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Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad with Cheesy Croutons
This Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad is perfect for lunch or dinner! It's drizzled with the most amazing jalapeño ranch dressing and topped with cheesy croutons!
👥 6 Servings⏱️ Prep & Cook: 40 min⏳ Prep: 25 min🔥 Cook: 15 min👤 Jen📖 carlsbadcravings
🥘 Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you prepare them:
🍳 Cookware
- whisk
- blender
- skillet
- cutting board
- baking sheet
- oven
- pan
- bowl
📝 Preparation Steps
1
Marinade: Whisk together all off the Chicken Marinade ingredients in a freezer size plastic bag. Marinate chicken ⏱️ 4 hours up to overnight in the refrigerator.
2
Dressing: Meanwhile, add all of the Jalapeno Ranch ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth. Add additional milk if needed to reach desired consistency. Refrigerate. (Best chilled. Can be made ⏱️ 24 hours+ ahead of time). Dressing will thicken as it chills so you will probably need to stir in additional milk when ready to serve.
jalapeno, seeded, deveined, roughly chopped1
3
Chicken: Let chicken sit at room temperature for ⏱️ 20 minutes (meanwhile you can chop your veggies). Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Once very hot, remove chicken from marinade and pat dry. Add chicken and cook, undisturbed for ⏱️ 3-5 minutes, or until nicely browned on one side. Turn chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 5-7 more minutes (depending on thickness of chicken), or until chicken is cooked through. Remove to a cutting board and let rest ⏱️ 5 minutes before slicing.
4
Croutons: Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Cube bread into bite size pieces and add to foil lined baking sheet. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Toss until evenly coated then spread into an even layer on baking sheet. Bake for ⏱️ 10 minutes or until golden.
olive oil3 tablespoonscup olive oil1/4teaspoon garlic powder1/4teaspoon paprika1/4
5
Remove from oven and push all croutons close together in the center of the pan. Cover with 1 cup shredded cheese and bake an additional ⏱️ 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let cool before breaking croutons apart with your hands. (Can be done ⏱️ 24 hours+ ahead of time and stored in an airtight container.)
6
Assemble: Add all of the Salad Ingredients to a large bowl except avocadoes and bacon and toss to combine. Garnish with bacon, avocadoes and croutons. Top with chicken and drizzle with Jalapeno Dressing. (If you are expecting leftovers, garnish individual servings with dressing, bacon, croutons and chicken).
jalapeno, seeded, deveined, roughly chopped1
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