Creamy Chicken Pasta with Bacon and Ranch

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Bacon – This tasty pasta dish is packed with ranch and bacon flavor, and can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.



 

Things have been crazy at my house!! My kids actually had to have cereal for dinner on Tuesday night. I should say “got” to have cereal because they were thrilled to death. They think cereal is one of the best foods on earth. Me, not so much.

 

Anyway, I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and have a little free time again. So of course I am spending it blogging when I should be exercising. 😉

 

I made this pasta recipe for dinner on Sunday because my tooth was still sore from the dentist’s visit, and I needed something easy to chew. I found it at BHG a few months ago, but I made some changes.

 

First of all, the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing mix. I tried it that way and we thought it was waaaaay to much. Like so salty and powerful that it was hard to eat. We ended up throwing the leftovers away.

 

But with chicken, bacon, and ranch, I knew the dish had potential, so I tweaked it. I used less ranch mix, and added more milk to the sauce. This time it was a huge hit with everyone in the family. We ended up fighting over the leftovers. Don’t worry, no one got hurt. 😉 This is a quick and easy meal that I will be making often. It is delicious!

 

Creamy Chicken Pasta with Bacon

6 slices bacon, diced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1-2 tsp dry ranch dressing mix
1 Tbsp fresh parmesan cheese, optional
Hot pasta noodles

Cook bacon over medium heat till crispy. Remove from pan and set aside. Drain all but 2 Tbsp of the bacon grease. Cook chicken in the bacon grease till completely done.  Stir in flour, then slowly stir in the milk. Add the ranch dressing mix. Cook and stir till thickened; boil at least one minute. Add chicken and bacon to the sauce. Serve over hot pasta and top with parmesan cheese if desired.

-Serves 6

Notes:
If you are in a big hurry, you can use Hormel bacon bits. Just cook the chicken in 2 Tbsp of butter instead of the bacon grease, and proceed with the recipe as usual. Still really good!

Here are a few more of my favorite easy chicken recipes:

Easy Cashew Chicken

Black Bean Salsa Chicken

Garlic Chicken Pasta with Spinach