You might find the name of this recipe a bit comical, but trust me when I say you will be addicted to this Pepper Jack Crack Chicken once you make it. The combination of the slightly spicy pepper jack cheese with the cooling flavor of the ranch dressing is nothing short of magical. Oh and did I mention….there’s also bacon! By literally layering these flavors up, you are going to turn a boring chicken breast into something amazing.
I made this on my Blackstone Griddle, but you can definitely use a skillet on the stovetop or a countertop griddle. You just want to make sure that you have enough room to spread them out in a single layer and not make them too crowded. If they are too close, your cheese layers are going to melt together and make it difficult to serve, so you may have to make it in batches or use more than one pan.
If you have concerns about the spiciness of this chicken recipe, you can control it with the type of cheese you use. Different brands of pepper jack definitely have different levels of heat. By adding in the ranch dressing, I think you get a nice balance between the creamy, slightly sweet, ranch flavor and the little kick of the pepper jack. If you must remove the heat, you could just use a regular Monterey Jack cheese or even a Colby Jack or cheddar.
With this being such a bold flavor of a main dish, I decided to serve it with a fairly simple side dish of dill smashed potatoes. You could really do any type of side dish with it – veggies, rice, pasta, salad, other types of potatoes.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Pepper Jack Crack Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 slices Bacon
- 6 Chicken Breast, thin sliced
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 cup Ranch Dressing
- 12 slices Pepper Jack Cheese
- 3 Green Onions chopped
Instructions
- Bring a skillet or griddletop to medium high heat. Fry the bacon until crispy and remove to a paper towel covered plate. Reserve grease in skillet/on griddletop and reduce heat to medium.
- Combine salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of chicken. Once the heat has reduced, add chicken. Cook on one side for 8 minutes. Flip each piece and let cook for 5 minutes.
- Spread about two tablespoons of ranch dressing on each piece of chicken. Place a slice of cheese on each piece of chicken. Use half of bacon to sprinkle evenly on each piece then add another slice of cheese to each. Let cook another 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle with remaining bacon and green onions.
Estelle Forrest’s self-published first cookbook – Homemade on a Weeknight: A Family Cookbook – was created after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
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Estelle self-published a second cookbook – Burgers on a Weeknight – recently. It has over 60 delicious burger creations! You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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