Nothing is better than this Baked Ranch Chicken Recipe featuring chicken breasts smothered in ranch seasoning, cheddar cheese, and mayo! The dish bakes to tender, juicy perfection in the oven in just half an hour with five ingredients. It’s truly the BEST weeknight dinner recipe!

Serve it up with easy sides to complete the meal. It pairs perfectly with my favorite Instant Pot mashed potatoes and air fryer asparagus or easy green beans. You can also make a salad with some ranch dressing!

Love the flavors of ranch? Try it to make these crockpot potatoes, ranch pretzels, and this crockpot chicken recipe!

A piece of cheesy ranch chicken sliced into pieces on a cutting board to show inside of chicken.

Why You Will Love Cheesy Ranch Chicken

  • Kid-friendly and great for picky eaters! This is one of those dinner recipes I turn to when I’m tired and don’t want to cook. It really helps that it’s not just an easy recipe, but that I also don’t have to barter with any little ones to eat it!
  • Budget-friendly dinner. This chicken recipe is made with just 5 simple and inexpensive ingredients. The most expensive ingredient in this recipe is the chicken itself, which isn’t super likely to break the bank. 
  • Truly mouthwatering flavor. Too often, baked chicken can come out bland and lifeless if you don’t season it or cover it in a sauce. In this recipe, the mixture of cheddar cheese, ranch seasoning mix, minced garlic, and mayo that smothers this chicken makes it anything but bland!
Five simple ingredients to make baked ranch chicken on the table before preparing the dish for the oven.

Ingredients

These 5 ingredients are all you need to bake the perfect chicken dinner!

  • Chicken: Use boneless, skinless chicken breasts to make this chicken recipe easy to prepare.
  • Mayonnaise: Mixes with the cheese, ranch, and garlic to create a creamy flavorful sauce for cooking the chicken and giving it tons of flavor and keeping the chicken ultra juicy.
  • Garlic: Since we’re using only five ingredients in this dish, fresh garlic truly matters. It delivers way better flavor than using garlic powder. 
  • Cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese adds the best flavor to this dish though you can of course try it with other meltable cheeses.
  • Ranch: This premixed seasoning blend gives your chicken all the great flavor it needs to elevate it from an average chicken dish to something truly special.
A collage of images showing the major steps for making cheesy ranch chicken including mixing the ranch cheese topping to the chicken in the baking dish and finally adding the topping over the chicken pieces.

How To Make Baked Ranch Chicken

Follow these simple, hassle-free steps and you’ll have a picky-eater-approved chicken dinner on your table in just 30 minutes.

  1. Make the Cheesy Ranch Mixture. Combine the mayo, garlic, shredded cheese, and ranch seasoning together in a bowl and mix well.
  2. Place the Chicken Breasts. In a single layer on the bottom of your sprayed baking dish. 
  3. Add. The mayo mixture on top of the chicken.
  4. Spread It Out. So that it covers all the chicken evenly in the baking dish.
  5. Bake. In the oven until it’s completely cooked through and golden brown on top.
A spoon lifting a piece of ranch cheddar chicken up from the baking dish.

Tips & Variations

  • Check the temperature of your chicken. Always play it safe when it comes to chicken! Stick a meat thermometer in the thickest part of one of the chicken breasts. If it reads at least 165°F, it’s fully cooked and safe to eat.
  • Use regular mayo. For the best consistency, use full-fat mayo, not low-fat.
  • Don’t overcook this dish. You’ll risk burning the tops of the cheesy mixture and drying out the chicken meat.
  • Use fresh garlic. It tastes way better than pre-minced garlic and delivers a much better flavor.

What To Serve With Chicken

Here are some of our favorite side dishes for chicken:

And don’t forget dessert:

Three pieces of Hidden Valley Ranch chicken on a cutting board with one piece cut into a few slices.

Recipe FAQ

Do you bake chicken covered or not covered?

This chicken recipe cooks up best when cooked uncovered. I find that this allows the top of the casserole to brown up nicely giving it more color and making the cheese and mayonnaise mixture form a nice crisp crust on top of the chicken.

How do I know when my Ranch chicken is done?

To be safe you should always check chicken with a thermometer. The chicken is fully cooked when its internal temperature is 165° F.

Can I use chicken thighs instead of breasts?

Sure thing! Choose skinless and boneless just like you would for the chicken breasts. The thighs may cook more quickly than the breasts depending on their size so be sure to check for doneness with your thermometer a bit earlier and then continue cooking as needed.

A piece of ranch chicken on a plate with green beans on the side. A piece is cut to show the tender, juicy inside of the chicken.

Storing

  • Store. Leftovers in the fridge for up to four days or in the freezer for up to one month.
  • Reheat. Return the leftover Ranch chicken to a baking dish and heat uncovered in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until heated through. You can also reheat in the microwave if you prefer. If frozen, be sure to thaw it out before reheating.

More sprinkles, please! Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly meal planning. Follow on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for fun behind the scenes, mom life, and the newest recipes!

Baked ranch chicken on a wooden cutting board with a few slices cut.
5 from 15 ratings
Leave a Review
Servings: 8 servings

Baked Ranch Chicken

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
This easy-peasy Baked Ranch Chicken Recipe is the BEST weeknight dinner recipe! Chicken breasts smothered with a mixture of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning, cheddar cheese, and mayo are baked to tender, juicy perfection in the oven in just half an hour.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
 

  • 8 chicken breasts
  • 1 ½ cup mayo
  • 3 Tablespoons minced garlic
  • 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 3 packets ranch seasoning mix

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 9X13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  • Place chicken breasts in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish. 
  • In a medium bowl, mix mayo, garlic, shredded cheese and ranch seasoning together.
  • Spread mayo mixture on top of each chicken breast.
  • Place uncovered into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until completely cooked through (165°F internal temp.) and golden brown on top. If you have thicker or bigger chicken breasts it might take 45-60 minutes until the chicken is done.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

  • Check the temperature of your chicken. Always play it safe when it comes to chicken! Stick a meat thermometer in the thickest part of one of the chicken breasts. If it reads at least 165°F, it’s fully cooked and safe to eat.
  • Use regular mayo. For the best consistency, use full-fat mayo, not low-fat.
  • Don’t overcook this dish. You’ll risk burning the tops of the cheesy mixture and drying out the chicken meat.
  • Use fresh garlic. It tastes way better than pre-minced garlic and delivers a much better flavor.
  • Store. Leftovers in the fridge for up to four days or in the freezer for up to one month.
  • Reheat. Return the leftover Ranch chicken to a baking dish and heat uncovered in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until heated through. You can also reheat in the microwave if you prefer. If frozen, be sure to thaw it out before reheating.
Calories: 722kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 58g, Fat: 52g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 20g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 205mg, Sodium: 835mg, Potassium: 889mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 0.4g, Vitamin A: 520IU, Vitamin C: 4mg, Calcium: 320mg, Iron: 1mg
Cuisine: American
Course: Main Course
Author: Jennifer
Tried this recipe?Mention @deliciouslysprinkled on Instagram or tag #deliciouslysprinkled.

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for recommending my favorite products at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting Deliciously Sprinkled.