Welcome to the finale, or almost. This is the final PW recipe week though. I had the challenge of choosing what would be our last recipe to make as a group. I wanted it to be tasty and easy. I was definitely feeling the pressure after all of the crazy recipes we’ve already made. I chose one recipe but it didn’t feel right. The name didn’t suit any of us. A few days later I emailed everyone, changing my mind. We’d make chicken instead.

I’m not the griller in the house. I almost baked these…or pan fried. I have zero fear of the oven. The grill is another story. It’s giant, with gas attached to it and occasionally can be seen with fire shooting out of it. Scary. BUT I bit the bullet and grilled these. The Mr was watching over as I made these. I think in part to avoid the drama and screaming from within the house and partly to make sure I didn’t burn the house down.

I’m happy to report, not only did the house make it through my grilling adventure but these were seriously super easy to make. This may have been our easiest recipe. Dare I say it was also the least messy and least guilt ridden recipe too? Zero cream or butter. You could easily turn this into an over the top recipe by wrapping your chicken in bacon instead of laying a few crispy strips on top. I’m positive it’d taste heavenly if you did that. Just a thought…

While I wasn’t blown away by this recipe, it was tasty and relatively quick. The flavor of the mustard marinade was present even after being topped off with bacon and cheese. If you don’t like mustard, this probably isn’t for you. But if you like mustard then I promise you’ll want to give this a try the next time you’re staring at a package or boring plain chicken and contemplating what to do with it. The biggest mess factor was bacon splatter, unless you want to count melting cheese on the grill which created small fires… no biggie.

Eat these as is or added to a sub roll. Serve with a side salad or a warm potato dish.

No ratings yet

Ranch Style Chicken

Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Yield: 12
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review

Ingredients
 

  • 6 boneless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 C honey
  • 1/2 C Dijon mustard
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • red pepper flakes, optional
  • 1 lb bacon
  • 3 Tbsp reserved bacon grease
  • 2 C sharp cheddar cheese, freshly shredded

Instructions
 

  • Cut chicken breasts in half to form two fairly equally sized pieces. Use a meat mallet to adjust the thickness of each piece as necessary.
  • In a large bowl, combine honey, mustard, paprika (or cayenne), salt and red pepper flakes. Whisk until combined. Add chicken to bowl, coat well. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
  • Cook bacon until just crispy. Drain and set aside.
  • Prepare grill or large pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken on each side for 3-5 minutes. When chicken is nearly done, top off with 2 slices of bacon and a mound of shredded cheese. Cook until chicken is cooked through and cheese is completely melted.

Notes

Recipe source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Food From My Frontier
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most accurate data, use your preferred nutrition calculator with the actual ingredients you used to make this recipe.
Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Snap a picture and tag @bakedbyrachel on Instagram!
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keywords: Chicken

My notes:

  • Feel free to cut back on the chicken. That is the only excessive part of this recipe. Instead of 6 chicken breasts, I used 2 which gave me 4 pieces. It really just depends on how many people you’re looking to feed.
  • Instead of paprika, I used a reduced portion of cayenne pepper.
  • I added somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes for a reduced portion of the marinade and it still wasn’t spicy. The biggest change I’d make to this in the future is to have a nice kick. We finished ours off with a sauce that The Mr recently spotted at Marshalls. It had just the right kick this dish needed.
  • Figure that you need 2 strips or 2 half strips per chicken breast.
  • I didn’t use any reserved bacon fat.
  • I used 1 tbsp bottled lemon juice in place of half of a lemon (I halved my marinade recipe) since I didn’t have lemon on hand.

    • Be sure to see what the other girls thought of our final dish!
    Running To The Kitchen
    Wanna Be A Country Cleaver
    Table For Two Blog

    In case you missed any of the previous PW Wednesday posts:
    Week 1: Fried Tacos
    Week 2: Mushroom Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce
    Week 3: Carnitas Pizza
    Week 4: Breakfast Pizza
    Week 5: White Chicken Enchiladas
    Week 6: Italian Cream Cupcakes
    Week 7: Orange Sweet Rolls
    Week 8: Honey Orange Soy Chicken

    We’ll be back with one more PW Wednesday… stay tuned for our final thoughts and ratings! :)