Chicken Bacon Ranch Baked Potatoes

Rotisserie chicken, bacon, ranch, and cheese all in a crispy baked potato with green onion and extra cheese on top!

It's super easy to make the filling, and baking potatoes takes a bit of time but is also easy. I love to bake the potatoes ahead of time, so all I have to do is assemble them and warm them up for dinner!

Filled chicken bacon ranch potatoes on foil on baking sheet.

Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Potatoes is another super easy baked potato recipe we like to make for weeknights. They're very filling and easy to make for a crowd.

This is one of the EASIEST baked potato dinners our family likes. It's simple, with pretty mild flavors that everyone likes, even the picky eaters.

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What To Expect
🛒 Key Ingredients
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
🧑‍🍳 Instructions
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
❓Frequently Asked Questions
🥔 More Easy Potato Dinner Recipes
📝 Printable Recipe
💬 Comments

What To Expect

Taste: The bacon, chicken, and ranch are the overall flavors but you can't miss the cheese! It's delicious and melty and perfect.
Ease: Baking the potatoes and bacon at the same time makes it easier, then mixing up the rest of the filling.
Time: It takes about 1 hour start to finish. 50 minutes for the potatoes to bake, and during that time the bacon cooks and filling comes together, with the last 5-10 minutes heating the filling in the potatoes.

🛒 Key Ingredients

Labeled ingredients for chicken bacon ranch baked potatoes on metal baking sheet in glass bowls.

Potatoes - russet potatoes, Idaho potatoes, or yukon gold potatoes are all good varieties to use. You could even use a sweet potato, but the flavor would definitely be different.
Chicken -I use pre cooked rotisserie chicken for this recipe because it's easiest.
Ranch - use your favorite brand of ranch! We use a generic store brand or a homemade Cottage Cheese Ranch Dressing Dip.
Bacon - it can be regular or thick cut, it just impacts the cooking time.

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.

✏️ Substitutions & Variations

Chicken - you can use canned, pre cooked, rotisserie, or can be substituted with cooked shredded pork or even turkey. The flavor will be a little different though!
You can add any seasonings you like to add more flavor, we just prefer it simple and easy! Garlic, onion powder, ground pepper, etc. are all good options to start with.
Cheese - super easy to customize. We like cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella, or gouda the best. It's also delicious with a little parmesan sprinkled on top!

🧑‍🍳 Instructions

Make sure to preheat your oven to 400 ℉!

Baked potatoes in tin foil on baking sheet.

Step 1. Wash all potatoes, pierce with a fork, and wrap in foil. Bake potatoes for 45 minutes or until a fork pierces through them easily.

Step 2. Line a large baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and lay bacon across it evenly. Bake for 15-17 minutes until crispy, remove and transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain grease.

Cooked bacon on wooden cutting board with knife.

Step 3. Chop up cooked chicken and drained bacon into bite sized pieces, about ½inch.

Cooked chicken, cheese, and ranch in mixing bowl.

Step 4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl stir together chicken, cheese, ranch dressing, and half of the bacon.

Scooping cheesy chicken ranch filling into sliced baked potatoes on baking sheet.

Step 5. When potatoes are finished, let them cool long enough to handle safely, and leave the oven on. Slice the potatoes lengthwise and fill with about ⅔ cup of chicken ranch filling.

Cooked bacon being sprinkled on baked potatoes filled with cheese and chicken.

Step 6. Sprinkle the tops with cheese and pop back in the oven for 10 minutes to warm the filling and melt the cheese on top.
Step 7. Top the potatoes with the last half of the chopped bacon and green onions and serve while warm. Enjoy!

📌 Top Tips & Hacks

Bake the potatoes a day (or a few days) ahead to save time.
You can use pre-cooked chicken easily, we like using rotisserie chicken because of how quick it is.

Baked potatoes with cheese, bacon, ranch, and green onions on top on tin foil.

❓Frequently Asked Questions

Is it okay to cook raw chicken and potatoes together?

You could, you'd just have to modify this recipe to cook both the chicken and potatoes at the same time for 40-45minutes if both the chicken and potatoes were raw. Chicken and potatoes also cook at different rates, so I would not recommend cooking the entire potato with the chicken, but cutting them up.

Do you have to pierce the potatoes before baking them?

Yes! Otherwise pressure can build up inside the skin and they can explode in the oven. Ask my Dad how he knows!
You really only need to puncture the potato once with a fork (4 little holes) or once with a sharp knife.

Should you oil potatoes before baking?

It depends on the texture you want. If you want them on the crispy side, then yes! Brush them in olive oil before baking.

Can I make these ahead?

Yes! We have meal prepped them and made them up to 3 days ahead of time and refrigerated to warm up in the oven later, or frozen them for up to 3 months.

🥔 More Easy Potato Dinner Recipes

Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!

📝 Printable Recipe