Chicken, bacon, ghost pepper ranch melt
Instructions for 1 sandwich (with extra sauce for many sandwiches)
20 minutes
15 minutes
35 minutes
Ingredients:
Ghost pepper ranch sauce- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1⁄2 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
- 2 teaspoons paprika (for color)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon MSG (optional but you should use it for the real Hidden Valley taste)
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/16 teaspoon ghost pepper chili powder
- buttermilk (probably less than a quarter cup - can use regular milk too))
- 2 slices of wheat or white sandwich bread
- ghost pepper ranch sauce (from above)
- 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 cup shredded cheddar cheese (split in half)
- 3 to 4 half slices of cooked bacon
- 2 to 3 ounces cooked chicken thigh or breast, cut into small pieces
- 1 to 2 tablespoons butter
Check below recipe directions
for additional notes.
Related blog post: Chicken, bacon, ghost pepper ranch melt
Directions:
Ghost pepper ranch sauce: add the mayonnaise, sour cream, chopped dill, chopped chives, garlic powder, onion powder, MSG (if using), salt, black pepper, and ghost pepper chili powder to a medium bowl. Whisk well to combine.
Taste now to see if you think it needs more salt and pepper. I typically go heavy on the pepper. At this point, it won't be quite as spicy as it will become after a few hours in the fridge. Double the ghost pepper chili powder if you want this to be Extra Spicy.
You can stop now (without the buttermilk) if you want more of a mayonnaise-like consistency to spread on sandwiches.
Add buttermilk a little bit at a time and whisk until you reach the right consistency. I usually only need about 3 tablespoons to hit a thick dressing stage but if you're making this for salads, you might want to add more.
Store in a jar or container with a lid in the refrigerator for no more than 2 weeks.
Sandwich assembly: add a thin layer of ghost pepper ranch sauce on the bottom slice of bread. Top with half of the shredded cheddar cheese.
Layer the half slices of bacon on top of the cheese and then top the bacon with the small pieces of cooked chicken. Feel free to drizzle more ranch on top of the chicken if you want the sandwich to be a bit more saucy.
Then add the second half of the shredded cheese on top of the chicken. Complete the sandwich with more ghost pepper ranch sauce spread on the top slice of bread.
Grilling/griddling: preheat a large pan or griddle on the stove over medium-low heat. Butter the outside of the top of the sandwich. After the pan or griddle has heated up for 4 or 5 minutes flip the sandwich over, butter side down, into the pan. Cook for 3 minutes on the first side.
Add butter to the top of the sandwich while it is in the pan. After 3 minutes on the first side, flip the sandwich again, butter side down, and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes on the second side. Depending on the color of the bread, you may want to flip and cook again a couple more times until the outside of the sandwich is golden brown and crispy.
Remove the sandwiches from the pan/griddle and allow them to rest on a cooling rack for 2 minutes before serving.
Serve and enjoy.
Notes:
If you can't get your hands on ghost pepper powder or don't want to buy it, you can use other spicy pepper powders in its place. Just know that you may need to use more if you want to get a lot of heat.
The spice level of the dressing will ramp up a bit after some time in the fridge. This is because it takes some time for the powders to get distributed throughout the sauce.
This recipe is almost the same as my regular ranch recipe. If you'd like to make a regular ranch dresisng from this recipe, just remove the paprika and the ghost pepper powder from the ingredient list.
Have you made this recipe? Share on Bluesky or Instagram, tag @beerinator and let him know!
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