Three ingredients, super easy to make, and mind-blowing good! Our Bacon Ranch Chicken Tenders are so simple to make and simply to die for. With the combination of creamy ranch and the crispy bacon wrapping, these chicken bombs are a 100% home run. Make, bake, and go… that simple.
Ashley and I were talking one evening about some of our families favorite things to eat. Common ingredients that kept coming up were chicken, bacon, and ranch. So we decided to combine the three and these do not disappoint! These are great as either a main dish or as an appetizer for whatever event is next on the calendar. We typically pair these with our avocado ranch dip. All the flavors marry so nicely and lend to a wonderful palate-pleaser.
Are chicken tenders and chicken fingers the same thing?
Chicken tenders are a specific muscle, located in the breast next to the ribs. Chicken fingers are breaded and either fried or baked. They are not made from whole pieces of chicken. They’re bits and pieces of chicken meat stuck together with meat glue and formed into regular shapes, so they will cook evenly.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Ranch
- 2.5 LBS Chicken Tenderloins
- 1 LB Bacon
How to make our Bacon Ranch Chicken Tenders:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Pat chicken tenderloins dry. Be sure they are thawed, not frozen.
Dredge chicken in ranch, fully covering the entire exterior of the meat.
Starting at the top end of the chicken, wrap the bacon around the tenderloin. Once wrapped, lay in a baking dish, with the ends of the bacon face down as much as possible.
When dish is full, bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Once time is up, carefully remove dish from the oven and drain as much of the liquid as possible.
Turn the broiler on high or 500 F.
Put dish back into oven on the middle rack, and back for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully. This is where you are crisping up the bacon. Over-cooking can lead to burning!
Once the bacon is nice and brown, pull out and let rest for 5 minutes.
Serve!
The first time we made this, we figured that you can’t really go wrong. I mean, there’s bacon… and ranch. It’s GOTTA taste good. It’s simple, quick and the ingredients are something we always have on hand. Be sure to make our Avocado Ranch Dip because the combination of the two is ah-mazing!
Bacon Ranch Chicken Tenders
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Ranch
- 2.5 LBS Chicken Tenderloins
- 1 LB Bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Pour ranch in a shallow dish. Grease casserole dish for baking.
- Dredge thaw, raw chicken tender through the ranch and completely coat.
- Wrap in bacon, starting at one end of the tender and wrapping toward the opposite end.
- Place in dish. Repeat for remaining ingredients.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and drain fluid from pan by using a deep spoon.
- Place back in oven, under the broiler on high heat.
- Allow bacon to crisp up for 3-5 minutes.
- Keep a close watch so they don't burn!
- Remove from oven and enjoy!
These were so easy and quick to put together and tasted so good! My kids loved them! Interesting story about the chicken tenders too… I didn’t know that fun fact. I served this with rice and green beans to round out the meal. Thanks for a fun and tasty recipe!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the post AND recipe! 🙂