Juicy keto chicken breast recipe with crumbly bacon and a flavor-packed zesty ranch sauce to top it all off.

Here’s what you’ll need:

- Bacon
- Chicken Breast
- Chicken Broth
- Prepared Ranch Dressing
- Parsley (optional)
- Salt and Pepper

Tools you’ll need:

- Skillet
- Whisk
- Tongs
- Spatula
- Kitchen Shears
- Meat Mallet or Heavy Rolling Pin or Heavy Skillet

Chicken Breast Prep

Chicken breast can be easily be overcooked, but not with a little preparation and attention to detail.

Rule #1: You want to use a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin, or heavy bottom skillet and pound the breast in order to create a fairly even thickness. This will allow the meat to cook more evenly and most importantly help to prevent dryness. Nothing worse than a dry tough chicken breast!

Rule #2: Liberally salt and pepper the surface of the meat to taste and allow it to build a little bit of flavor while prepping the other ingredients. You don’t want to take the chicken straight from the fridge and throw it into the hot skillet. So take them out, pound them out to make the more round and wide side of the breast more equal in thickness to the bottom pointy end.

Rule #3: Once you put them in the skillet LEAVE THEM ALONE. Don’t go moving them around! Allow some color to develop cooking. Cook for about 4 minutes on the first side and about 3 minutes on the second or until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, raw chicken ain’t it, but over-cooked ain’t either, so we have got to get this keto chicken breast recipe right!

How to Make Chicken + Bacon with Zesty Ranch Sauce

Alright, now that we have a better understanding of what we need to do with the chicken breast, let’s pull it all together!

Use freezer bags to pound chicken breast to an even thickness with a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin, or heavy bottom skillet. Remove and liberally season to taste with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.
Use kitchen shears to easily cut up 4 strips of bacon into bite-size pieces directly into your cold skillet.
Turn the skillet on medium heat and use a spatula to spread pieces evenly in the pan. Render fat out of bacon and crisp up. Once crisped up, remove and set on a paper towel-lined plate. Rendered down should yield roughly around 3 tbsp of fat.
Leave fat in the pan and add seasoned chicken breast to the skillet. Do not move them around. Ideally, if you have a heavy bottom pan skillet or cast iron press to weigh them down, that’s even better to get some good color.
Cook chicken breast for about 4 minutes on the first side and 3 on the second or until cooked through. If you are unsure, use a meat thermometer and ensure the temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove and set aside to rest.
Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the hot skillet and use a spatula to lift up all the bits of flavor in the bottom of the pan by stirring everything around. Then add 1/4 cup of ranch and whisk to distribute. Cook over medium heat until it lightly coats the spoon about 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken a bit more as it cools.
Now plate it up! We prefer a bed of caulirice prepared using the FatUp Prep Steps for Caulirice. Add caulirice first, add sliced chicken breast, and top with bacon crumbles. Spoon some sauce over the chicken, and garnish if desired.

Chicken + Bacon with Zesty Ranch Sauce

Author: Bridgette Williams
Total Time: 30
Yield: 3 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 pound chicken breast

4 strips of bacon

1/4 cup Prepared Ranch Dressing

1/2 cup Chicken Broth

Salt + Pepper (season to taste)

Parsley (optional)

Instructions

Use freezer bags to pound chicken breast to an even thickness with a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin, or heavy bottom skillet. Remove and liberally season to taste with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside.
Use kitchen shears to easily cut up 4 strips of bacon into bite-size pieces directly into your cold skillet.
Turn the skillet on medium heat and use a spatula to spread pieces evenly in the pan. Render fat out of bacon and crisp up. Once crisped up, remove and set on a paper towel-lined plate. Rendered down should yield roughly around 3 tbsp of fat.
Leave fat in the pan and add seasoned chicken breast to the skillet. Do not move them around. Ideally, if you have a heavy bottom pan skillet or cast iron press to weigh them down, that’s even better to get some good color.
Cook chicken breast for about 4 minutes on the first side and 3 on the second or until cooked through. If you are unsure, use a meat thermometer and ensure the temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove and set aside to rest.
Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the hot skillet and use a spatula to lift up all the bits of flavor in the bottom of the pan by stirring everything around. Then add 1/4 cup of ranch and whisk to distribute. Cook over medium heat until it lightly coats the spoon about 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken a bit more as it cools.
Now plate it up! We prefer a bed of caulirice prepared using the FatUp Prep Steps for Caulirice. Add caulirice first, add sliced chicken breast, and top with bacon crumbles. Spoon some sauce over the chicken, and garnish with parsley if desired.

Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 20

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1
Calories: 315
Fat: 16
Carbohydrates: 2 NC
Protein: 38

Keto Chicken Breast Storage

This chicken bacon with zesty ranch sauce can easily be prepped and stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Tips for This Making Keto Chicken Breast Recipe

Time Saver. Use a full-fat low carb prepared ranch. There are many different options for ranch, I used the Aldi’s Buttermilk Ranch. Although it has a couple of carbs per serving, this is the ranch I used when developing this recipe. It’s cheap and taste pretty good, would prefer fewer ingridients, but hey! When I have time I like to make my own ranch, but in this case, I bought it. Use whatever you like and what works best for you.
Don’t use lean bacon. The rendered fat is what we use to cook the lean chicken breast and will add fat and flavor to our sauce. Get Ya FatUp!
Follow the Chicken Breast Prep rules listed above so that you end up with juicy chicken meat.
Use cauliflower rice as the base or side dish for this recipe.

Variations

Switch up the sauce. Don’t want the zesty ranch sauce (although it’s really good) try your favorite sugar-free sauce in place of this. Another option is to skip the sauce altogether, but who doesn’t like sauce!?