Chicken Ranch Tacos! This is my first post here and instead of giving you a long drawn out story about how i learned this recipe from my great, great, twice removed Aunt I’m going to be straight up with ya’ll. I just really freaking loves tacos and I basically just made up this recipe one night when I was tipsy in my kitchen. Enjoy!
Total Cost Breakdown: $15 Makes 10 soft tacos or 4 quesadillas
Fiesta blend cheese (new bag): $2
Taco seasoning: $0.78
Knorr chicken flavored rice: $1
Soft taco shells: $2
Ranch Dressing (new bottle): $2.18
Chicken tenderloins (new 3lb bag): $7
Cooking Steps:
1. Throw 4-5 chicken tenderloins in the crock pot with a ½ cup of water, half of your taco seasoning packet, salt, pepper, put your lid on and cook that shiz. If you’re not used to your crock pot yet keep an eye on the chicken to make sure it doesn’t over cook and become too dry. Crock pot cooking times:
-Low: 4-6 hours
-High: 2-3 hours
2. A few hours into cooking, remove lid and take a wooden spoon or spatula and chop up the chicken in the crock pot by piercing the chicken repeatedly until it is shredded into smaller pieces. Add in a few squirts of ranch dressing. Replace lid and continue cooking.
 3. When the chicken has no pink and is fully cooked (the safe internal temperature for cooked chicken is 165 degrees F) go ahead and prepare your rice, follow the instructions on the back of the package and you can’t go wrong. After the rice has set for two minutes, stir the rice into the chicken and stir until it’s well mixed. Taste the mixture and decide if you need to add more ranch dressing or taco seasoning.
*Side note: At this point I like to stir in the rest of the package of taco seasoning because I like my tacos spicy but it’s definitely not for everyone. Try the mixture after the rice and chicken are mixed and just add more until it tastes right.
 4. Return the lid to the crock pot and cook the mixture on low for an extra 30 minutes.
5. Remove lid, turn crock pot to “Keep Warm” or just turn it off.
If you’re going the soft taco route: Wrap your tortillas in a damp paper towel and throw them in the microwave on a plate for 15-30 seconds to get them warm and not dry them out. Put those warm taco blankets on a plate and scoop out your rice and chicken mixture and top with cheese. I will never tell you how much cheese to put on anything, you measure that stuff with your heart. If you really love ranch, drizzle a little over the cheese before you close that bad boy up.
If you’re going the quesadilla route: (The only reason this is an option for me is because an awesome cousin bought me a quesadilla maker for my high school graduation and it’s my favorite dang thing.) Throw one tortilla on the turned on quesadilla maker, top it with chicken and rice then cheese, top with a tortilla then close that lid.
 *Cheap Tip: Next time you’re at Taco Bell, ask for extra sauce packets with your meal, keep them in your fridge, and whip them out when you make this.
