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Sometimes the best recipes are the simplest. These baked ranch potatoes have just 4 ingredients and they’re perfect for dinner; whether it’s for the fam or a party!
My Mama-in-law thought up this recipe and baked it for us on our last visit to California. It seems like every time we visit, I come home with new recipes. I love it! Even my son found these cheesy potatoes hard to resist and he doesn’t usually like potatoes. Family approved :).
If you aren’t convinced yet, please stare at this next photo awhile… 😉
Ingredients for cheesy ranch potatoes:
3 lbs baby red potatoes, unpeeled
1/2-1 cup buttermilk or yogurt ranch dressing
Garlic salt, to taste
1 – 1 1/2 cups finely shredded Mexican cheese blend
Chives or green onions to garnish, optional
How to make oven roasted potatoes:
1. Cut potatoes into 1″ to 1 1/2″ pieces. Fill a 5 Qt pot half full with salted warm water (about 7 cups water and 1 tsp salt). Add potatoes and bring to a boil then cook at a low boil for 8-12 min depending on size of potatoes (they should be nearly done and should be fairly easy to pierce with a fork) Drain well.
2. Drizzle 1/2 cup ranch dressing directly into the pot with drained potatoes and gently toss – just enough to coat evenly.
3. Transfer potatoes into greased casserole dish. Sprinkle potatoes with garlic salt to taste. Bake uncovered at 400˚F for 20-25 minutes. Remove casserole from oven and set oven to broil.
4. Sprinkle the top with 1 cup Mexican cheese blend, return to oven and broil for 2-3 min or until cheese is melted. It’s perfectly ok to add more garlic salt at the end if you under-seasoned it the first time (speaking from experience)
Baked Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
Ingredients
- 3 lbs baby red potatoes, unpeeled
- 1/2 cup buttermilk ranch or yogurt ranch dressing
- Garlic salt, to taste
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups finely shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 2 Tbsp chives or green onions, optional garnish
Instructions
- Cut potatoes into 1″ to 1 1/2″ pieces. Fill a 5 Qt pot half full with salted warm water (about 7 cups water and 1 tsp salt). Add potatoes and bring to a boil then cook at a low boil for 8-12 min depending on size of potatoes (they should be nearly done and should be fairly easy to pierce with a fork) Drain well.
- Drizzle 1/2 cup ranch dressing directly into the pot with drained potatoes and gently toss - just enough to coat evenly.
- Transfer potatoes into greased casserole dish. Sprinkle potatoes with garlic salt to taste. Bake uncovered at 400˚F for 20-25 minutes. Remove casserole from oven and set oven to broil.
- Sprinkle the top with 1 cup Mexican cheese blend, return to oven and broil for 2-3 min or until cheese is melted. It's perfectly ok to add more garlic salt at the end if you under-seasoned it the first time (speaking from experience). Garnish with chopped chives or green onion if desired.
♥ FAVORITE THINGS ♥
Shown in this post: (nope, no one paid us to write this; just stuff we love):
* This is my favorite baking casserole dish. I love that it has a lid!
* You can Sprinkle Lawry’s Garlic Salt on just about anything.
* This Wusthof Santoku Knife is awesome for veggies & anything really
Are you a potato lover? Even if you’re not, these will win you over :).
Looks good!
This page is making me hungery
Mission; accomplished. 🙂
it looks so good I’m going to try it right now
I hope you love it!! 🙂
Would love to try this. Simple yet delicious!!!
Thank you Rich, let me know how it works out :).
I love this recipe! I made a review about it on my blog. It’s so good!
https://meilizlewis.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/baked-cheesy-ranch-potatoes/
Thank you so much for sharing it! 🙂
I made these for my cousin as a celebration for her being free from another year of prison — I mean, pharmacy school, hahaha. Anyway, she LOVES, absolutely LOVES potatoes, and I had shown her this recipe; she was excited! She and her family and my coworkers (I brought some in to work) LOVED them. They all said it was delicious! Just a question, Natasha: what did you use on top of those potatoes, chives or green onions? I used parsley as a last minute version (still good).
I had to do a double take when I read prison. lol. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I used chives this time, but it works just as well with green onions. 🙂
Hi, Natasha, I made these last night, and they were delicious! Thank you for sharing the great recipe! Nicki
Nicki, thank you for the great review and you are welcome :).
Hi natasha!!! Just wondering can I make this dish the night before and then just put in the the over the next day after Sunday morning service? Or it won’t be the same ?
I haven’t tried it that way, but I think it could work to pre-boil the potatoes, let them cool completely then cover and refrigerate and finish it off the next day. You might need to bake it slightly longer since you’ll be using cold potatoes from the fridge.
I’m a huge fan of yours if you cannot tell! This was on our dinner tonight! I loved how easy it was to make! I used my homemade Greek yogurt instead of ranch and only used garlic powder. It was AWESOME! I’ll be making this more often!
I love reading all of your comments. They always make my day! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your tip for using Greek yogurt. How do you make the Greek Yogurt? I’ve never tried!
It wasn’t hard, just nerve wrecking because of the uncertainty of the waiting. Haha. Here’s the link to the recipe
I could never find whole milk Greek Yogurt for my baby. So, I just buy plain whole milk. I was so happy to find this recipe because now, I can give her Greek Yogurt. She loves yogurt bites!
Thanks so much for sharing that! 🙂
hi, i want to make this for a party. how can i make sure they are not too dry and how would you reheat it in crock pot??? thanks
I haven’t tried it in a crock pot so I’m not sure if that would dry out the potatoes to reheat them there. If they are made per the recipe, they won’t turn out dry. Do you mean if you aren’t serving them right away? I’d recommend baking them per instructions then covering with foil and keeping them in a warm oven to keep them warm without drying out the potatoes. I hope that helps! 🙂
I made this for guests last night and everyone loved it! Thank you for a great and easy recipe. 🙂 It is also a recipe that is easy to tweak if needed and it still tastes really great, I didn’t have the exact ingredients and just used what I had on hand. It was soooo good. Congratulations on your beautiful bundle of joy!
Thank you so much and I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe. You’re absolutely right you can tweak the recipe and it will still turn out great. Thanks for sharing that with me. 🙂
These are making me so hungry! First thing I read this morning, could this count as breakfast? I like how you baked the potatoes with the dressing so all the glorious flavor soaks in. Pinned for later.
Matt, absolutely you can have it for breakfast, why not :-).
So…I made this last night for dinner and it turned out delicious! I added some frozen veggies (peas/carrots/beans/corn mixture) and diced ham and it was a meal by itself. Simple and tasty, my kind of meal 🙂
Thank you for the great review Galina and great job on improvising. Reading your comment is making me hungry :).
Excited to try it! Thanks for all those great recipies!
Good luck girl! I was 10 days overdue with my 2nd.
Hope to meet ur little girl soon 🙂
You’re so welcome :). I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes :). 10 days, wow!! I bet you were wondering if she’d ever come out. They won’t let me go over that long because I’m hoping for a vbac this time. We’re so excited to meet her soon 🙂
Hi Natasha. This looks really yummy and super easy! I’m definitely going to try it out soon. I really thought we would be seeing baby pictures in your post! Hang in there and God bless you and your family 🙂
Hi Binsy! Believe me, we thought she’d be here by now too! I must be feeding her too well ;). Thank you so much for your sweet words :).
These potatoes look so cheesy! The more cheese the better!
I couldn’t agree with you more
Cheesy, cheesy, potatoes, yum!!
P.S. I’ve heard of glass pyrex dishes exploding in the oven or on the table if put under the broiler… just something to keep in mind 🙂
I’ve heard of that happening if you go from cold to hot really quickly; for example pouring cold water into a blazing hot pan is a very bad idea. Or the other way around. My sister had that happen when she preheated a glass dish to use it as a steam basin and then added warm water to a blazing hot Pyrex. She said it shattered/exploded!
Can I use the russet potatoes or Idaho instead ? Thanks
Yes, just make sure they are about the same size pieces – about 1″ in thickness and boil them until they are nearly cooked the same way. The texture will be slightly different (not as smooth as red potatoes), but the recipe will still work :).
These look amazing- my husband loves all things ranch! He’ll be very happy if I make these for him. Thanks for sharing!
You’re so welcome! I hope you both love the potatoes. 🙂
Looks delicious! Can I use regular ranch instead?
Absolutely! I think my Mama-in-law used Hidden Valley Ranch. Use whatever you have on hand.