Monterey-Ranch Chicken

 This has to be the most intense chicken I have ever cooked. It was so incredibly good that I was contemplating writing this post last night after we finished dinner and then again when I got up for a 3am feeding with the newborns. However, I am glad I waited and got a little bit of sleep in before telling you all about this scrumptious (I think that’s the first time I used that word on this blog!) chicken. :)

It all started on Pinterest (seems a lot does these days!) where I found a pin for Monterey Chicken. The pinner had said something to the effect that this was the best chicken they had ever cooked. Then I did a google search for Monterey Chicken to only find that everyone and their Mom (not really…) had already tried it, loved it and blogged about it. Darn it!

So, I just decided we would have it for dinner and I would skip blogging about it – since it was just old news anyway. (I even found out that the restaurant chain, Chili’s, serves a Monterey Chicken dish as well)

Then I started making the dish – making small adjustments here and there to suit my liking. When it was all said and done I decided that I had to share it with you – but since I made a few changes to the recipe, I changed the name too. Let me introduce you to Monterey-Ranch Chicken!

It’s grilled chicken –

 Topped with ranch dressing & bbq sauce

Topped with chopped bacon –

Topped with tomatoes & chiles (I used canned) –

Topped with cheese, olives & green onions –

Then baked at 400 for 10 minutes –

We had ours with white rice which ended up being perfect because of how much flavor the chicken had. No leftovers with this dish. Mr. Hungry Harp went back for seconds – which is always the highest compliment you can pay to this cook!

Monterey-Ranch Chicken
(PRINTABLE RECIPE)
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (mine were 1/2lb each)
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1lb bacon, cooked and chopped into 1” pieces (I actually chop mine before cooking it.)
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles (S&W brand is what I used)
1 cup colby jack cheese, shredded
1/4 cup olives, chopped
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
Directions
1. Flatten chicken breasts. Place breasts between two pieces of wax paper and using a rolling pin, pound each one until thickest part of chicken is about an 1”. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Grill chicken breasts over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes on each side.
3. Heat oven to 400.
4. Place chicken breasts in casserole dish or baking pan. Divide each of the toppings between the four chicken breasts in the following order: bbq sauce, ranch dressing, bacon, diced tomatoes, cheese, olives and green onions.
5. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Enjoy!!