Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells

6 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells made chicken breast meat, homemade ranch seasoning, chicken and bacon in a quick and easy ranch alfredo sauce.

Stuffed Shells are a weeknight dinner we’ve been enjoying a lot, especially since trying our favorites, the Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Shells.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells

Shells are a versatile pasta we’ve been using to give us new ways to enjoy our favorite flavors and dishes. We love pasta and the kids love the fact that all the “stuff is inside the seashell” so we’ve been working on fun ways to get new flavors into to the mix.

This recipe is a more kid friendly version of my Chicken Bacon Ranch Lasagna Roll Ups. The flavors of chicken bacon ranch take me back to high school lunches with Subway Sandwiches. The flavor combination almost seems like a classic now, especially with pasta! A year or so ago I also made Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad and Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Bake because we genuinely love the flavor combinations THAT MUCH.

Stuffed shells with chicken and bacon

Shortcut Options:

In this recipe I use some of my homemade ranch seasoning and I make alfredo sauce from scratch but you can certainly skip these steps and make this dish a 30 minute meal.

  • Using cut up chicken (canned, rotisserie or previously cooked)
  • Pre-cooked bacon, chopped up or even a bag of bacon crumbles
  • Shredded jack/mozzarella cheese
  • Jarred Alfredo Sauce
  • Packet of ranch seasoning mix

You just have to simply cook the pasta and put the ingredients together in the oven. I still like my homemade ranch seasoning more though 😉

Thinking of some other stuffed shells ideas?

  • Pepperoni Pizza stuffed shells with marinara sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella.
  • Taco Stuffed Shells with taco meat, salsa, cheese and shells, or if you want an easier option there is Cheesy Taco Pasta.
  • Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells with chicken nuggets, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.

Can Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells be made ahead?

The concern with re-heating pasta is always that the pasta will absorb any additional liquids as it is sitting in the refrigerator. In order to make this dish ahead of time I normally cook and stuff the pasta shells, then store the sauce next to it. Once ready to cook, microwave the sauce at half power until melted (you may need to thin a bit with milk or water), then cover the pasta and bake.

If baking from frozen add and additional 5-10 minutes to the cooking time.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Tools Used in the making of these Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Shells:
Jumbo Pasta Shells: Make sure you buy these and not the large ones. Also, husbands may inadvertently think “large” is the right size…not saying mine did that! 😉
Ranch Seasoning: I used my homemade recipe, but you can use this packaged one if you prefer.
Baking Pan: Easy to use, doesn’t warp, freezes well and has high enough sides you don’t have to tent it when you add the foil.
Alfredo Sauce: I use homemade, but if you are in a rush and want to swap it out for pre-made I highly recommend this mix.

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Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells

Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed Shells made with homemade ranch seasoning, chicken and bacon in a quick and easy ranch alfredo sauce.
Yield 6 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American-Italian
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 2 cups whole milk (1 and 2 % okay too)
  • 6 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 3 tablespoons ranch dressing mix (this links to the recipe on my site), divided
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 24 Jumbo Pasta Shells , cooked one minute shy of the box directions
  • 2 cups chicken breast , cooked and chopped*
  • 8 ounces bacon , cooked and crumbled
  • 2 cups jack cheese , shredded or chopped into small cubes

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a large pot add in the butter and garlic and melt together on medium heat.
  • Add in the cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of the ranch mix and whisk well until combined.
  • While whisking slowly add in the milk.
  • Add in the Parmesan cheese and black pepper and whisk until just melted then turn off the heat.
  • Using a large cutting board lay out your pasta noodles.
  • In a medium sized bowl add the chicken, bacon, cheese and remaining ranch mix.
  • Scoop it into the pasta shells.
  • Top each shell with cubes of cheese.
  • Pour about half the sauce around the shells.
  • Bake in the oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
  • Serve with the remaining sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 935kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 67g | Saturated Fat: 36g | Cholesterol: 206mg | Sodium: 1800mg | Potassium: 565mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1675IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 744mg | Iron: 1.5mg
Chicken Bacon Ranch Shells
Stuffed Shells with chicken, bacon and homemade ranch

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I have read this recipe 3 times and can’t find what what you put the shells in to bake them.. it says to stuff the shells and put them in the oven.. what type of baking pan, etc.

    Can you clarify for me please?

    1. When you’ve completed Steps 2 through 7, that mixture you created is scooped into the shells, (Step #8).
      A regular 9 x 13 baking dish approximately 2 inches deep will work fine for you!

  2. This recipe is delicious! It might just be my new favorite meal! It was pretty easy to make, and my 6 year old (who is a super picky eater) really loved it too. My husband put a few dashes of Frank’s Red Hot on top of his. That added a little zing, but I think it tastes delicious just the way it is.

  3. Can cooked, rotisserie chicken be substituted for cooked ground chicken?

    I really love your recipes, made a lot of Asian ones that were outstanding.

  4. I made this today – followed your recipe to the tee. It was nice, BUT – I did find it lacking in some “pizzazz” flavor.

    Would I make it again? yes – but would maybe add some red pepper flakes to give the flavor a bit more zing to it. would I stuff shells again? don’t know – would probably use the filling as a topping for either rice or pasta.

  5. Made a vegetarian version of this without the chicken turned out great (added some more asparagus/bell peppers/peas instead)!! I would totally make it again! With the recipe as is I didn’t find the spice/zest level enough so I added ~1 tablespoon of taco seasoning, ~1 tablespoon red pepper, ~1 tablespoon of red chili powder and more ground black pepper and salt. Super yummy!

  6. I’m missing something. It says to add the chicken, bacon, cheese and remaining ranch mix. Which cheese? The parmesan is in the sauce and the pepperjack goes on top for baking. I’m excited to try this but got confused with the cheese issue.

    1. Thanks for catching that! The cheese cubes are added on top once the shells are filled. But you could always add shredded cheese to the mix if you want it extra cheesy and still top with the cube of cheese. I hope you enjoy it!

  7. Is this missing a step? Step 7 says to add chicken, bacon, cheese, and ranch mix in a medium bowl, then step 8 says to take off heat.

    1. Thanks for catching that. You’ll scoop the chicken, bacon, cheese and ranch mix into the shells. Hope this clears up any confusion.
      Enjoy!

  8. Delicious! I used rotisserie chicken but the rest was cooked from scratch. Ranch mix recipe is fantastic! Flavors in the finished dish were excellent. I only used half the sauce and froze the other half for another time. I did bake it covered for 20 minutes, then removed the foil and baked for another 10 minutes. Topped it off with some freshly chopped parsley and it was a big hit. Will definitely make again. Thanks for a great recipe!

  9. We are huge fans of stuffed pasta shells! These look so cheesy and delicious! I can’t wait to make them soon!