Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
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These cheesy ranch potatoes come together with just four main ingredients and are always a crowd-pleaser! Well-seasoned tender bites of potatoes wrapped in a savory, melted cheese topping. Simple to whip up this side dish comes with a mouth-watering bite on every forkful.
Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
Hands down, these Cheesy Ranch Potatoes one of the best side dish recipes to pop onto the dinner table.
Cheesy ranch potatoes have a comforting feel about them and have everyone coming back for more each time they’re served.
The best part about these potatoes though is that you can’t mess them up. No matter how you make them they come out with a delicious taste every single time.
They’re versatile enough that you can add some extra vegetables if you need to and they’re simple enough that it doesn’t overly matter how you chop the potatoes or what kind of potatoes you use.
These cheesy ranch potatoes come together when you’re in a pinch and quickly become the star of the show.
Ingredients You Need
- Potatoes: the star of the dish you can actually use any potatoes you have on hand. All you need to do is chop them into bite-sized pieces so that they cook evenly and you’re good to go.
- Shredded cheese: similar to the potatoes, use any blend of cheese you have on hand. Cheddar is used most commonly but these cheesy potatoes taste delicious with mozzarella or even a Tex-Mex blend also.
- Ranch dressing: there’s almost always some of this in the fridge, which is why this potato side dish is one you can whip up quickly enough. Any brand will work, and you can dress the dish to your own personal taste preference.
- Butter: unsalted butter works best as you can add the salt yourself and tweak the recipe to suit your tastes.
Tips For Success
- Potatoes – It doesn’t matter if you leave the skins on or not so long as you chop the potatoes so that they’re all similar in size. This way they’ll finish cooking around the same time and maintain a tender texture.
- Baking – Bake the potatoes for roughly 50-60 minutes and then check them with a fork. You want the potatoes tender but not overdone. The fork should pierce lightly through the potatoes.
- Broiling – Once you add the ranch dressing and shredded cheese you want to bake the potatoes for another few minutes to infuse the flavors and melt the cheese. Then, if you like a bit of a crispy texture, broil the dish for no longer than 60 seconds keeping an eye on it to ensure the cheese doesn’t burn.
- Serving – The cheesy ranch potatoes are perfect as they are. However, sprinkling on some chopped green onions or fresh parsley is a great way to present them.
Storing Leftovers
On the off chance you have leftovers, let them cool before either wrapping the serving dish in plastic wrap or placing them in an airtight container.
In the fridge, the cheesy potatoes will stay fresh for up to 3 days.
Reheat the cheesy ranch potatoes in the microwave in intervals or in the oven at 300F. In the oven, you may want to add a dash of water or broth to the dish when heating so that they don’t dry out.
Variations
These ranch potatoes are amazing because they’re so easily varied! This means that you can make them seem like a new side dish almost anytime you make them. Some fun variations to try are:
- New cheeses: the kind of cheese you choose will affect the taste! Try new blends like Tex-Mex, Swiss cheese, or a mix of two kinds of cheese for a new flavor.
- Vegetables: bulk up the dish by adding chopped cauliflower or broccoli to the potatoes. You’ll want to chop the vegetables finely so that they cook quickly, and you may need a dash of extra ranch dressing to coat them. This is a delicious way to get a full side dish out of one dish.
- Protein – mix in some chopped cooked chicken in the last 15 minutes of bake time to make the meal more hearty. One of my favorite variations is adding cooked cubed chicken and broccoli florets. It makes a delicious one dish meal that the entire family loves!
- Fajita seasoning:Â adding in some new spices and seasonings creates a brand-new feel. If you have taco seasoning or a fajita seasoning mix on hand, add a dash of those to give the cheesy potatoes a Mexican flavor to them.
- Add some heat: if you like a spicy kick to your meals, add a dash of hot sauce along with the ranch, some cayenne pepper, or red pepper flakes. Use your discretion though as these ingredients add a big boost in small amounts.
Cheesy potatoes make a delicious side dish for any main course. Serve it alongside any chicken or pork dinner as you would mashed potatoes. It also pairs beautifully with larger Holiday meals. It adds a splash of flavor to any dinner menu.
When cooking potatoes especially potato casseroles in the oven, make sure that the potatoes are chopped into even pieces. This way, they cook at the same rate. You also want to cook the potatoes at a higher temperature (around 400F).
Cheesy Ranch Potatoes
Ingredients
- potatoes diced (peeled, not peeled, russet, reds, whatever)
- butter
- salt & pepper or whatever other seasoning you like, taco seasoning, garlic herb, etc
- ranch dressing to taste
- shredded cheese of your choice to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place the diced potatoes in a baking dish. Dot with a few pieces of butter. Season with salt & pepper, or whatever other seasoning you like. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 50-60 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.
- Add ranch dressing & shredded cheese to taste. Cook in the oven for another 3-5 minutes, until cheese is melted & ranch is piping hot.
- Serve immediately.
Hi,
I just made this dish and it was delicious! We are from Belgium, Europe, and I didn’t even know what ranch dressing was. So I looked it up and maked it from scratch ! Thank you for this yumminess ! 🙂
I’m so glad you loved it!
Just found your website..love it!
My entire family loved this recipe…we were really “bad” and added crumbled bacon to the top and a dollop of sour cream, Delicious and easy, this recipe will make the rotation again :0) Thank you!!
I just made these and used dry ranch seasoning (the mix you’re supposed to make into dip) PLUS ranch dressing. Wow they are amazing!
Oh yum!!
So excited to be making this tonight! Going to link back to your blog once I finish 🙂
Approximately how much ranch dressing should I use. I would love to try this but don’t want to over do it with the ranch.
Made this for Thanksgiving and loved it. I came up with a leftover additional recipe I thought I would share. I made extra because I wanted to be able to make soup. The next day I used left overs. 2 cans of Campbell’s cream of celery, 1 Campbell’s cheese soup. 2 cans made with milk 1 with water. Best potato cheese soup ever. You can throw it in a slow cooker or just on the stove. YUM!
Great idea! Thanks for coming back and sharing!! 🙂
Oh great idea 🙂
This was great! I love how flexible the recipe is. I cut up 4 peeled russet potatoes, ~ 3 cut up TBSP of butter, sprinkled ranch dressing mix, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder & Old Bay (MD girl!) before baking. About half way through I added some broccoli to it and sprinkled more of all the seasonings over top. Let it finish baking and added ranch dressing and lots of shredded cheese. It was so tasty!
Ever try this with cauliflower to cut down on carbs?
I haven’t, but I bet it’d be delicious! I’ve done it with potatoes & broccoli mixed together though.
I’ve made something similar for years but I add a layer of chopped bacon to the top before adding the cheese. It is a hit at church dinners, family reunions, etc.
Wonderful ! Will try it tonight!
I love making this for my family! I always get the packs of the REAL bacon bits tho and sprinkle it all over the top with the cheese an ranch!! Soo goood!!!!
Tried these for the first time yesterday and absolutely loved them!!! This is coming from someone who cannot eat potatoes without ketchup I guess old habits die hard because I didn’t feel the need to use ketchup with these potatoes ????????
Best way to improve these potatoes and trust me that’s not easy because they’re so good as is. However we have a favorite item that makes many things better with its addition of vlasic mild pepper rings in the jar. (can use hot but only if everyone in your family can handle hot, besides mild is hot enough) also good and colorful are the cherry bell peppers (those little red round peppers also in a jar but chopp these) if using rings no need to chop up just toss in when mixing in the ranch, cheese and stir up or you add them when roasting the potatoes before the ranch n cheese go in. small easy addition changes the flavor immensely. Depending on how many potatoes your making just add eyeball how much peppers to add, it’s not rocket science.
i just made it! but instead of shredded cheese i used velveta slices it still turned out amazing!!!!!
Yummy!  Easy …….. doesn’t require a ton of ingredients but I can see if you wanted you could jazz up with toppings like bacon bits etc  but not needed they are great just basic.  Absolutely a new side dish I will be making regularly! Â
Have you ever made these in a crockpot?
Actually yes! But, I add a little chicken broth when I do this because you need that extra cooking liquid in the slow cooker.
Do you  make your ranch dressing with the packet or do use the already made Ranch in a bottle?  Thanks!
The already made ranch in the bottle!
I love these! So quick and easy.  I like the way you leave lots of room for personalizing the recipe. I used yellow potatoes, added diced onion. After cooked, added some sliced pickled jalapeños and of course the ranch, cheese, and bacon. Yum Yum. I will definitely make these again.Â