This creamy ranch chicken recipe is comforting and delicious with juicy pan-seared chicken breasts in a zesty and flavorful cream sauce. Serve it with some mashed potatoes, rice, or egg noodles to soak up all that rich gravy.
Today we’re making some creamy ranch chicken that’s an easy skillet meal with simple ingredients but incredible flavor. Ranch seasoning is the star of the show and elevates the humble chicken breast giving you savory comfort food with a ton of sauce to go around. Spoon it over mashed potatoes, serve it on a bed of white rice, or ladle it generously over a bowl of warm buttered egg noodles.
It’s a simple, must-try recipe if you’re looking for a way to dress up plain chicken. The chicken is seasoned and pan-seared in some butter until crisp and golden. A creamy ranch sauce is made from a combination of chicken broth, milk, ranch, sour cream, onion and garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Serve this at the dinner table for a ranch-flavored meal the whole family will enjoy, like this well-loved bacon ranch pasta salad.
For more chicken recipes with a delicious sauce, try this chicken Lazone, creamy mushroom chicken, honey garlic chicken, or slow cooker chicken and gravy.
How To Make Creamy Ranch Chicken (1 Min Video)
Ingredients in Creamy Ranch Chicken
CREAMY RANCH CHICKEN RECIPE TIPS
- Chicken – Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness so it cooks evenly. A mounded center usually means the ends will be drier by the time the thicker part finishes cooking. You can use a meat mallet and place the chicken breasts between some plastic wrap, parchment paper, or in a Ziploc bag.
- Two-hand seasoning method – The easiest way to minimize hand washing while seasoning meat is to use the dry and wet hand method. Use your dominant hand to sprinkle seasoning onto the meat and use your other hand to pat in seasonings and flip the chicken.
- Seasoning – Work the salt and pepper into the chicken breasts by massaging them in.
- Butter – I like using Land O Lakes butter. The half sticks are perfect for slicing off into cubes and they come with measurements by the tablespoon or cup written onto the packaging so you can skip measuring spoonfuls of butter.
- Flour – This helps thicken the sauce. After adding it to the melted butter, the mixture will bubble a little while cooking.
- Chicken broth – Use low-sodium chicken broth since there’s already enough sodium from the ranch seasoning packet.
- Sour cream – This adds more flavor and thickens the sauce a little. I used 1/4 cup of sour cream to balance out the flavors so it tastes more like ranch dressing than sour cream. If you prefer a stronger sour cream flavor, feel free to increase this amount to about 1/2 cup. Use full-fat sour cream so it doesn’t curdle in the sauce.
- Ranch dip seasoning mix – I used one (1 oz.) packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dry seasoning. If you’re uncomfortable with the amount of sodium, try using half a packet of ranch seasoning instead. You might also be able to substitute the dry mix with regular ranch dressing from the bottle but I have not personally tested this.
- Leftovers – Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat – Reheat this in the microwave or in a pan over low heat. Add a splash of milk if needed to loosen up the sauce when reheating.
Customize It!
- Add more flavor – Top the chicken with some chunky bacon bits before serving or add them into the sauce.
What to Serve with Creamy Ranch Chicken
Serve this creamy chicken with some starch that will absorb all that yummy sauce. The chicken pairs wonderfully with mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles. Add some veggies to balance out the meal like green beans, garlic Parmesan roasted broccoli, lemon pepper asparagus, or some garlic butter mushrooms.
And that’s about it. Enjoy your meal and let me know how you liked it, what substitutions you made and what you paired it with in the comments below!
This post was originally published on November 19, 2017 and updated on September 25, 2022.
MORE CHICKEN BREAST RECIPES TO TRY
- Easy Oven-Baked Chicken
- Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breast
- Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- Honey Garlic Butter Chicken
- Chicken with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce
Did you make this recipe? Rate it!
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Creamy Ranch Chicken
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This creamy ranch chicken recipe is comforting and delicious with juicy pan-seared chicken breasts in a zesty and flavorful cream sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5–8 oz. each)
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- Fresh parsley, to garnish (optional)
SAUCE
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 (1 oz.) packet Ranch seasoning mix
Instructions
- Pound the chicken breasts to an even 1” thickness using a meat mallet and season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add olive oil. Sear the chicken on each side until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- Reduce heat to low and add the remaining butter. Stir in flour and cook for about one minute.
- Pour in chicken broth and scrape up the browned bits stuck to the pan.
- Add milk, sour cream, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and ranch seasoning mix. Stir to combine until the sour cream and ranch seasoning has fully dissolved into the sauce.
- Add chicken and plate juices back to the pan and spoon the sauce over the chicken. Simmer in the sauce until the chicken is heated through and the sauce has reduced slightly.
- Dish and serve hot topped with fresh parsley (optional).
- Enjoy!
Notes
- I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the smaller side (about 5-8 oz. each). If you have large chicken breasts, cut 2 breasts in half lengthwise to get 4 chicken cutlets.
- Use full-fat sour cream so it doesn’t curdle in the sauce.
- Add more flavor – Top the chicken with some chunky bacon bits before serving or add them into the sauce.
- Scroll up to RECIPE TIPS for more useful tips, suggestions and ingredient substitutions.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Comments & Reviews
Thank you for an amazing recipe. This dish was delicious and easy to make. The sauce has so much flavor. I served it with red skin mashed potatoes and fresh string beans. Definitely a keeper will be added to the rotation!
Yum! The sauce pairs great with anything that can soak it all up. String beans are a good choice – need some fresh veggies with a neutral flavor to balance out all the flavor from the chicken so the chicken can remain the star of the show!
It was ok I used Angel hair pasta and i didn’t have any bacon.
Next time I make it I will be sure to add bacon and mashed potatoes
Thanks for sharing, Donna. I served mine with all the gravy poured over mashed potatoes – it was great! I hope it’s better for you the next time around with the bacon added on.
I really enjoyed this recipe. It was very easy to make and was very flavorful. I served it with white rice and fresh asparagus. I just bought the ingredients to make it again.
Perfect! All that rice will soak up the sauce beautifully. I hope the second time around was just as tasty for you.
Love thos recipe! So darn tasty!
Glad I could help you find some tasty recipes 😀
Yummy flavorful recipe my whole family loved it.
Yay! Always happy to hear these were a hit! Thank you for trying it out, Tameka 🙂
Made this recipe not long ago. It was delicious. My husband and son loved it. Will be making it again for sure.
Thanks for sharing, Pamela. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it so much!
I added some broccoli and pasta and just cubed the chicken instead. The second time I made it I used onion and garlic instead of the powder. I love that it gives a good starting base, I can then modify to fit what we like
Delicious add-ons! That’s the spirit of cooking – using a recipe as inspiration and adding in whatever you have on hand.
Love love this recipe! I used plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and I didn’t have any chicken broth in hand so I used a garlic herb bouillon mixed in hot water. This is now a favorite in our house.
Thanks for sharing your substitutions, Sheri! This should help others who want to opt out of sour cream.
Haven’t nadir but it looks great and seems easy to make.
It’s quickly becoming one of my more popular recipes. I hope you try it out, Doris.
It was ok, filled our bellies, but have a 4 Star minimum for a recipe repeat in our hours. Three out of three said, 3 stars.
Thanks for taking the time and ingredients to try it out, Debbie!
This is such a delicious recipe! Love it and it’s a big hit with my kids. Definitely will be making this again!
I love it! So great to hear that your kids enjoyed the chicken 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Elizabeth.
This was delicious, but it tasted more Italian than Ranch. I will try without the Italian seasoning and possibly up the ranch and add dill.
Dill is a great addition. I hope you like it better the second time after making those adjustments. Good luck and happy cooking!
Can I do this in the crock pot? If so- what would your cooking suggestion be?
I would skip the butter and olive oil, and just add the seasoned chicken to the crock pot. Add the sauce ingredients except for sour cream and milk. Cook on LOW for 4 hours then add sour cream and substitute the milk with equal parts heavy cream (so it doesn’t curdle) and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes. Just so the dairy incorporates into the sauce – we add it in at the end so it does not curdle.
You won’t have a seared chicken texture but the chicken will be just as good with the sauce and you will have the choice to shred it since it will be fork-tender.
Great recipes
Thank you, Sue. I hope you try some of them and let me know what you think!
This was a hit with family and our neighbor last night. It’s a keeper!
Fantastic! Thanks for giving this recipe a go and for making it while entertaining – I’m happy to hear it was a hit.