Warm Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels – Easy Appetizers!

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These chicken bacon ranch pinwheels are made with shredded chicken, cream cheese, and a whole lotta flavor! The perfect party appetizers to make for a crowd!

A while back we made some fantastic buffalo chicken pinwheels that became an instant family-favorite. So much so that my brother-in-law has asked me no less than 15 times to make them again.

And since I rarely make the same recipes twice (we do have a YouTube channel after all so we’re in constant need of new and amazing food ideas!), I decided to do a chicken bacon ranch version of the tortilla roll-up appetizers. And they were just as great, if not better, than the original pinwheels that I had griddled up.

In fact, my wife and I really couldn’t decide which ones we liked better – these chicken bacon ranch pinwheels or the buffalo chicken pinwheels. So I say, just make them both!

Here’s how to make these pinwheel appetizers that are perfect game day or party snacks:

Why You’ll LOVE this Pinwheel Recipe:

• Easy to customize. Substitute more cheddar cheese for the pepper jack, leave out the jalapenos, or try these pinwheels on a sun-dried tomato or spinach flavored tortilla… there are so many different ways to make this recipe your own!
• Make ahead. These chicken bacon ranch pinwheels are the perfect party appetizer or tailgating recipe because they don’t have many ingredients and you can prep the chicken mixture the night before. Then, just wrap, cut, and griddle the pinwheels on the day of your party!
• Inexpensive and easy to find ingredients. With simple ingredients like cream cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing, this appetizer recipe won’t cost you a pretty penny or have you searching multiple grocery stores for fancy ingredients.

Ingredients for Chicken Bacon Ranch Roll Ups

Here are the simple ingredients that we used to make our chicken pinwheel appetizers on the griddle:

• Chicken. We used boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs or make this recipe with leftover cooked chicken to save some time.
• Bacon. Center cut, thick cut, or even leftover bacon from yesterday’s breakfast… any type of bacon will do.
• Ranch dressing. I always prefer the refrigerated bottled dressings that can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores over the shelf-stable varieties, but use whatever ranch dressing you like.
• Cheeses. The cream cheese is pretty much a necessity to bind all of the ingredients together, but besides that you can use whatever variety of shredded cheese that you like… we went with a mix of sharp cheddar and pepper jack.
• Green onion. Adds a bit of extra color and flavor, and thinly sliced green onions make a great garnish.
• Tortillas. You can’t make tortilla pinwheel roll-ups with the actual tortillas! I’ve made these easy appetizers a handful of times now, and the burrito-sized tortillas definitely work best.
• Jalapeños. Definitely optional, but the smoked jalapeños that we used in our roll-ups added a great flavor!
• Seasoning. Use whatever all-purpose seasoning you like on the chicken breasts, or substitute plain old S&P.

Recipe Substitutions

• For the chicken – If you don’t want to smoke or bake your own chicken breasts and then shred them, then substitute a store-bought rotisserie chicken to save time.
• For the tortillas – Want to save some carbs? Substitute low carb tortillas for the regular flour tortillas – just make sure to get the burrito size for best results.
• Jarred jalapenos – Don’t want to smoke your own fresh whole jalapenos? Substitute jarred pickled jalapenos for spicier appetizers, or leave out the peppers altogether.
• No griddle? – No problem! You can toast these pinwheels inside in a skillet on the stovetop, or serve them cold instead.

How to Make Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels

These yummy appetizers are so easy to make, and if you’ve ever made the deli-style pinwheels with lunchmeat and cream cheese, then you can definitely make these too! Here’s how to do it:

Smoking the chicken breasts and jalapeños.

Our chicken bacon ranch roll-ups start out with smoked chicken breasts to really kick up the flavor! To prep the chicken, simply rub on bottled ranch dressing as a binder, and sprinkle each piece of chicken with your choice of seasoning. The ranch dressing helps the seasonings adhere to the chicken breasts and it also adds extra flavor to your pinwheels.

We used our own Shake That All Purpose Seasoning (a perfect blend of salt, pepper, garlic, and butter) and Heath Riles Garlic Jalapeno Rub for our chicken. Your chicken breasts should look something like this before going on the grill:

Next, we smoked the chicken breasts on our charcoal grill at 250 degrees F until they reached an internal temp of 165 degrees. And since the charcoal grill was set to the perfect smoking temp, we went ahead and threw our whole jalapeños on there as well.

*No smoker? No problem! You can get my full tutorial for how to use your charcoal kettle grill as a smoker here! I used this method for about a decade before ever getting an actual smoker.

When the chicken is almost done, start cooking the bacon on the griddle. Cook the bacon until it’s crispy, then drain it on paper towels before chopping it for the chicken bacon ranch filling.

Shredding the cooked chicken.

Once the chicken has reached the proper internal temp, remove it from the grill and allow it to cool down for a few minutes. Then, when the chicken is still warm, it’s time to shred it for the filling.

You can use two forks to shred the chicken by hand, or use my handy trick – Just cut the cooked chicken into large chunks, and add it to a mixing bowl. Then, let a hand mixer do the job for you! In about 3-4 minutes you’ll have perfectly shredded chicken.

And this cheater method works for a wide variety of recipes, like these fantastic Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!

Using the hand mixer on low to medium-low should get most of the chicken shredded pretty easily for you, but if there’s any large chunks that remain, just break them apart by hand.

Making the chicken bacon ranch filling.

Next, add the other ingredients to the bowl with the shredded chicken. This includes the softened cream cheese, sliced green onions, diced smoked jalapeños (or the jarred variety for more heat), chopped cooked bacon, more ranch dressing, and the shredded cheeses:

Fold everything together and you’re ready to start assembling your chicken and cream cheese pinwheels!

*NOTE – You may want to reserve 3 or 4 pieces of the cooked bacon to chop and use for garnishing your finished pinwheels.

Assembling the chicken bacon ranch pinwheels.

When the chicken cream cheese mixture is prepped and ready, start by heating your flour tortillas on the griddle for about 5-10 seconds per side. Warming the tortillas makes them more pliable and less likely to tear as you’re rolling the pinwheels.

Then, spread about 1 cup of the chicken bacon ranch mixture on to one flour tortilla, leaving about 1 inch of space on the end of the tortilla like this:

You can also drizzle some extra ranch dressing (about 1-2 tablespoons) on top of the chicken mixture before rolling the tortilla up.

Then, just roll the tortilla tightly and insert toothpicks through the roll about 1.5″ apart, making sure to pierce the end of the tortilla so that it stays in place. Your tortilla roll up should look something like this:

Carefully slice the rolled tortilla in between the toothpicks to make your pinwheels. If needed, you can also adjust the toothpicks after slicing to make sure that the end flap of the tortilla stays in place.

And here’s what your chicken bacon ranch pinwheels should look like at this stage:

Heating the pinwheel appetizers on the griddle.

Next, make sure your griddle temperature is about 375-400 degrees F. Place the pinwheels on the heated griddle top cut side down like this:

Allow the roll ups to cook on the first side for about 3-5 minutes or until a nice golden brown color develops. The cheeses in the mixture will get nice and toasty on the griddle surface (kind of like a cheese “skirt” when you’re making a griddle quesadilla), which provides a nice textural contrast to the soft tortilla.

After a few minutes, flip the pinwheels to the second side and cook another 3-5 minutes. Then, your easy appetizers are done and ready to garnish!

Just drizzle on some extra ranch dressing, and sprinkle on the remaining chopped bacon and sliced green onions for a bit of color. You can also serve some ranch dressing on the side for dipping.

These tortilla roll-up appetizers were so good that we honestly couldn’t choose between the chicken bacon ranch version or these buffalo chicken pinwheels… So I say just buy two rotisserie chickens at the grocery store, shred them up, and make both appetizer varieties!

Hope you guys enjoy these chicken bacon ranch roll-ups! And be sure to save this recipe to your PINTEREST board for Blackstone griddle recipes:

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels Recipe

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pinwheels

Created by: Neal

Course Appetizers

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

28 pinwheels

These chicken bacon ranch pinwheels are made with shredded chicken, cream cheese, and a whole lotta flavor! Smoke your own chicken breasts on the grill, or substitute pulled rotisserie chicken to make this pinwheels recipe even easier. The perfect party appetizers to make for a crowd!

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Ingredients

  

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• ¼ cup ranch dressing *Binder to smoke the chicken
• Shake That All Purpose Seasoning
• Heath Riles Garlic Jalapeno Rub
• 3 large whole jalapeños
• 12 oz bacon
• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 8 oz cheddar cheese shredded
• 4 oz pepper jack cheese shredded
• 1 green onion sliced thin
• ¼ cup ranch dressing *To add to the chicken cream cheese mixture
• 4 burrito-sized flour tortillas
• Extra ranch dressing and sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions

• For the Chicken: Set your smoker or grill to 250 degrees F. While grill is heating up, add 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts to a medium bowl. Pour in ¼ cup ranch dressing and toss to coat the chicken. Season each piece of chicken with a 50/50 blend of Shake That seasoning and Garlic Jalapeno Rub. *You can also substitute your favorite all-purpose seasoning. Place the 3 whole jalapenos on the grill to smoke. Add the chicken breasts to the smoker/grill and cook until the internal temp of each breast is 165 degrees F. Then, transfer cooked chicken and jalapeños to a cutting board to rest.
• When chicken is almost done on the grill, heat griddle on low to medium-low until it reaches a temp of about 375-425 degrees F.
• Cook the bacon on the griddle until crispy. When bacon is done, drain it on paper towels. Chop the bacon and set to the side. Reserve about 3-4 slices of bacon for garnishing the finished appetizers.
• After chicken has rested for about 10 minutes, shred or pull the chicken. *You can use a hand mixer to make this easier, or pull the meat by hand. Seed and chop the smoked jalapeños.
• Add the shredded chicken, smoked chopped jalapeños, chopped bacon, shredded cheeses, cream cheese, sliced green onions, and ¼ cup of ranch dressing to a large mixing bowl. Fold all of the ingredients together until well combined.
• Warm one tortilla on the griddle for about 5-10 seconds to make it more pliable. Then, spread about 1 – 1½ cup of the chicken bacon ranch mixture over the tortilla, leaving about 1 inch on one side with no filling. Starting at the edge with the filling, roll the tortilla tightly.
• Place toothpicks through the tortilla roll-up about every 1½", making sure that the end of the tortilla is tooth-picked into place so that it does not come unrolled. Then, cut the rolled tortilla into pinwheels in between the toothpicks. Repeat the process until all tortillas are filled, rolled, and cut into pinwheels. *Pinwheels should be about 1" – 1¼" wide.
• Place the pinwheels on the griddle cut side down. Cook untouched until browned on the first side, approximately 3-5 minutes. Then flip to the second side and cook an additional 3-5 minutes. Transfer the grilled pinwheels to a serving platter.
• Garnish the chicken bacon ranch pinwheels. Drizzle on some ranch dressing and sprinkle with sliced green onions and reserved chopped bacon. Enjoy!

Notes

• To save time and make this recipe even easier, use a store-bought rotisserie chicken in place of the smoked chicken breasts.  Pull all the meat from a large rotisserie chicken (white and dark meat, skin removed).
• If you don’t have the seasonings listed, substitute your favorite all-purpose seasoning.
• For lower carb pinwheel appetizers, you may substitute burrito-sized low carb flour tortillas.  We like the La Banderita Carb Counter brand.
• The cook time listed will vary depending on how long it takes to smoke your chicken breasts.  Just be sure to cook the chicken to an internal temp of 165 degrees F.

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