Medicated Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

September 2022 by Angela Laufer

As the afternoons start to get cooler, it’s time to shine for casseroles and warm, filling meals! This medicated chicken bacon ranch pasta uses infused half and half to make a comfort food dish of comfort food dishes! Incredibly versatile, you can switch this recipe up in many ways, adding vegetables, switching meats, and even adding cajun spice for some extra warmth.

Download Printable PDF: Medicated Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Recipe

**Note: I doubled the following recipe in preparation for a dinner party, so if you notice the quantity or measurements in my pictures don’t align with the given steps, don’t worry! (:

*This recipe and its measurements will serve 6 people*

I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it is to half -or double- this recipe, just make sure you always calculate your infusions so you know how many milligrams of THC each serving will hold.

Step 1: Cook the Bacon

Cook your bacon in a large skillet over low heat. Cooking over low may take a bit longer, but low and slow ensures your bacon is cooked evenly, full-flavored, and without burnt bits. Additionally, using thick-cut bacon in this recipe will produce more drippings, which you’ll need for cooking your chicken in the next step.

While the bacon cooks, I prepped all my other measurements, ingredients, and tools. When your bacon is finished, set aside on a paper towel-lined plate, pour bacon drippings into a small bowl or mason jar, and carefully wipe your skillet clean. Roughly chop the bacon once cooled.

Step 2: Prepare & Cook the Chicken

Cut chicken breasts into thinner slices, about 2-3 slices each. After cutting, pat dry and season each side lightly with salt and pepper, then coat evenly with your measured onion powder and Italian seasoning.

Heat 2 T of the bacon drippings you set aside, in your skillet over medium-high heat.

Sear the chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side, until a golden-brown crust has developed on each. Set aside on a plate once cooked through. Let your cooked chicken rest for about 5 minutes, then cut into cubes of desired size.

Step 3: Boil the Pasta and Steam Veggies

Now is a great time to boil lightly salted water and cook your pasta. I used rotini noodles because the sauce sticks so well between the grooves, but you can use any noodles you prefer. Penne, bowtie or cavatappi would all work beautifully in this recipe too.

Prepare the sauce while your pasta boils and drain pasta once it’s done.

While the pasta boils, I took this step to also steam my broccoli and set it aside until we combine the last of our ingredients. If you prefer a different vegetable or to go without, that is perfectly fine!

Step 4: Make the Sauce

Melt 1 T of butter over medium heat, in the same skillet you cooked your bacon and chicken. Sauté your garlic for 1 minute or until fragrant.

Garlic

Temper your half and half by heating in the microwave for 40 seconds. Add it to your skillet in splashes, stirring as you’re adding.

**Note: I had made a concentrated infused half and half for the purpose of adding to coffee, not for use in a full meal. Because of this, I used ½ cup of my infused half and half, mixed with regular store-bought half and half. Using our website’s dosage calculator, I was able to determine the amount of cannabis-infusion to use, keeping the individual servings in my recipe at a safe and comfortable dosage. (:

Once your sauce is heated through, add ¼ t of sunflower lecithin, and your ranch seasoning, and mix well with a metal whisk. Sunflower lecithin helps to bind your infused liquid ingredients to the rest of your recipe, ensures more even dosing in your servings, makes your THC more bioavailable, and creates an even, consistent creamy texture in your sauce. After sunflower lecithin and ranch seasoning is well-mixed, gradually stir in your cheese.

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Step 5: Combine Pasta, Chicken & Bacon

Add your cooked pasta to the skillet with your sauce and use a silicone spatula to carefully combine.

(You always want to use silicone, metal or glass while cooking with cannabis, so you don’t lose THC and other cannabinoids by absorption through plastics and other similar porous utensils.)

Add the chicken, bacon and cooked vegetable of your liking, and allow them to heat back up a bit. Serve immediately!

Mixed

Enjoy!

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Cooking with Cannabis-Infused Ingredients

A good starting point for ingesting cannabis edibles is to limit yourself to <5mg THC ; even less if you are new to THC-infused food. It can have the tendency to be a lot stronger, more intense, and can differ drastically from smoking. For one, the effects can take anywhere from a half hour to 3 hours to fully metabolize, depending on an individual’s unique body and metabolic rate. In addition, because the THC is digested through your liver and can more readily cross the body’s blood-brain barrier, the high can be stronger and last longer. With that said, your edible’s potency depends on many factors; how it was prepared, the potency of your starting product, as well as considering if the strain or concentrate used in your infusion is indica, sativa or hybrid. To test the potency and effect of your finished product, try a smaller amount (<5mg) and see how that dose affects you after 2-3 hours. Titrate your dose as desired, and you can then use this personalized “standard” dose as a baseline for your recipes.

**Check out our dosage calculator for help in calculating your edible’s dosage @:

https://www.plant-family.com/thc-dosage-calculator/ **

Happy Cooking!