How many times has this happened to you:
- Try a new recipe, and it’s not your favorite
- Decide that maybe there are a couple things you could do a little better
- Try the recipe again, with a couple of the changes you thought of, and it’s still not your favorite
- Abandon recipe
Unfortunately, that’s what happened with this recipe from Mary Younkin.
Cheesy Ranch Chicken with Potato Wedges
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Gallon size zip top bag
Ingredients
Marinade
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1½ tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp dried chives
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Chicken & Potatoes
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts pounded to ½-inch thickness
- 1½ lbs red potatoes cut into ¼-inch thick wedges
- 2 c shredded Mexican cheese
- Ranch Dressing
Instructions
- Combine all marinade ingredients in gallon-sized zip top bag, shaking to blend. Add chicken, turn to coat, seal, and place in refrigerator to marinate for 6-12 hours (but no more than 24 hours).
- Preheat oven to 400°. Remove chicken from bag, and place on baking sheet. Add potatoes to bag with marinade, and toss to coat. Pour potatoes and marinade over the chicken on the baking sheet, and spread out to make a fairly even single layer.
- Place pan in center of oven, and roast for 25-35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender (if chicken is cooked through quickly, remove to a separate dish and keep warm). When potatoes are done, add chicken back to the sheet if it has been removed. Sprinkle potatoes and chicken generously with cheese. Roast another 3-5 minutes, or until cheese has melted completely. Serve with dressing.
Here’s the thing with this recipe. It’s pretty easy, and should be tasty, right? For me, anything with Ranch dressing automatically should be in my lineup.
Unfortunately, this didn’t hit the mark, and I tried it a couple ways. Honestly, the first time I tried it, I didn’t have dried chives, so I used onion powder. It wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either. The second time, I still didn’t have dried chives, but had some leftover fresh chives – so I added a little over 2 tsps of fresh chives. It was actually worse!
MM, who decided to instead use BBQ sauce (he’s not addicted to Ranch like me), agreed with me that this wasn’t the best recipe, and it really wasn’t worth trying again.
But that’s us. What about you? Would you try this one? What would you change?