Grilled Garlic Ranch Chicken Recipe (Freezer Meal)
Grilled Ranch Chicken Freezer Meal
This grilled ranch chicken recipe is a really amazing freezer meal. It’s definitely one that I’ll make over and over again – the whole family loves it! I especially love how easy it is to make and how quick I can have it prepped.
If you haven’t checked out our Freezer Meal Recipes you definitely should! Preparing freezer meals is a great way to save money on your grocery budget and save time as well. We also have guides on how to get a freezer meal cooking group together, how to do your shopping, and how to organize your group on cooking day.
Ingredient Substitutions
Some of our readers have made some substitutions with this recipe so we wanted to share them in case you want to do the same!
- Krisha substituted the mayonnaise with greek yogurt (along with other readers) and said it was very yummy!
- Jaimy from Holland didn’t have access to Hidden Valley ranch so she substituted it with yogurt salad dressing and said it was lovely.
Those are just a couple of variations, let us know if you have any others so we can include them!
Freezing Your Garlic Ranch Chicken
Preparing this garlic ranch chicken recipe for the freezer is super easy. Simply combine all of the ingredients into a freezer-safe gallon sized bag and you’re good to go.
Grilling Your Chicken
When you’re ready to turn your frozen chicken soup into delicious grilled ranch chicken, take the bag out of the freezer and let your chicken thaw. This will get it nice and marinated and ready for the grill. Once it’s thawed you can throw it on the grill.
Note: For a more tender and juicy chicken, I like to filet it and cook it on low!
If you don’t want to grill your chicken or you simply don’t have time, you can also cook this ranch chicken in a crockpot. If it’s thawed cook it for 4-6 hours on high, if it’s not thawed cook it for 5-6 hours (best results will depend on your crockpot).
Serving Your Garlic Ranch Chicken
This grilled ranch chicken is delicious on its own, but dinner wouldn’t be complete without some sides! I like to serve this recipe with a variety of foods like homemade buttermilk mashed potatoes, rice-a-roni, dinner rolls, honey glazed carrots, potato salad, pea salad, etc. There are a ton of options! Check out our side dish recipes for more ideas.
If you liked this recipe or you have any questions, feel free to comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Learn More About Freezer Meal Cooking:
- Why you NEED Freezer Meal Cooking in your life!
- Pros and Cons of Freezer Meal Parties
- 24 GENIUS Freezer Meal Tips
- What Foods Don’t Freeze Well
- Freezer Meal eBook
More Freezer Meal Recipes:
- Ham and Cheese Braid Recipe (Freezer Meal)
- Oven Baked Tacos Recipe
- Cream Cheese Chicken Crescent Roll Recipe
- Garlic Pork Stir-Fry Freezer Meal
- Skillet Honey Lime Tilapia Recipe (Freezer Meal)
Grilled Garlic Ranch Chicken Recipe (Freezer Meal)
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup mayonnaise can substitute greek yogurt
- 1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic jarred or dried
Instructions
TO FREEZE:
- In gallon-sized bag, combine all ingredients.
- Mix in sealed bag.
- Freeze flat.
TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING:
- Thaw chicken.
- Grill until chicken reaches 165°F/74°C internal temperature
so if I canned my chicken… (just chicken chunks) then all i do is heat it up and then like saute it in ranch dressing?
sounds like it…
then serve with rice or noodles i think would be good…
?
thanks
Kari
I think so Kari – give it a whirl!
So I am confused. Have you already cooked the chicken before you add it to the mix? If so what is the point why not cook it fresh and throw in the dressing and garlic if it is that easy. The bags sound like a mess?
We’ve done this recipe in our cooking group and love it! I believe we’ve done this recipe every cooking session since we started.
The chicken is raw when you put it in the gallon size bag to freeze. When you set it out to thaw, the chicken then marinates in the mix.
We usually grill ours and have it with a baked potato or rice and a veggie. Any leftovers usually get eaten on a bun as a chicken sandwich.
Hope this helps!
I just checked out this site for the first time and came across all of these questions. The thing to remember about freezer cooking is that you must use fresh meat when you are preparing to marinate them and then freeze it. You cannot thaw meat in order to cut it or separate them (ie. chicken breasts, etc) and then refreeze them without cooking it first. If you use frozen chicken then don’t thaw it out befoe you put in in the bag. Just make your mixture, take the chickens directly from the freezer, put it in the bag as the instructions say then stick straight back in the freezer. That way when it thaws it will be marinating as the person above stated.
This comment was extremely helpful…thanks for posting it!!
Hi! Can you freeze ranch dressing? I want to freeze a sauce of 1/2 cup ranch dressing mixed with 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce but I am nervous about it freezing well and thawing well? Thanks!
Yes you can freeze ranch dressing. Texture changes slightly but taste is not compromised.
could we just freeze it all in one bag and throw it in the crock pot to cook ?
Thats how I do it 🙂
How long do you cook it in the crock pot?
Cook 3-4 hours if thawed and 5-6 hours if frozen.
On low or high?
High. Depending on your crockpot.
Can I use Miracle Whip instead? Thanks!
It would give you more of a tangy flavor. BUT if you like miracle whip I think it would be fantastic!
Awesome! Thank you 🙂
Has anyone tired this with Greek yogurt instead of mayo?
I have and it is yummy!
Thank you for asking this question, I was wondering the same thing! My husband and I have recently made the conscious decision to be healthier, and I was hoping greek yogurt was a viable substitute.
Just to clarify, do you use one packet of the ranch or the package that includes several (4?) packets?
Just one packet.
Could this be done with boneless pork chops??
That sounds fantastic!
I didn’t get to taste it yet but husband said it was amazing! He put some honey on it and it was amazing x 2. Thanks for the recipe.
We dont have Hidden Valley Ranch dressing in holland
so i have used a yohurt salade dressing and it was lovely.
Thank you for sharing.
I am thrilled that you liked the meal. Thank you for sharing your helpful tip!
When you say ‘packets’ for the Ranch dressing, is that the dried mix that you would combine with mayonnaise or do you have pre-mixed packets down wherever you are from?
Thanks.
It’s the Hidden Valley (or whatever) dry packets that you mix… 🙂
This sounds really good & really easy to prepare!! I’m going to try this tomorrow before making bags for my freezer!! Thank you for posting!!!
Would this chicken be easily shredded to put on tacos or remain whole chicken breasts?
You can use it for both! It won’t be SUPER tender but you can still shred it for tacos or each it as the whole breast! Whatever you are wanting!
If you freeze mayonnaise it will revert to oil. I have mixed mayonnaise with ranch and milk and wound up with an oily mess.
I’ve done it several times with no issues… maybe mixing it with the milk and seasoning prevents the mayo from reverting to oil? I actually just thawed a bag out today and grilled it up to share the recipe on YouTube! 🙂 I will link it here when I am done.