Monterey BBQ Chicken Bake

skymonkey's Note:

I loved this when I ate out at a couple steak houses...I tried to replicate it and this is the closest I've got! My husband now begs me to make it more often now. :) This is normally 2 servings, but can be quite large. You can cut each breast in half to make 4 servings and still get the same results. Great with steamed broccoli (or broccoli and cheese) and baked potato with all the fixin's!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (completely thawed)
• 4 -6 slices bacon
• 1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce (you may not use it up, depending on how much you use)
• 8 ounces shredded monterey jack cheese
• green onion stems (optional)
• 1 (24 ounce) bottle Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
• mccormick grill mates barbecue seasoning (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lightly spray bottom of medium to large baking dish with regular cooking spray. Chop green onion stems into small pieces, as much as you would like.
3. Fry bacon on stove until crispy. Lay flat on paper towels to absorb grease. After it cools, crumble bacon and set aside. (I used the precooked microwave bacon and it turned out good).
4. Brush both sides of chicken breasts with barbecue sauce. Lay chicken flat in a shallow baking dish and season with the barbecue seasoning. Flip and season opposite sides.
5. Let chicken set for 10 minutes. Brush each chicken breast with barbecue again. Pour Hidden Valley Ranch dressing over each chicken breast, covering thoroughly.
6. Place crumbled bacon pieces over chicken in dish. Add shredded Montery Jack cheese (make sure to completely cover the chicken with cheese) and green onions over dish.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes uncovered. Comes out very tender!

Reviews

[PBF]

Fabulous! My husband immediately said he'd have this again anytime. Even the kids ate it, and they complain about everything. I made it with recipe 19023 Finger Lickin' Good BBQ Sauce, which I had already made and frozen. I used way less of the BBQ and the ranch - just basically spooned over what I needed. I used one chicken breast which I sliced in half to make two thinner halves. I added the cheese and green onions about 10 minutes before it was done (took about 35 minutes total to do half-wide breasts at 400 degrees) and then sprinkled the crumbled bacon on at the end - I find when I cook bacon in a sauce, it gets mushy and I love crisp bacon. I served it with grilled asparagus and some white rice. Really yummy. We will definitely have this one again. Update: still making this dish every 1-2 weeks. Big hit with kids and dh. EASY!!!! FAST!!!! DELICIOUS!!!

[SammiCat]

Fixed this for dinner tonight....Hubby gives it 5+++, I liked it too, maybe not quite as much as he did tho. He said several times "this is good" kind of like he was surprised, LOL. We had it with corn on the cob, I think it would be wonderful with a baked spud with all the fixings. I also added the cheese half way thru the cook time. Next time I will add it the last 10 minutes. I used real bacon bits as that was what I had and I think it worked fine. Also did not use anywhere near the amount of barbecue sauce or ranch dressing called for. I think it would float if you used that much. My hubby thought the bacon was what made the recipe. We will be making this again, a real keeper!! 12/14/09 Made this again tonight, we really like this. I used 4 breasts, just brushed the BBQ sauce on so didn't use as much as called for, & used maybe half (if that) a 16oz bottle of ranch dressing. Put cheese on at the beginning of cook time, covered for 30 min then uncovered for last 20 minutes. Thanks agaon for a great recipe with a few personal preference modifications!

[Froggus.]

oh. my. WORD! This was so, so so so good. I used breast tenders, as that is what I had on hand. I feared for their size in a 400* oven, so I dropped it to 375*, and baked for about 30 minutes (covered for the first 20). I added the cheese and onions when I uncovered the dish, tossed the bacon on five minutes later, and let everything crisp up. I really still can't get over how delicious this was. I will make this MANY more times. THANK YOU!