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Sheet Pan Ranch Chicken & Veggies :: Gluten & Dairy Free, PLUS a DIY Ranch Seasoning Mix!

February 28, 2023

Mix up your own easy DIY Ranch Seasoning Mix, and make a fast, weeknight Sheet Pan Ranch Chicken & Veggie dinner!

Sheet Pan Ranch Chicken & Veggies :: Gluten & Dairy Free, PLUS a DIY Ranch Seasoning Mix!

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Michigan kids…

The second it hits 45 degrees and these people are shedding coats and pretending it’s warm outside! We have had teases of warmer weather this month, and if it means sun, I’ll take it…even if momma still has her coat and hat on! I’m dreaming of warmer weather as we look ahead toward Spring Break, but we have a lot of *busy* to work through before we make it there…

Sheet pan dinners to the rescue!

We are in the hustle and bustle of the push to Spring Break, and I have a brand new *easy* and *fast* sheet pan dinner to help you get through these crazy weeknights! Literally every component of dinner, all on 2 sheet pans, cooking at the same time? Sign. Me. Up!

Ranch chicken…with a healthy twist!

Not long ago, a friend told me about a favorite dinner she used to make before the real food switch, and before she was dairy free. A “Ranch Chicken” using those packets of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning. It sounded easy enough, and I loved the idea, so I set out to make a junk free version, with great ingredients, and also a pile of veggies to round out the dinner plate.

So let’s talk about Ranch seasoning mixes…

I have been making my own Ranch seasoning for years and years, but I just knew that I wanted to try to find a seasoning packet to use for those of you that don’t want to mix up your own seasoning blend. Let me tell you, it was tough to find. There are plenty of Ranch packet blends out there, but most of them have dried milk…and not the organic kind of milk. If it doesn’t say organic or non-GMO, you can bet those cows are fed GMO feed, which means the milk is not great either. For a seasoning blend to make Ranch dip that your kids are going to use on the weekly, and for yummy dinners like this that you want on a frequent rotation in your dinner menu, having consistent GMO milk in your seasoning is just not ideal. So here is the solution!

I found this cleaner ingredient, gluten & dairy free Ranch Seasoning Mix on Amazon that you can try! I’m sure there are brands and packets that are clean too, so if you have a favorite, please feel free to share in the comments below so that others might have some to choose from!
Or you can make your own! I’m pretty sure most of you already have the ingredients right in your spice rack, and it takes minutes to whisk up. It is a big batch, so you can keep it in your pantry or spice cupboard for easy use. It is also penny’s on the dollar to make your own. I will share how I make my Ranch blend in the next section!

DIY Ranch Seasoning Blend

This is as easy as it gets! I’ll share my blend below, and you can keep it in your pantry or spice cupboard to use for not only this recipe, but for your own Ranch dressing, anytime!

Print Recipe

DIY Ranch Seasoning Mix

Author: Renee Kohley – Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

2 tbsp dried parsley
1 1/2 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp organic cane sugar, turbinado sugar, or coconut sugar
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Whisk everything together in a jar or container that has a lid. Store at room temp in an airtight container.

Notes

To make Ranch dressing with your Ranch seasoning mix, whisk about 3-4 teaspoons of the Ranch seasoning mix with 1 cup of sour cream, Greek yogurt, mayo, or coconut yogurt and add splashes of raw milk or coconut milk to thin it out to the consistency you like. You can keep it thick like a dip, or drippier for dressing.

Sheet Pan Dinner Method :: The Roasted Ranch Potatoes

Now, let’s get started with the sheet pan dinner. First, you’ll want to pre-heat your oven with your 2 sheet pans inside the oven. Pre-heating the pans will make for crispier potatoes, and the chicken will cook better too. You’ll start with seasoning the potatoes and roasting them for 15 minutes. They take longer to cook than the rest of the dinner, so while those are roasting, you will be able to prepare the chicken and brussels sprouts.

Sheet Pan Dinner Method :: The Brussels Sprouts

Roasted is by far my kids’ favorite way to eat brussels sprouts, and I think you’ll be surprised at how many kids will go for this veggie prepped this way. If you don’t have brussels sprouts around, or your crew doesn’t like them, you can swap for broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, or something similar in size to those. I just toss the veg with olive oil and salt and pepper, but you could absolutely Ranch season your veggies too! The brussels sprouts will go onto the same sheet pan as the chicken once the potatoes finish their first 15 minutes of roasting. The next section will show you how to prepare your chicken.

Sheet Pan Dinner Method :: Ranch Chicken

We *love* this crispy Ranch coated chicken! If you want to skip the gluten free panko, you can do that, or you can swap for more almond flour if you are grain free. Coat your chicken in mayonnaise and then dredge it in the Ranch seasoned panko using tongs. If you can’t have mayo because of the egg, or you don’t have any around, you could use olive oil. The extra fat from the mayo or olive oil helps the chicken stay moist, and it makes a very flavorful crust!

Sheet Pan Dinner Method :: Roasting everything together!

Once your potatoes have roasted for 15 minutes, and you have your chicken and brussels sprouts prepped, you can can stir the potatoes around, and take the second pre-heated sheet pan out of the oven. Place the chicken and brussels sprouts on the pre-heated sheet pan, and return the potatoes, along with the sheet pan chicken and brussels sprouts to the oven for 15 minutes. Thirty minutes total roasting time, and you will have a full dinner ready for the family!

Print Recipe

Sheet Pan Ranch Chicken & Veggies {Gluten & Dairy Free!}

Author: Renee Kohley – Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

For the Roasted Ranch Potatoes ::

2 tbsp olive oil
8-10 small/medium yellow potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tsp Ranch Seasoning Mix You can use my DIY Ranch Blend in the recipe card above, or this is a good, clean ingredient packet Ranch seasoning blend.
1 tsp Nutritional Yeast or grated parm if you can have the dairy

For the Crispy Ranch Chicken & Brussels Sprouts ::

1/2 cup GF Panko Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast or grated parm if you can have the dairy
1/4 cup blanched almond flour or more panko
3 tbsp Ranch Seasoning Mix You can use my DIY Ranch Blend in the recipe card above, or this is a good, clean ingredient packet Ranch seasoning blend.
2-3 tbsp mayo or olive oil
4 boneless chicken breasts pound the tops to match the thickness of the bottoms, about an inch
1 lb brussels sprouts quartered
2 tbsp olive oil for the brussels sprouts
Sea salt and pepper to taste for the brussel sprouts

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, and put 2 large sheet pans in the oven while it is pre-heating. This will pre-heat the pans and make for crispier potatoes and better cooking on the chicken.

Get the Roasted Ranch Potatoes going first ::

In a medium mixing bowl, toss all of the Roasted Ranch Potatoes ingredients until combined.
Once the oven is pre-heated to 425 degrees, take one of the sheet pans out of the oven, and spread the seasoned potatoes out onto the hot sheet pan. It will sizzle! That is ok and good! It will make for crispy potatoes!
Roast the potatoes for 15 minutes while you prep the chicken and brussels sprouts

Prep the Ranch Chicken & Brussels Sprouts ::

In a shallow dish, whisk the panko crumbs, nutritional yeast, almond flour, and Ranch seasoning.
Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with mayo. I use my hands but you could use a brush if you want. Wash your hands, and then use a tongs to dip each mayo coated chicken breast into the Ranch seasoned panko crumbs, flipping the chicken breasts so they are covered on both sides.
In the same mixing bowl that you tossed the seasoned potatoes, you can toss the brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, and pepper. You could potentially Ranch season these too if you want!

Finish the Ranch Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner ::

Take out the empty hot sheet pan from the oven, and put the Ranch Seasoned Chicken and the seasoned brussels sprouts on this pan.
Once the potatoes have finished the first 15 minutes of roasting, remove the pan, stir the potatoes around, and put them back in the oven along with the sheet pan of Ranch Chicken & Brussels Sprouts.
Cook the Ranch Chicken & Brussels Sprouts as well as the sheet pan of Roasted Ranch Potatoes for 15 minutes. You can place the chicken under the broiler at the end for color if you want. The chicken should have an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

More real food SHEET PAN DINNER recipes you might like!

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Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Nourishing Staples Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

One Pan Creamy Baked Chicken and Broccoli

February 4, 2022

Busy weeknights were made for dinners like this! Just one pan and a 5 minute prep for a creamy, decadent, baked chicken and broccoli dinner!

One Pan Creamy Baked Chicken and Broccoli

Just because I’m a food blogger and cookbook author…

…doesn’t mean that every meal is fancy. Does that surprise you? I know that sometimes when I talk to people, I feel like they are surprised that I don’t make fancy dinners every night. Behind this screen is a super real momma, with a super real 3-school-aged-kid schedule, and a super real budget. So while I do love to blog fun, new recipes to get everyone excited about eating real food, I have to remind myself sometimes to pull back to my “roots” and just blog some of my real, everyday food as well. Because *that* my dear friends is how we do real food everyday. You’ll burn out from it if you don’t have some of these really easy dinners up your sleeve!

All real food on a budget is the name of the game!

Because the real food part really does matter. Sure, we’ll do some out to dinners occasionally, or even some store bought packed snacks, but for the most part, I try to follow that whole 80/20 thing, and in my house its more like 90/10, because my experience has been that real food is actually more affordable than going out to eat, buying packaged and processed food, and even more affordable than boxed “healthy” dinners.

5 Minute Prep? Yes please!

YES, I absolutely think it is important that we *slow* down and enjoy cooking in our family kitchens again. I’m a huge advocate of the family dinner table, and going back to showing kids how to cook, where their food comes from, and the beauty of preparing food for our families. But that doesn’t always have to mean an all day slow cooked roast, or a fussy prepped lasagna. It can simply be chicken prepped with some yummy seasonings, and drenched a cream sauce that was whisked up in minutes!

The Method :: The Chicken & Broccoli

To start your dinner prep, you’ll rinse and pat dry your chicken breasts and prep them right in the pan you will be cooking in. Coat the chicken in some olive oil, and season to your liking. I left some seasoning instructions, but truthfully, this is one that I don’t measure – I’m talking grab the seasoning jars, and just sprinkle along as I go! Once the chicken is seasoned, you’ll spread the broccoli around the pan, and get the sauce made.

The Method :: The Dairy Free Cream Sauce

This is as easy as it gets! Measure it all up in your liquid measuring cup, give it a whisk, and pour it over the chicken. You can play around with the amount to your taste, and if you want more sauce, just make more! If I serve this meal with pasta, I tend to lean more toward the 2 cups of coconut milk so that my pasta has plenty of sauce to soak in.

The Method :: Baking the Chicken

Once the sauce is in the pan, you’re ready to bake. And that means you’re hands free for 25 minutes! You can either help kids with homework, boil the pasta for the chicken meal, or you can sit with a book for a few minutes! If you plan to serve your chicken with baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, just be sure you get those in the oven about 10-15 minutes before the chicken so they have enough time to get soft – I like to cut them in half or quarters to be sure they roast fast enough.

Serving suggestions!

Serving this meal over your pasta of choice works so well and feels so decadent! A lot of the times, I serve over a baked potato or sweet potato, which can bake at the same temperature as the chicken. Depending on the size of your potatoes, and how you cut them, you’ll need to put the potatoes in before the chicken, I usually bake small sweet potato halves, so I put them in about 15-20 minutes before the chicken goes in, OR I bake them on a prep day and just warm them up when the chicken is cooking.

Let’s talk real life

Because I want you to actually make this! Earlier this week, I shared to my Instagram how I prepped this chicken dinner before I left to pick kids up from school. The beauty of a recipe like this is that it can be prepped a day or so in advanced, and put in the fridge until you need it. I prepped the pans for this dinner, left to get the kids, and came home to pop it in the oven. You can also bake this meal off, and eat lunch off from it all week long, dear momma. THIS is how we can get real food into real life mommas, my friends!

Print Recipe

Creamy Baked Chicken & Broccoli

Author: Renee Kohley – Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

For the Chicken & Broccoli ::

4 boneless chicken breasts rinsed & pat dry
2 tbsp olive oil
½ to 1 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ to ½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp Italian Seasoning
1 head of broccoli florets

For the Dairy Free Cheesy Cream Sauce ::

1 ½ – 2 cups coconut milk
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 – 2 tbsp tapioca starch Depending on how thick you want the sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp sea salt
Pinches of black pepper to taste

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Put the chicken into a 9×13 baking dish, and coat with the olive oil. Sprinkle the seasonings evenly over the top – no I don’t typically mix the seasonings separately, and I don’t usually even measure. This is just sprinkle and go on a busy day for me 😊
Place the broccoli florets around the chicken in the pan, nesteling it down on the sides of the chicken and around the pan.
In a liquid measuring cup, measure out your coconut milk, and then add in the rest of the Cream Sauce ingredients. Whisk the cream sauce to combine right there in the liquid measuring cup, and then pour the sauce over the chicken and broccoli
Bake the chicken, uncovered, for 25 – 30 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken. Chicken is supposed to have an internal temperature of 165 degrees, so I tend to take it out around 160 degrees, and let it continue cooking to the 165 while it rests. No I don’t tend to take the temperature, but you can!
Once the chicken is done baking, let the pan rest about 5 minutes or so before cutting so the juices have a chance to redistribute back into the chicken.
Serve your creamy baked chicken & broccoli over your choice of pasta, baked potato, or sweet potato! See the Notes section for tips on baking the potatoes at the same time as the chicken.

Notes

You can swap the coconut milk for whole milk or cream if you can have the dairy. I’m not sure how almond milk would taste, but it should still make a good cream sauce if you prefer that.
You can swap the chicken breast for chicken thighs if that is what you have, or you prefer that taste – you’ll just want to pull the cook time down to about 15-20 minutes since those are smaller.
You can swap the tapioca starch for arrowroot starch, potato starch, or corn starch. If you leave the starch out, you will not get a creamy sauce – it will be runny.
Serving suggestions! Serving this meal over your pasta of choice works so well and feels so decadent! A lot of the times, I serve over a baked potato or sweet potato, which can bake at the same temperature as the chicken. Depending on the size of your potatoes, and how you cut them, you’ll need to put the potatoes in before the chicken, I usually bake potato halves, so I put them in about 15-20 minutes before the chicken goes in, OR I bake them on a prep day and just warm them up when the chicken is cooking.

More real food recipes you might like ::

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