Go to the Recipe: Ranch Chicken
Just tried this recipe and rate it a 10! It makes an outstanding weeknight meal or Sunday supper. It's juicy, tender, so flavorful and ultra easy. No fuss, no muss, no tweaking--don't mess with a sure thing! I'll be stocking up on chickens from now on to keep on hand. I might even use this for my Thanksgiving turkey.
Solid lazy Sunday dinner! A few tweaks, that IMO, worked well: Only used one packet of ranch since it seemed sufficient; dry brined the chicken with the seasoning for 6 hours; poured a cup or so of heavy cream over the potatoes and scatter grated parm over before adding the chicken; brushed the chicken with melted butter before roasting. Potatoes came out like a super creamy scalloped potatoes with the burnt cream edges. Chicken was great - crispy skin and super tender. Will make again for sure, maybe with that second ranch package to really punch it up.
Hello Joseph, that will work great for this recipe!
I have a glass casserole dish/baking pan that fits the Joule oven perfectly. Is that good for this recipe?
Hi Tina, which Breville oven do you have? If it is a BOV900 or 950 it should fit fine. If you have the smaller 860 you will need to find a dish that doesn't have the extra handles.
Love this recipe and ordered the 13x9 Staub roasting pan specified in the recipe. It doesn’t fit in my Breville oven. What brand/size baking dish does the ChefSteps kitchen use when roasting the spatchcock chicken in the Breville oven?
The chicken came out moist and delicious. Ate it in sandwiches for 3 days after and it was still moist.
Many thanks
The link above in the equipment list will bring you to a good pair of Mac shears. You can spatchcock the chicken a few days prior to cooking.
Which shears/scissors did you use to take out the backbone? Also, if you are cooking for company, how far ahead can you spatchcock the chicken?
It's going to burn.
Could this recipe work on the grill or would it just burn?
Don't worry too much about precision for this, I've made it so many times now that I bought ranch powder in a bulk container and I don't weigh it out anymore. Just use 2 packets no matter the size of your chicken. It'll seem like a lot but just absolutely cover every surface of the chicken in a ton of ranch powder, it'll turn out great.
Ranch powder has a lot of maltodextrin filler in it, so erring on the side of more is safe.
Why does this call for a precise amount of ranch powder (2 packets at 28g each) but provide no indication of the size of the chicken? Is this a three pound chicken or a 6 pound chicken? I would think that the amount of seasoning would need to be scaled accordingly. Gonna try it anyway as I remember my mom making ranch packet chicken in the 70s and forgot all about it. Now I gots to have it again. I assume it is a 4lb chicken and will scale at a ratio of 4lbs chicken to 56g ranch seasoning).
I preheat my pan in oven with the olive oil and when oven gets to temperature I take pan out and carefully layer potatoes. This helps immensely for crisping. I also put my ranch on the chicken at this point. I lay the chicken breast side down on potatoes and sprinkle on ranch. Then flip it breast side up and do the same. This way any ranch that doesn’t stay on chicken ends up on potatoes.
Tried last night with mixed results. As we are a 2 person family I opted for 4 potatoes. Not enough to soak up juice and fat. I thought I did a good job of trimming the fat off but next time I will spend more time on that part. I also think this would be better with a top tier chicken. I used a publix one and I think that they have more fat than a smart chicken or similar. Great idea though, very flavorful. Thanks for the recipe
1 oz- 28g per packet.
How much ranch powder is in a packet? Have some bulk ranch powder, but not sure how much is in the packets you are using
yep, just leave them whole.
Thanks for the reply! Just to confirm, would you still boil the potatoes first?
You could leave the potatoes whole and they would stay intact and be great.
Has anyone tried this with turkey? I’m wondering if the longer cook time would ruin the potatoes.
We made this last night while various other longer recipes were "in process" of brining, fermenting, proofing and it was delish. I had bone-in skin-on chicken breast w/rib and bone-in skin-on chicken thighs. I tend to soak any chicken I'm going to make in buttermilk for a few hours so I did that first, patted it dry then sprinkled with ranch and pepper on both sides, then coated with EVOO. I added fennel to the potatoes in the oven and made bacon brussel sprouts on the side. The skin was nice and crisp and there was plenty of rendering for au jus or gravy. My husband and neighbor were raving about it and neither of them associated the "ranch dressing" flavor.
very tasty recipe,
however, chicken juice in bottom of pan prevents potatoes from becoming crispy
does anyone else have this issue?
Late to the party here but finally got around to making this (a few times now). Love it, and i'm not even that much of a ranch fan. Worked just fine with sweet potatoes and russets too.. Great weeknight meal w/ time for making sides/cocktails built-in as the chicken roasts...
Re homemade ranch powder - Ideas in Food has a good recipe in their first book.
flesh will be great, I would recommend adding some of the ranch in the brine. but it does create uneven browning on the skin and it will be less crisp.
I tried a few versions in the freeze dryer that turned out well.. but not worth the effort.... trying some in the dehydrator soon
What about brining the chicken in a 2% salt/water solution?
Baby potatoes readily available Coles and Woolworths in Australia
Hi Mike. I really enjoy that NOMA book. I left out a word in my description above. I make my own "Shio and Shuyo" Koji in just a few days. The original recipe came from Cook's Illustrated. Basically crumble up the inoculated rice and add salt water (for Shuyo Koji, use full salt Soy Sauce). I accelerate the fermentation by using a canning jar in the 86F sous vide. Give it a shake every day. At the end of 3 days, I put it in the blender then the fridge, then it's ready to use. Shuyo Koji is really good in red meats.
I marinated my butterflied chicken in Shio Koji for 24 hours. As I was scared I washed all the Shio Koji away and started to roast the chicken with Cretan homemade pasta. However, the chicken hasn't been even brown even after 66 degrees in the breasts.
Next time I won't wash Shio Koji marinade.
Thank you for all the shared information
Kyl,
Any update on your home made ranch powder?
@Andy, I am very interested in making my own Koji. I bought the Noma Guide to Fermentation and learned all about it, but I'd love to find out how to do it in 3 days! Any info you can share?
Just made this recipe, but added a brine. Hang on. I can explain. It’s become customary for me to add a thin coating of Shio Koji to chicken, turkey, beef, venison..okay, any protein, an hour or so before cooking. The time depends on the thickness of the cut. A big turkey would go overnight. It’s important to rinse the Koji off with water before cooking in air because of the sugars left over by the enzymes(?). This dish is roasted, so rinse vigorously before adding the Ranch. Still, it browned way to early so I covered it about half way through. The result was Delicious. However, the skin was tough, not crisp. I’ll have experiment with that a bit. The potatoes were incredible!
By the way, you can make your own Koji in three days with Joule.
ohhh smoked ranch chicken!! way to level it up. all you really need to do is watch the temp of the chicken. I would bring it to around 100-110f in the smoker before transfer to the oven to get a good roast on it.
Any recommendations about using the Traeger on the chicken prior to the roast?
In addition to the ranch powder, the chicken really benefits from a few pinches of chicken powder. I also melted some schmaltz before
putting in the potatoes - the dish turned out great!
I made this last night when we had my parents over for dinner. Watching the video really helped me to butcher the chicken. It was worth it -- the dish was delicious and impressed!
that's not going to work out for you, sorry. it will burn and keep it from getting crispy
I have made this twice now, awesome both times. Spatchcocking is fun and seems to impress people. Love this Chef Steps and Joule. Thank you to the team.
So, just cooked this for a second time. It was even better than the first time. Butchering the chicken takes a few minutes but with a sharp knife and watching the video, it's REALLY worth it.
Thank you your recipes are amazing and you are already using grams and liters instead if cups. It would be great if you could also use more international versions of ingredients, basically just more natural things, so we Europeans have an easier time to follow your recipes
My wife brought some ranch dressing from a holiday. Can we use this liquid dressing instead if a powder? If yes, how does it work?
Looks great, @Nick Roush!
This recipe was easy to follow, and even with some slight modifications turned out very good and very easy. I added some Brussels and used my own spice rub instead. Didn't get the crispy skin all over, but lots of flavor, and again EASY.
Thanks! I will keep an eye for your homemade version!
My favorite homemade ranch powder:
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Add that to 2 cups of sour cream for dip or a mixture buttermilk and sour cream for dressing.
thanks Wes, that is a great one.. I'm going to work on making our own powdered version so you all can make your own packets...
Here's a previous CS attempt at Ranch. But ranch isn't hard to make at home without a recipe; it was my 5 year old's first recipe to make herself! I like a mix of sour cream and mayo, and then throw in green herbs of your choice (I like lots of dill), some garlic powder and onion powder 'to taste', some lemon juice, and some MSG. It is really hard to screw up!
I’ve done this twice and both times were awesome. The first time I had to prep ahead of time so I put the powder on first and put it in the fridge for a couple hours. The second time I powdered it and put it right on top of the potatoes and into the oven.
The second go around was noticeably better. Maybe it just happened to be better, but not letting the powder soak into the skin and meat for a long time seemed to result in a more flavorful dish. This is an every other week staple. Like $15 all in? This is legit.
We are going to work on our own homemade version over the next few months, but basically it is buttermilk powder, dried herbs, dried garlic and dried onions, some MSG and some other preservatives you can skip when making it at home.
we are going to work on our own home made version over the next few months, but basically it is buttermilk powder, dried herbs, dried garlic and dried onions. and some MSG and some other preservatives you can skip when making it at home
Hi we are in Europe (Ireland) and don’t have ranch dressing powder could you give us the ingredients of this powder so we can try to replicate please?
I would recommend still cooking the potatoes whole, just don't boil them so aggressively. Cook until very soft, then cut and smash.
Can I make this with normal sized potatoes, cut into pieces and cooked in less aggressively seasoned water to stop them getting too salty, then smashed? I can't always get baby potatoes here in Australia, they tend to be a seasonal offering at the grocers I shop at.
Also: your wee weeny inch potatoes are adorable, I don't know I've ever seen them so small in retail sale here!
challenge accepted Kevin...
Ok next challenge, can you develop a recipe for a ranch seasoning blend? That would be great for those of us that don't want to buy Hidden Valley Ranch and/or consume the various chemicals included in that seasoning mix...
