Easy Ranch Chicken

Like most of my dishes, this dish came about by accident. On three separate occasions, I had gone to the store to buy some Ranch Dressing mix, the dry mix in an envelope that you add mayo and milk to make fresh Ranch Dressing. On each of these occasions, I got home and realized that I'd mistakenly picked up Ranch 'Dip' mix and not the 'Dressing' mix. Most would say, so what? Right? Well, for those of you who have made this mistake and tried to then make Ranch Dressing with the Dip mix, knows that the two cannot be used interchangeably. The Dip mix is way too salty to make into a dressing. It's completely inedible as a dressing. Trust me! :) So what do I do with all these boxes of Ranch Dip mix? Well, I added them to my Crockpot Pot Roast, delicious! And sprinkled them on Roasted Potatoes. delicious! So there I was looking at my many boxes of Ranch Dip and some frozen chicken breasts and decided to experiment and this is the recipe that resulted. Give it a try, it's an easy one pan dish that's so simple and amazingly delicious! 

Easy Ranch Chicken
Serves 4

4 chicken breasts
1 T olive oil or butter
1 envelope of Hidden Valley Ranch 'Dip' mix*
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
1-2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 pound Brussels sprouts, halved or quartered
1/2 cup of ice cubes
pepper, to taste


*I've made this dish with other brands of Ranch Dip mix, but Hidden Valley gives the best flavor. If you use other brands, you may have to use more than one envelope to get more flavor.

Sprinkle about 3/4 of the envelope of Ranch Dip over chicken breasts. (I usually add the dip mix to a Ziplock bag along with some frozen chicken breasts and allow the chicken to thaw with the ranch dip mix as a kind of marinade or rub.)

When chicken is thawed, preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Heat oil in a large skillet and brown chicken breasts for about 3 minutes each side. Remove chicken breasts and set aside. The chicken will not be fully cooked, you are just browning the outsides for color and you'll then finish cooking in the oven. 

In the same skillet, add the onions and mushrooms and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the browned chicken back into the skillet and add the Brussels sprouts. Note, depending on the size of your Brussels sprouts, you may have to quarter them and make sure they are uniform in size for even cooking. Sprinkle the remaining Ranch Dip over the vegetables and then add ice to skillet. The ice serves two purposes, it helps steam the Brussels sprouts so they'll be perfectly cooked and it makes a nice ranch flavored broth for the vegetables. 

Cover with aluminum foil and bake in 425 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil carefully, to release the steam and serve. 

(Note: I did not add any additional salt to this dish because the dip mix provides the salt, however you can pepper to taste.)