Creamy Ranch Chicken Pockets

I don't know why its taken me so long to post about these - they are a favorite in this house. I am always looking for an easy-to-put-together but tasty dinner recipe for during the week - and even more so now. Joe started a new job that has him commuting to the city. This means that I am now on pick up and drop off duty for JJ and we are getting home later. I am able to prep the filling for these ahead of time, and just stuff them and pop them in the oven when I get home. I am getting ahead of myself though - the inspiration for these Chicken Pockets came from this pin:


Source: Jenna Blogs

I must have repinned it during a random Pinterest browsing session because of the caption, "Chicken Rollups - chicken, cheese, cream cheese, and a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch powder - Amazing!" And who doesn't love those things? Unfortunately, when I went to make it the first time and clicked through, the recipe didn't match the caption. While Jenna's rollups did sound tasty, I really wanted the ranch version so I sort of just adapted her recipe and made some stuff up (and added bacon - yum!). I have made these multiple times now, so I am pretty comfortable with the recipe at this point.

Just like with the chicken and cheese lasagna rollups and biscuit topped chicken pot pie, I used rotisserie chicken to make life a little easier on myself. After my weekly grocery shopping one Sunday, I mixed up the filling and popped it into the fridge:

When I got home from work the next day, while the oven was preheating, I pulled out the crescent roll dough and started filling them. I make them big - so I use two crescent "triangles" to make a rectangle. Just sort of pinch the seam together. Once filled, I wrap up the corners together.

Then I melt a little butter, brush it on top, and sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top, because we are fancy over here when we eat crescents.

Pop them into the oven for a little longer than the crescent directions instruct (I think I had them in there 20 minutes, maybe 25). And here they are - all browned up.

 

 

The Verdict: These are a favorite in this house. An easy and tasty weeknight meal that I can prep ahead of time. Even easier when you use rotisserie chicken and pre-cooked bacon. They are sort of the dinner version of crack dip.

Things to Consider: There is a lot of bad for you stuff in this recipe (cream cheese, bacon, etc) so if you are looking for healthy, clean, paleo, vegan, etc - this isn't the recipe for you. That being said, the recipe makes 8 pockets, and they are pretty filling. Thursday nights are leftover nights so we usually finish most of them. If you are looking to stretch the recipe, however, I think the assembled but uncooked pockets would freeze well.


Creamy Ranch Chicken Pockets
adapted from this pin and this recipe

Ingredients:
1.5 cups cooked and chopped/shredded chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup precooked and crumbled bacon
8oz brick of cream cheese, softened
1 envelope of ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup chopped onions or chives
2 cans Crescent rolls
1 tbsp melted butter
breadcrumbs

Directions:
Mix together chicken, cheese, bacon, cream cheese, dressing mix, and onions. Unroll crescent rolls and create rectangles out of two triangles each (see above). Gently press seams together to form the rectangles (each can will give you 4 rectangles). Scoop 1/8th of filling mixture into the center of each rectangle. Press corners together to close up pocket. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake following crescent roll directions adding more time as needed so crescents are brown on top and no longer "doughy" (totaling  about 20-25 minutes). Enjoy!