Cheesy Chicken Ranch Pasta Bake

By Sarah 5 Comments

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I was a brave soul. I found a recipe for this Cheesy Chicken Pasta. I’d never eaten it before, but it sounded so good, I decided to make it for a friend who had just had her baby. I made a double batch. One for her family and one for ours. I’m just hoping her family liked it, because everyone but one person in our family LOVED it. The one who didn’t like it complained about the melted cheese. Sometimes she loves melted cheese, other times, she doesn’t. I’m never quite sure when it will turn her off….or what exactly she doesn’t like about melted cheese! I happen to love it a little TOO much!

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This is my modified version of the original recipe. It calls for cubed or shredded chicken. I made it super easy on myself and put several chicken breasts in the crockpot covered with some Italian dressing and then shredded it when I was ready to put it in.

Cheesy Chicken Ranch Pasta Bake

Ingredients:

3 cups of milk
1 (1 oz) pkg. Ranch Dressing Mix (not the dip blend)
3 C. shredded or cubed, cooked, chicken (I used 3 breasts)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 box of Penne Noodles
3 Cups of Colby Jack Cheese (or cheese of your choice)

Directions:

Mix the 3 cups of milk with the ranch dressing mix and pepper. Simmer on the stove for about 20-25 minutes. It should thicken. Stir frequently. While that is going, boil some water and cook your Penne noodles.

At the end of your 20-25 minutes add 1/2 of the cheese to the milk/ranch mix. This should help it to thicken a bit, but it will still seem too runny. It’s OK. Combine the sauce with the noodles and the chicken. Mix well. Pour into cake or lasagna pan. Cover with remaining cheese and bake long enough for the cheese on top to melt. Let cool and dig in!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Amorette DavisUser of the Free Freezer to Slow Cooker One Week Menu
Thank you so much! As a special needs mommy these recipes have helped us so much. I often am very busy with being a nurse for our child that I don't have time for making sure we get meals. This allows me to do all my prep on the weekends, while my husband is home to help, and to cook during the week. So grateful!
Linda SearsOwner of Freezer to Slow Cooker Menus
Sarah’s Freezer to Slow Cooker ebooks have been a fantastic addition to my meal plans. They make meal planning easy and my family happy. I love the way each recipe is laid out, with a shopping list and ingredient prep list, along with cooking instructions. Sarah’s done all the hard work for me! The recipes have used have all been delicious and easily adaptable to my family’s taste and the number of people I’m serving.
FranOwner of Freezer to Slow Cooker Ebooks
I purchased all of your freezer to slow cooker ebooks a month or so ago and I'm in love with this way of cooking. I now have taken all 10 weeks of recipes and written them of my menu planner and then I repeated the 10 weeks and will continue to do so throughout the year. My family of 5 adults and 1 child enjoy the meals that you have planned and I have cooked and I'm excited that the next time when that meal comes due up in the rotation I won't have to purchase anything but just pull it from the freezer. Thank you so much

A Happy Slow Cooker User
rayzn2angelsfrom Freezer to Slow Cooker Series
This makes my life so much easier. I'm a busy work at home/stay at home mom, wife, business woman and I feel like dinner is always the thing I just never get time to do. We have done like 15 of the crockpot recipes from Sarah and they are all very yummy. They get a thumbs up from my husband and kids every time. And there is always enough for my husband to take the left overs at least 2x per recipe. I have a family of 5, 2 adults, 21, 13, 16. So it makes plenty. Thank you Sarah.
Dawn S.Buyer of Freezer to Slow Cooker Ebook Series
I am a 59-year-old wife and mother of two grown children. I love your idea of fixing a lot of meals ahead of time and then pulling one out, put it in the crockpot, and you have dinner when you get home. I hate feeling rushed when I cook so Monday - Friday I use those crockpot meals and make enough that we have lunch the next day. I take Sunday afternoon, fix up what I need for the week (I don't have a lot of freezer space so I do a week's worth at a time) and I'm done with it! Saturdays I like to try new recipes from some of my cookbooks which I am finding I can freeze as well! So you have shown me a whole new way to organize my time and still put a healthy meal on the table. Thanks so much and I look forward to future blogs.