Ranch Chicken for the Freezer

I’ve really been enjoying getting food in the freezer lately (as you can tell by my blog posts! :). My goal has been to plan a few meals and meal starters for the freezer every couple of weeks when I do my big shopping (which I’ve managed to get to every other week, with a stop at the local grocery store in between for fresh salad veggies).  This has been so nice to have on hand!! 

This week I tried a new freezer food, Ranch Chicken. We have not had this yet, it is on the menu for Saturday.

I purchased 8lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I used 5lbs of it to make Ranch Chicken. This was pretty simple to make. Here is the basic recipe:

5lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
3 to 4 cups bread crumbs (this is an estimate as I did not actually measure it out)
salt & pepper, to taste
1 ½ recipes of homemade ranch dressing (you can find the recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/ranchdressing.htm )

I began by making the bread crumbs. I had some bread heels that I had saved for making bread crumbs. The bread was slightly dried out, but if it was not I could have toasted it a bit to dry it out first. I grated it up in my Bosch and then poured the crumbs into a bowl. I sprinkled salt and pepper in with the crumbs. I did not measure, just gave a few shakes..

Then I made up the ranch dressing. I actually made a double recipe and pulled a cup or so out of the batch…

Then I rinsed off my chicken and patted it dry and put it on a plate..

First, dip the chicken pieces in the ranch dressing….

Then coat them with the bread crumbs…

Lay them on a tray.

When the tray is full put it in the freezer.

I ended up with 3 trays. Let the ranch chicken freeze completely. When it is frozen remove from the tray and put in zip lock bags. You can now pull out how many pieces you would like for your dinner. For my family I am guessing this will make about 2 meals. If you have a smaller size family you will get more mileage out of this.

On the evening you want to serve this take the chicken out of the freezer and either fry it in a little olive oil or bake in the oven. 

If you fry it, it will take about 15 to 20 minutes or so in a medium high skillet that has been coated with olive oil. Turn it during the cooking time. It will be ready to eat when it is no longer pink on the inside.

To bake the chicken lay the chicken pieces on a cookie sheet that has olive oil spread on it and bake (from frozen) at 400 for 20 minutes, turn pieces over and bake another 20 minutes.

Serve with baked potatoes or rice pilaf and a big green salad.

The other 3lbs of chicken I used for a freezer meal that I was not able to get pictures of due to my household getting quite busy (company stopped by).. and I had to just hurry and get it made up. But I will share the recipe!!

Crockpot Sweet & Spicy Chicken for the Freezer

3lbs chicken meat, cut into pieces (this can boneless, skinless thighs or breasts)
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup honey
¼ cup white vinegar
2t oregano
2t paprika
¾ t cayenne pepper

Put all ingredients into a gallon size zip lock bag. Seal the bag. Squish the ingredients to mix them up. Freeze. On cooking day defrost the bag just enough to be able to fit it into your crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve over rice.