Breaded Ranch Parmesan Chicken

We seem to have chicken at least once per week in our home. The Little Chefs like it and it seems you can make it in so many different ways. I have heard of ranch chicken before, but I have never tried it myself. I have never eaten it, nor have I made it. This seemed like a great opportunity to figure out a new recipe. One of our goals this year is to be a little more adventurous with food. Last year we definitely were with letting the Little Chefs choose the meal and execute the meal. This year we are focusing on describing our likes and dislikes in the recipes so that we can alter them to fit our taste buds. We found some recipes needed a little umph! This is thinking about food in a different way. It is more problem solving rather then just having a problem and being content with that.

We first started with the question; What do we dip the chicken in so the breading with adhere? The Little Chefs do not like using an egg because it is a little slimy to touch. We decided to try melted butter instead. What do we use to bread the chicken. We were already using a dry ranch dressing packet so we decided to add panko which we have used before (aka we had it on hand!) and an equal amount of parmesan because cheese is always good!

Little Chef C dipped the defrosted chicken into the melted butter, without any complaints. She then pressed the buttered chicken into the dry mixture, trying to adhere the mixture to all sides. She did a good job!

After all 4 pieces of chicken were breaded we still had some butter left and only a small amount of the breading mixture. Perfect! I do not like having a lot leftover which would only go to waste. We tried not wasting any and adding the leftovers to the tops of the chicken and pressing it down to adhere.  The chicken was baked in a shallow dish for about 45 minutes. We are learning it is best to check the internal temperature so that the food does not under or over cook.

The result was amazing! Well…in a way. The Little Chefs thought it was great. I thought it was great because the prep time was so quick and the ingredients so simple. We had one piece left over which we ate the next night. I must admit the second day the chicken had much more flavor then the first. I was not the only one to come to this conclusion. I find that very interesting. I’m not entirely sure why. I would rather cook the right amount of food instead of have leftovers, but in this case I’m glad we did. I’m a little baffled why the flavor would be stronger the second day. Any ideas?

Breaded Parmesan Ranch Chicken

Five Little Chefs

Ingredients

• 1 (1 ounce) envelope ranch salad dressing mix
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
2. Combine ranch dressing packet, panko bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese in a shallow bowl.
3. Dip chicken in melted butter then press in dry mixture on all sides until fully coated. Place the coated chicken in the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. The internal temperature of the chicken should be at least 165 degrees F.