Chicken Bacon Ranch Smash Tacos
These chicken bacon ranch smash tacos are a fun twist on the viral smash burger tacos. Made with bacon bits and a light “ranch” sauce to keep it easy and macro friendly!
If you have a hard time getting your protein in, these are for you. There’s 52 grams of protein for 3 tacos thanks to the lean ground chicken (if your goal was to hit 100g of protein per day, this would get you over halfway there). Plus they’re so easy and taste bomb.
What You’ll Need
Equipment
Ingredients
- Lean ground chicken: I use 98% lean for the most protein, but any ground chicken works.
- Street taco flour tortillas: Love these La banderita ones.
- Kinder’s all purpose seasoning: Or seasonings of choice.
- Provolone cheese: Specifically the Sargento ultra thin provolone slices.
- Bacon bits: Love the applewood smoke flavor.
- Lettuce, tomato, green onion: For topping.
- Non fat plain greek yogurt
- Milk of choice. I use almond since that’s what I usually have.
- Ranch seasoning
- Hickory liquid smoke: A little goes a long way. You can usually find this in the sauce aisle by the BBQ.
How To Make Them
- Make the “ranch”: To keep this light, I use non fat plain greek yogurt as the base, then add ranch seasoning, liquid smoke, and a splash of milk until desired consistency.
- Prep & season tacos: Divide the chicken into 12 equal pieces for each taco. Use a spoon to spread chicken evenly on top of the tortillas. Season generously with Kinder’s all purpose seasoning or seasonings of choice and gently rub into the chicken.
- Cook: Heat frying pan on medium high heat and spray with oil. Once hot, add the tacos, chicken side down (I fit 3 on my pan at a time). Cook 2-3 min, until chicken is cooked and tortilla edges have crisped up. Flip the tacos, reduce heat to low, add cheese and cover with a lid to melt.
- Decorate: Once cheese is melted and bottom of tortillas are golden brown, remove from pan. Add lettuce, tomato, green onion, ranch sauce and enjoy!
Tips
- Measuring the chicken: Optional, but I use a kitchen scale to weigh the chicken so each taco gets the same amount (~37 g each).
- Cool on wire rack: If I’m still prepping my toppings once tacos are cooked, I set them on a cooling rack so they stay crispy.
- Ranch sauce: Make this as thick or thin as you’d like by adding more or less milk.
- Cook what you want & save the rest: A lot of times, I cook one serving (3 tacos) and save the rest for later. These don’t reheat the best (the tortillas get soggy) so only make however many you’ll eat!
You’ll Also Love
As always, be sure to leave a rating and review down below if you try this one! I always love hearing from you guys. And don’t forget to tag me on IG so I can see what you’re cooking up and repost! Enjoy. ♡
Chicken Bacon Ranch Smash Tacos
These chicken bacon ranch smash tacos are made with bacon bits and a light "ranch" sauce to keep it easy and macro friendly.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb 98% lean ground chicken
- 12 street taco flour tortillas (~18 g each)
- Kinder's all purpose seasoning or seasonings of choice
- 12 thin slices provolone cheese
- 12 tbsp bacon bits (84 g)
- lettuce, tomato, green onion for topping
"Ranch" sauce
- 1/2 cup non fat plain greek yogurt (113 g)
- 2 tsp ranch seasoning
- 1/4 tsp hickory liquid smoke
- 1-2 tbsp milk of choice, until desired consistency
Instructions
- For the light ranch sauce, combine all ingredients listed above. Set aside.
- Heat a large frying pan on medium high heat and spray with oil. Separate the chicken into 12 pieces and spread out evenly onto the tortillas. Season generously with Kinder's all purpose seasoning or seasonings of choice and gently rub in.
- Cook the tacos, chicken side down, 2-3 minutes, until chicken is cooked and edges of tortilla have crisped up. Flip, reduce heat to low, add cheese and cover with lid to melt. Once melted and bottom of tortillas are crispy, remove from heat.
- Top with bacon bits, lettuce, tomato, green onion and drizzle with ranch sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Measuring the chicken: Optional, but I use a kitchen scale to weigh the chicken pieces so each taco gets the same amount (~37 g each).
- Nutrition: Includes veggies and sauce.
- A lot of times, I cook one serving (3 tacos) and save the rest for later. These don’t reheat the best (the tortillas get soggy) so only make however many you’ll eat!
- If I’m still prepping my toppings once tacos are cooked, I set them on a cooling rack so they stay crispy.
Nutrition
Serving: 3tacos | Calories: 470kcal | Carbohydrates: 27.9g | Protein: 51.9g | Fat: 18.1g | Fiber: 1.4g
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This is a brilliant recipe. I was skeptical about the chicken being completely cooked, but it was magic. Very easy to make and turned out perfect. I love everything TACO, so I’m excited to add this to my rotation.
Hi April,
I’m a chronic chicken over-cooker myself and these always cook up perfect! Smashed into a thin layer gives it so much flavor. Happy you loved it! ♡
I would use creamy Italian or even bleu cheese as I can’t stand ranch. I use wholewheat tortillas or even better, chapatis. Beef bacon is rly good too (I don’t do pork).
To make it higher fat, use ground thighs and add butter to pan so tortillas soak it up. Smashtacos are all about the fried tortilla — like authentic tacos.