Slow Cooker Buffalo Ranch Chicken Potato Casserole

Welcome to the March 27, 2016 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery sales and affordable ingredients. This week we’ve seen sales on Yukon Gold potatoes, Marie’s salad dressing, and boneless skinless chicken breast — making this a great time to cook up this gluten free Slow Cooker Buffalo Ranch Chicken Potato Casserole.

(For the life of me, I can’t come up with a catchier, yet still descriptive, name. Cheesy Chicken Potato Bake? Yummy Slow Cooker Mess of Cheesy Potatoes and Chicken, With Bacon Bits and Green Onions on Top?)

And did you know that you can subscribe to bags of bacon bits on Amazon? What a wonderful world we live in sometimes… 😉 This recipe was originally inspired by Loaded Chicken and Potatoes (oh, well, that’s a catchier name, isn’t it?!). Slow cooker buffalo ranch chicken potato casserole is a little spicier, adapted for the Crock Pot, and ranch-ified.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Ranch Chicken Potato Casserole

Ingredients

1.75-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, cubed
1.75 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup hot sauce (I used Cholula chipotle)
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1 tsp Kosher salt
black pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp smoked paprika (substitute regular if you don’t have)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
1/3 cup bacon bits
Half a bunch of green onions, chopped

Directions

Line your slow cooker with foil, leaving enough on the edges to fold over your casserole. (This helps the potatoes bake without getting mushy in the Crock-Pot.) Chop your chicken and potatoes into roughly similar size pieces and add to large bowl. In a separate bowl combine hot sauce, ranch, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic. Pour over chicken and potatoes and stir to combine.

Place half of your chicken and potato mixture in slow cooker and dot with half the butter, then add the other half of your chicken and potatoes and dot with the rest of the butter. Fold the foil over so that it’s completely enclosed. Cook on low for 6-6.5 hours, then open foil, add shredded cheese, and top with bacon bits and chopped green onions. Cook on low another 30 minutes, leaving foil open but with the lid back on the slow cooker.

Dinner is served! And how easy was that?

Cheesy, Chicken-y, Potato-y, and all good

If it were up to these kids, I’d be making Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Ranch Potato Casserole every week. Although 1/4 cup of hot sauce might seem like a lot, the flavor goes so well with smoked paprika, and the ranch + butter balances it all out nicely. (Not to mention all the cheese…!) When you serve your casserole you can top with sour cream & avocado, or just enjoy on its own.

This recipe is gluten free as long as your ranch and bacon bits are — and super easy.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Ranch Potato Casserole printable recipe

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4.67 from 3 votes

Slow Cooker Buffalo Ranch Chicken Potato Casserole

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Course dinner

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 6 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 6 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

Ingredients

• 1.75-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1.75 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed
• 1/4 cup hot sauce (I used Cholula chipotle)
• 1/4 cup ranch dressing
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
• 1/3 cup bacon bits
• 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped

Instructions

• Line your slow cooker with foil, leaving enough on the edges to fold over your casserole. (This helps the potatoes bake without getting mushy in the Crock Pot.)
• Chop your chicken and potatoes into roughly similar size pieces and add to large bowl.
• In a separate bowl combine hot sauce, ranch, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic.
• Pour over chicken and potatoes and stir to combine.
• Place half of your chicken and potato mixture in slow cooker and dot with half the butter, then add the other half of your chicken and potatoes and dot with the rest of the butter.
• Fold the foil over so that it's completely enclosed.
• Cook on low for 6-6.5 hours, then open foil, add shredded cheese, and top with bacon bits and chopped green onions.
• Cook on low another 30 minutes, leaving foil open but with the lid back on the slow cooker.

Notes

This recipe is gluten free as long as your ranch and bacon bits are — and super easy.

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