Today I have a delicious flavor mash-up for you. I have combined a cobb salad with ranch flavors to create a Ranch Chicken Cobb Salad. A bed of greens is topped with fresh tomatoes, sliced avocados, crispy bacon, corn, cheddar cheese, and ranch flavored chicken breast, then it is drizzled with an easy homemade avocado ranch dressing. This is a salad that makes eating your vegetables fun.
I love the ranch chicken in this recipe. It's super tender and loaded with tangy ranch flavor. Using the technique of browning the chicken quickly and then covering the pan and reducing the heat to low keeps the chicken really juicy. It's an easy way to ensure that you don't end up with dry stringy chicken.
If you want to save yourself a step, you can use a store-bought salad dressing. I do love the avocado ranch dressing, which is made with sour cream, avocado, ranch seasoning, olive oil, water, salt, and pepper. It comes together in just a couple of minutes, and I think it is definitely worth the effort.
The total preparation time for this salad is just 25 minutes! There are 4 simple steps: crisping up the bacon, sauteeing the chicken, and making the dressing. Pop the bacon in the oven. Then chop, season, and saute the chicken. While the chicken and the bacon cook, mix up the dressing. It's so easy anyone can do it.
I made this salad with mixed greens, but you could use spinach or kale instead. You could add different veggies to this salad - broccoli, bell peppers, and carrots would be great. A hard boiled egg or black beans would add extra protein. Tortilla strips would add extra crunch.
This recipe was inspired by my recipe for Ranch Chicken Tacos. The salad has almost all the same ingredients as the tacos, just assembled in a new way.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chicken Breasts
- 1 Ranch Dressing Packet
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 4 slices of Bacon
- ½ cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- ½ cup Corn
- ½ cup Sliced Tomatoes
- ½ Avocado
- 6 cups of Lettuce Spinach, or Kale
- For the Dressing:
- ½ Avocado
- ½ cup Light Sour Cream
- 2 teaspoons Ranch Dressing Mix
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Dash of Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoons Water
Instructions
- Start by cooking the bacon. Heat your oven to 400 degrees, place the bacon on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crisp. Let cool and then crumble.
- While the bacon is baking, cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and place it in a large ziplock bag. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of dry ranch dressing over the chicken. Seal the bag, and shake the chicken around to evenly distribute the ranch seasoning.
- To cook the chicken, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the chicken in the skillet and let cook for 1 minute, until slightly browned, and flip the chicken over. Cook for another minute. Then cover the skillet, reduce heat to low, and let cook for another 10 minutes. Don't lift the lid on the skillet, or do anything to the chicken for 10 minutes, this is the secret to really tender and moist chicken.
- Then prepare the dressing. Place all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and liquefy. Add more water if the dressing is still too thick.
- Lastly, assemble the salads! Divide the lettuce between 4 bowls, top with the chicken, crumbled bacon, cheese, corn, tomatoes, and avocado. Drizzle the dressing over and serve!
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