Don’t forget the exact measurements and directions are listed in the recipe card below.
Preheat and Prep
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Make Sauce
Stir cream of chicken soup, sour cream, ranch seasoning, and cheese together in a large bowl.
Layer Ingredients
Spread the chicken pieces into the bottom of the pan.
Spread the creamy mixture over the chicken evenly. It doesn’t look good now but trust me, when it comes out of the oven it will look like heaven.
Crush Ritz Crackers and top casserole. You’re looking for medium to small pieces.
Bake and Serve!
Bake 25-35 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Enjoy on its own or with rice.
Can I Make This in Advance?
Yes! Simply make according to recipe directions and store covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. If you are planning on storing it longer than that, I’d recommend adding the crushed crackers right before baking.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
This chicken ranch casserole recipe can last 3-4 days, stored in the refrigerator covered.
To reheat, bake at 325-350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes. Or for individual portions, you can nuke it in the good ol’ microwave. Either way, be careful because the contents WILL be hot.
Can you Freeze Chicken Ranch Casserole?
Yes, you absolutely can! Put together the whole casserole, minus the topping, seal in an airtight container and then freeze, unbaked. When ready to bake, thaw, then add the Ritz topping and bake.
Thaw it out in the fridge the day before baking or reheating.
If you want to freeze a baked casserole, follow the directions, let cool completely, and then freeze.
What to Serve with Chicken Ranch Casserole
If you’ve got some time on your hands while the casserole is baking consider making these side dishes:
- Roasted Green Beans
- Roasted Cauliflower
- Famous Butter Rice
- Homemade Crescent Rolls (No-Knead Recipe)
- Strawberry Salad
- Pear Salad
More Chicken Casseroles to Try!
- Chicken Wild Rice Casserole
- Chicken and Stuffing Casserole with Sour Cream
- Swiss Chicken Casserole
- Southwest Chicken Pasta Casserole
- Pesto Chicken and Rice Casserole
- Southwest Crockpot Egg Noodle Casserole
- See my list of 15+ Family Favorite Chicken Casserole Recipes
More Favorites from Lauren’s Latest
Be sure to pin, save, email, bookmark or share this recipe because it’s one you’re going to keep coming back to again and again! Have a great day, friends!
Creamy Chicken Ranch Casserole
Made with minimal ingredients and maximum flavor this creamy Chicken Ranch Casserole is a simple dinner that the whole family will enjoy.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken tenderloins
- 10 1/2 oz cream of chicken soup 1 can
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 oz ranch seasoning packet
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 40 Ritz crackers crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a bowl, stir cream of chicken soup together with sour cream, ranch seasoning, and cheese.
- Spread chicken into the bottom of the pan.
- Spread the creamy mixture over the chicken evenly.
- Top with crushed crackers and bake 25-30 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Enjoy on its own or with rice.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 465kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 37gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 138mgSodium: 974mgPotassium: 973mgSugar: 6gVitamin A: 700IUVitamin C: 2.3mgCalcium: 170mgIron: 1.6mg
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I keep this recipe on rotation at my house! We absolutely love it! This past couple of times I’ve added precooked bacon on top of the cream mixture and top with shredded cheese and crushed ritz. The smokiness of the bacon flavors the whole dish and it is phenomenal! For a quick and easy side, I serve this on top of cooked instant rice.
I didn’t have Ritz crackers on hand or cream of chicken, so I used crushed cornflakes, and cream of celery. I added bacon bits, corn, and some extra spices to the mixture. I also (after topping with cornflakes) sprinkles some crispy fried onions on top. My family loved it!
thank you for this I didn’t really use your recipe because I don’t eat canned soup but I was looking for someone who put the chicken in raw instead of cooking it first because overcooked chicken isn’t very good. I just wanted to make sure that it would work because I wait till the last minute to fix any meal LOL and I don’t have time to start over so thank you very much for posting your casserole with raw chicken! I assume you’re alive and didn’t die of salmonella LOL just kidding seriously thanks for the Post
I keep this in rotation at my house. we love it! I server it on a bed of rice with some sort of veggie on the side. It’s delicious!
Made this tonight with tenderloins, Campbell’s new buffalo cream of chicken soup and it’s fantastic. I seared the tenders in bacon grease for a few minutes before making the casserole. I’d give it 10 stars
I added small can green chilis,chives,parsely.it came out good.served over rice.
I really wanted to like this but damn, those tenderloins or chicken tenders just ruined it for me. They were so damn dry. Why didn’t I listen to my first instinct and just use what I usually use, chicken thighs? I thought because so many complained how their chicken was raw after cooking these tiny thin dry pieces of low fat chicken for 30 minutes that maybe, just maybe they would not be overcooked and be somewhat moist and juicty. I was wrong. They were dry as a bone. Whatever seasoning and ingredients were put into this fell dead onto my taste buds because of how dry the chicken was. This will teach me to never, ever cook any white chicken meat, ever again. Certainly not for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Feh. Ruined the entire meal. I do not understand, for the life of me, how these cooks got raw tenderloins from cooking them for 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It’s a mystery.
I tried this recipe and I must have read the ingredients wrong .Nobody in the house could eat it. It was super sour with the 11/2 cups of sour cream. I think maybe 1/2 cup would be fine.
I put celery and onions in and cut up the chicken in bite size pieces and mixed everything together a layer of cheese then Ritz crackers for the top oh my god was it awesome
First time I made it & it was yummy. My husband loved it so it’s definitely a keeper!
Can you just use store bought ranch dressing instead of making it from scratch?
Karla, you sure can!
This was awful. Completely bland and disgusting. I didn’t even save the leftovers which was a shame because it was such a waste of food.
I sauteed some onions, matchstick carrots, and frozen peas which I topped the chicken with before the sauce. I used cream cheese, a little sour cream and a tad of chicken broth since I didn’t have cream of chicken soup. Also, incorporated some mozzarella cheese. Topped it with some left over prosciutto on the ritz. Cubed the chicken breast and cooked for 35 min. This is my twist and it turned out delicious!
Can you make ahead and let sit for a few hours?
I made this easy Creamy Chicken Ranch Casserole for dinner last night. Turned out very tasty, however, I added pepper and seasoning salt over the chicken before pouring the other ingredients over it, otherwise it would have been very bland tasting to my likings Had mashed potatoes, tossed salad and garlic bread for the side dishes. I will be making again.
Not my favorite chicken casserole. Just okay. My chicken took twice as long to cook even though pieces were small and thin. If I made it again, I think I would just start with already cooked chicken. And maybe add some rice or broccoli.
I just made this today and we loved it. Like several others have said, it took about an hour for the chicken to register 165 degrees. I used tenderloins, but I cut them into cubes, hoping they would cook faster. In any case, this recipe is definitely a keeper!
Making tonight – using tenderloins and at 30 minutes the chicken was still raw. The topping was brown so I was deceived. Ha! Covered and popped back in for another 20-30 min. Hoping I don’t ruin it!
PEOPLE-not all cix tenderloins are created equal! I baked in a glass pan on the lower rack,uncovered, (if your tenderloins are large than 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, cut them to this size ) in my electric oven at 350 degrees, it took 30 minutes & they were PERFECT. I’ve owned & operated restaurants & private clubs all my life and this is a great recipe. You could add mayonnaise or cream cheese as a variation.
I topped mine w/PANKO bird, crumbs (mixed w/melted butter& broiled the top to brown-while watching! You could also layer the chicken on the top of old (hard) dinner rolls , top w/sauce & then bake same amount of time.
We have really enjoyed this recipe, Absolutely Delicious ?
I made this but substituted a feisty ranch pack since it’s all I had handy. It was so good. I also topped with extra cheese instead of crackers.
Really good!!! And is just as good left over…I have made it several times and everyone loves it