Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls
These Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls provide a little decadent start to any meal: five normal ingredients combine to make a crowd pleasing appetizer.
Our oldest son and his roommate had this for dinner – they just split it between the two of them. It has all the college food groups – bread, cheese, ranch and BACON!
Round bread works the best.
But any regular unsliced loaf works well too. If you don’t have Ranch Dressing Mix, substitute garlic powder (for Cheddar Garlic Bacon Pulls). Or add onion powder (for Onion Cheddar Bacon Pulls). Or chili powder (Southwestern Cheddar Bacon Pulls)… you get the idea.
This recipe is really versatile, with each ingredient being easily switched out. Bacon is always my first choice, but ham would work great here too. No need to cook that before slipping it into the loaf.
Bake the bacon for about 7 minutes
so it is “par-cooked” but not too crispy – it will cook more in the bread.
Be careful when cutting the bread – try not to cut all the way through. The best knife for this is a serrated knife (affiliate links follow – see disclaimer page for details.) If you do, you’ll have cheese all over the pan. Not a bad thing, really, just a different recipe.
There’s no right or wrong way to put the cheese and bacon in the bread. Just smush it in there!
And be sure to use the bacon baking sheet (say that three times fast) to cook the loaf – it gives a great flavor and crispiness to the bottom of the bread.
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls
Ingredients
- 6 slices Bacon
- 4 ounces Sharp Cheddar
- 1 loaf Round Bread, unsliced
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 1 tbsp Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place bacon on baking sheet and put in oven while it is warming. The bacon needs to be halfway cooked; it should be translucent and pliable, but not browned.
- While bacon cooks, cut slits halfway through bread in two directions, creating a checkerboard pattern. Cut cheddar cheese into slices. Slip cheddar cheese slices and bacon pieces into slits.
- Drizzle butter over stuffed bread. Sprinkle ranch dressing liberally over entire round. Place bread on same sheet bacon was cooked on, and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
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