Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken

This Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken comes together quickly and easily for a delicious weeknight meal! The chicken breasts bake up super juicy and are topped with a creamy layer of cheese, ranch, and crispy bacon. All the tastiest flavors! With only six ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and minimal prep time, this recipe is so simple and pairs with a wide variety of side dishes. Plus, it’s a lower carb option! Each serving of this Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken is just 313 calories, 4 grams of carbs or 5 WW Points on the Weight Watchers program. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here!

What should I serve this with?

This Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken would pair well with a variety of tasty side dishes including rice, salad, roasted vegetables, potatoes, and more! I think my Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Easy Slow Cooker Carrots, Spinach and Parmesan Orzo, Zucchini Casserole, Stovetop Green Beans with Almonds, Air Fryer Cajun Potatoes, Garlic Herb Mushrooms, Broccoli Salad, Broccoli Cheddar Twice Baked Potatoes, or Zucchini Squares would all be terrific choices for a side dish.

Chicken Cutlets

I often buy a big pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down to make 5-6 oz cutlets to use in recipes. For this Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken my cutlets were about 5.5 ounces each. Everything I cut off of the breasts to make the cutlets gets cut into chunks to make chicken bites, such as my Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, BBQ Rubbed Chicken Bites, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, or Blackened Chicken Bites. It’s easy to weigh out 1 lb or 1.5 lb of chicken chunks and some 5 oz cutlets and freeze them for later in quart size freezer bags. That way, I always have some cutlets and some chicken bites on hand! Buying the bulk packs of chicken breasts is cost-effective, and cutting them into cutlets and bites ensured I have what I need on hand when I go to make a recipe. I find that kitchen shears make this task go quicker and easier than using a knife, so I highly recommend using shears.

More Tasty Lightened-Up Chicken Recipes

Looking for more tasty, lightened up chicken recipes like this Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken? Check out my Cheesy Garden Vegetable Baked Chicken, Blackened Chicken with Avocado Corn Topping, Pickle Brined Chicken Bites, Mexican Street Corn Chicken, Cheesy Broccoli Stuffed Chicken, Air Fryer Chicken Tenders, Crispy Onion Dip Chicken, Crispy Chicken Parmesan, Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Bake, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and many more in the Chicken section of my recipe index!

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 20 minutes mins

Total Time: 40 minutes mins

Yield: 4 servings

This Cheesy Bacon Ranch Baked Chicken comes together quickly and easily for a delicious weeknight meal!

• 4 slices center cut bacon, (I use Oscar Mayer)
• 4 (5.5 oz each) thin chicken breast cutlets, 22 oz total (if you buy large breasts, trim them to 5.5 ounces each and pound them thin)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup light mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons ranch seasoning, (I use Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing and Seasoning Mix)
• 1 oz shredded 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese

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• Cook the bacon slices to crisp according to package instructions and then drain on a stack of paper towels. Chop or crumble into small pieces.

• Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly mist it with cooking spray.

• Sprinkle the salt and pepper evenly over both sides of the chicken breasts and place them on the lined baking sheet, not touching each other.

• In a mixing bowl, stir together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch seasoning until combined. Add most of the chopped bacon along with the shredded cheese and stir together until mixed.

• Evenly divide the cheese mixture amongst the chicken breasts and spread it out over the top of each breast. Sprinkle the remaining bacon pieces over the top. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the chicken breasts are cooked through. Let the chicken rest for a few minutes before cutting/serving.

To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
WW Points per serving: 5 (Points calculated using the recipe builder in the WW app)
Nutrition Information per (1 chicken breast) serving:
313 calories, 4 g carbs, 1 g sugars, 14 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 40 g protein, 0 g fiber, 547 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com)
Weight Watchers Points Plus:
8 per (1 chicken breast) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info)

Author: Emily Bites

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American