This chicken spaghetti with bacon and ranch sauce is delicious! This idea came to me one evening when I had a ton of chicken to prepare. I sincerely hope you love it as much as our family did!
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 hrs 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (1 ounce) package dry ranch dressing mix (such as Hidden Valley Ranch®)
- 1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
- 1 cup milk
- 1 (8 ounce) package bacon
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, or more to taste
Instructions
- Place chicken in a slow cooker. Coat with kosher salt, seasoned salt, black pepper, pepper flakes, and thyme. Pour chicken broth in and around the chicken. Cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours.
- Shred chicken and place back into the broth. Add cream cheese and stir well to dissolve. Stir in ranch dressing. Add pasta and milk. Stir, place lid back on, and cook on High for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels.
- Mix Cheddar cheese into pasta; crumble in bacon and stir to combine. Cook until cheese is melted and pasta is tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 minutes more.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 658 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 158 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 51 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 2240 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this exactly as written and it turned out great! Lots of chicken, very hearty. I LOVE the flavor of the sauce. I was nervous about the pasta after reading the other review about it ending up pasty, but I didn’t have that problem. Just in case it helps, I stirred only briefly after adding the pasta initially to avoid too much starch getting released (just enough to get the pasta completely submerged in the liquid). I’d definitely make this again, and could even do less chicken next time.
The flavoring of the sauce was good. However, I used ziti and it became very pasty after 30 minutes. I fished it out and made macaroni on the stove. Much better. However, one pound of pasta along with the two cups of cheese made this very thick and not very appetizing. There are other recipes I would make instead.
Our family loved this. It was delish!