Tomatillo Ranch Chicken turns boring chicken breasts into your new favorite dinner. The dressing acts as a marinade that packs this meal with lots of flavor!
Raise your hand if you love Cafe Rio’s tomatillo dressing!? *raising my hand 😀 I love the stuff. I can’t get enough. Whether I order a salad, a taco or one of their huge burritos, it is a must to have a side of that dressing to drench it with. My love for it is when I had to make this Tomatillo Ranch Chicken recipe!
If you are not familiar with Cafe Rio, or their dressing, I will fill you in. Cafe Rio is a Mexican Grill with phenomenal food. I’m sure you’ve seen their copycat recipes all over blog land. Mine included! Their dressing is amazing. It is a creamy ranch dressing made with tomatillos, garlic and other goodies. Tomatillos are a Mexican husk tomato that are green and you can usually find them in the produce section next to the peppers. They turn ordinary dressing into something incredible!
What’s even more incredible is when you marinate a few boring pieces of chicken in that dreamy tomatillo dressing, then bake it to perfection. It will become the most flavorful chicken you’ve ever had.
This meal was a total hit at my dinner table. I can’t wait to make it again. 🙂
ENJOY THIS RECIPE? HERE ARE A FEW MORE OF OUR FAVORITE CHICKEN DISHES:
Ranch Chicken
Raspberry Chicken
Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken
Tomatillo Ranch Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 3/4 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 packet (1 ounce) ranch dressing/seasoning mix
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 cup cilantro
- 2 tomatillos, husked then chopped
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 2 cups cooked white or brown rice
Instructions
- Place the mayo, buttermilk, ranch dressing mix, garlic, cilantro, tomatillos and lime juice in a blender. Blend until creamy and combined. Pour 1 cup of dressing into a large ziplock back. Add chicken breasts. Seal and chill at least 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 375° F. In a 9×13 inch baking pan spread cooked rice evenly into bottom of pan. Discard marinade and place chicken breasts side by side over rice in pan.Cover pan with foil. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through. (Internal temperature of chicken needs to reach 165 degrees F.)Top with additional dressing and serve. Enjoy!
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Just made this last night for the family…everyone LOVED it! Kids kept saying “MOM, THIS IS SO GOOD, MAKE IT AGAIN!” Thank you for the great recipe.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! My new FAVORITE chiCken recipe
I tried this recipe this week and loved it. Just from the ingredients, it had to be good! It was quick and easy to make also. Thanks for sharing.
I would imagine that the juice from the chicken soaks into the rice. I’m excited to try this but my question is when you make the rice, do you add salt to it?
I don’t add salt, but if you would like to you can! 🙂