Simple ingredients...scrumptious sandwich!

Fry the four pieces of chicken breast in oil and butter until done in the middle, about 10-12 minutes. Slice into strips and set aside. To assemble the sandwiches, spread a generous amount of mustard on one half of the bread. Spread a generous amount of ranch dressing on the other half. (Definitely be generous; when the sandwich cooks, these will turn into more of a "sauce.") Arrange chicken, bacon slices, and cheese slices on the bottom half. Top with the top slice. Butter both sides of the bread generously, then grill in the panini maker. (If you do not have a panini maker, you can grill the sandwiches in a skillet, laying a heavy skillet on top of the sandwich to press it together. Turn to grill the other side in the same way.) Slice in half and gobble it down immediately.

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whole Chicken Breasts, Cut In Half From Top To Bottom

2 whole Chicken Breasts, Cut In Half From Top To Bottom

I’d been making panini for my cookbook (I have one more day of cooking left; hurray and burp) and wound up with a bunch of leftover ingredients at the end of the day. I needed to fix a quick dinner for the kids, so I scanned the kitchen for the ingredients that hold the most broad appeal in my house. Here’s what I came up with:

Chicken

Bacon

Cheese

Ranch Dressing

For all its simplicity, this panini really turned into something yummy! And if you don’t have a panini maker, don’t fret! Just grill the sandwich in the skillet with a second (heavy) skillet on top of it to press it together. It’ll make you feel inventive and nifty.





Either pound a chicken breast so that it’s a little flatter, or cut a chicken breast in half so that there’s a top and bottom half.





Rebecca from Foodie with Family reminded me of this method over the summer, and it’s so much neater than pounding.

It doesn’t quite provide the same release for one’s aggressions…but there’s always kickboxing.





Fry up the chicken in a little canola oil and butter, then slice them into strips when they’re done.





Spread one slice of crusty bread with spicy mustard. I would actually lay it on thicker than this! When you make panini, you really want to keep in mind that whatever “spread” you put on the bread actually turns into a “sauce” when it’s grilled and heated.





On the other slice of bread, spread a generous layer of ranch dressing. On my Food Network show this Saturday morning, I make ranch dressing from scratch. For this sandwich, I grabbed a crusty bottle of old storebought stuff from the door of the fridge. And it was totally, absolutely fine.





Lay on the slices of chicken…





Plenty of chewy bacon…





And plenty of sharp cheddar cheese.





Now just generously butter both sides of the bread…





And grill it up on the panini maker.





You wanna know how good this was?

It was so good, I vowed to myself never to be without a crusty bottle of ranch dressing in the door of the fridge.

That’s how good it was.

Here’s the printable!