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!
♡ If you liked this recipe, giving it a star rating ★★★★★ in the comments below really helps! For more recipes, subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
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
I changed the measurement on the sour cream to make it a 1/2, just to make it more creamy. So delicious!
That works just as well! I remember using that amount in my second recipe testing but decided it was too sour creamy and less ranchy, so I adjusted the amount to make ranch the star of the show! Glad to hear you managed to customize it to your tastes 🙂
Could I use non fat plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream?
You could, but I would try to use regular Greek yogurt as the non-fat types are more prone to curdling. If you only want to use non-fat, I would add it and simmer the sauce over very low heat so it curdles less.
This was really good! I’ll definitely make it again.
Glad to hear it, Cindy! Enjoy the ranch chicken the next time you make it 🙂
My family of little boys loved this recipe! It hats saying a lot to get picky eaters to love something! Made it exactly as written and it was great!
I always love hearing comments involving picky eaters! It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Thanks for trying this recipe out and I’m glad your boys enjoyed it so much!
Oh my goodness, my two year old who only eats tomato soup and grilled cheese, devoured this! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
What bragging rights! This comment made me day today, so thank you 🙂 I’m glad to hear the recipe does well with kids too.
It is super yummy! I changed it a little to my families tastes, such as dicing the chicken, doubling the seasonings, and adding a little heat! Very easy, quick, and delicious. I served it with veggies and quinoa.
Glad you were able to adapt it to your tastes. Dicing makes it cook faster and there’s less guesswork on if the chicken is cooked – much easier and less fuss! No need for a meat thermometer too!
Goodness! This is restaurant worthy. Such a rich sauce, yummy. With rice pilaf and broccoli. Perfect! Thank you for sharing!
Yummy, those are excellent sides to balance out the richness of the sauce. You’re most welcome and thank you for the compliment, Christine 🙂
Very good and easy to fix. My grandkids loved this dish
I’m happy to hear that and thank you for sharing how the recipe worked out for you and your family, Pat!
Excellent! Easy recipe with most ingredients on hand. Substituted thighs, since I had only two breasts. Very flavorful and quick to prepare.
Thighs are a great substitute – they are so juicy!
This is my second time making this recipe within a 2 week period. It’s so good! The only adjustment I made was I added 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Love this recipe, it’s now a staple in our household! Thank you for the delicious recipe 😉
That’s great! I’m glad you love it so much to have it that often. Great addition with the Parmesan cheese to give the sauce a little Alfredo-y taste 👌
Hi, could you substitute the milk for half and half? Just curious because I don’t have milk on hand
Hey Lori! You can absolutely use half and half instead. It will just be a little creamier and thicker because of the fat content from the cream which means less time spent reducing the sauce till it’s thick to your liking.
This has become my favorite chicken recipe! It’s my go-to now for company also. We all love this so much.
I’m so happy you like it so much! I hope you enjoy this new staple for many years to come. Thank you, Jane.
This was a big hit in my house!
Was searching for a simple chicken recipe with ingredients that I already had and this recipe was the only one that looked interesting.
I did make a couple changes (for some reason I cannot just follow a recipe as written) by seasoning the chicken with salt, pepper, dill, oregano, and a bit of ground thyme before cooking it. The chicken really had great flavor! I also doubled the sauce so I could spoon it over some Jasmine rice. So…freaking…good!!!
It’s always fun to build on a recipe and customize it to your tastes! That’s why I throw in a couple of suggestions in my ‘customize it!’ section – so people can explore different ways to enjoy the food 🙂 I love the extra seasoning you added to the chicken, Italian seasoning will work great too! Thanks for sharing your customizations, Nikki.
This was super easy to make with normal ingredients. It was absolutely delicious! Our whole family loved it and will be making it again 👍🏼
I’m so happy to hear that! My whole aim of the blog is to focus on easy recipes using normal ingredients without sacrificing flavor. Sometimes, it’s a challenge! It’s always great hearing I’m on the right path. Thank you.
I accidently added 1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder instead of 1/2 teaspoon. I was so afraid I had ruined it. So I only added 1/2 a pack of ranch seasoning. The rest of my seasonings I added 1/2 a tablespoon so they would all be equal. Plus I had chicken tenders so I cut them into bitesize pieces, plus I had regular chicken broth. But it turned out AMAZING. I used the sauce for gravy on my mashed potatoes. I will DEFINITELY. Make this again!
Sounds like you had to do some complicated math there! 😀 I’m glad it worked out for you in the end and you managed to save it AND enjoyed it too. The gravy goes so well with mashed potatoes, I love it!