📋 Monterey Chicken (Bonanza Copycat) recipe

Relive the nostalgia of the 80s with this delicious Bonanza/Ponderosa restaurant copycat! This Monterey Chicken features tender, juicy chicken breasts marinated in a zesty Catalina-based sauce and grilled to perfection. It’s a high-protein, Weight Watchers-friendly meal that delivers restaurant-quality flavor with almost zero effort. The ultimate 'The Lazy Way' dinner for busy weeknights or summer BBQs!

Course dinner, supper

Cuisine American, Canadian, North American

Keyword Bonanza, chicken breast, Chicken Monterey, Monterey chicken

Special Diet weight watchers

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Marinating 8

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 195kcal

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Marinade

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice from concerntrate
1 tablespoon soya sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon garlic powder
16 oz - bottle of Catalina Salad Dressing 475 ml

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Instructions

Marinade

Mix all marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside ¼ of the marinade (and place in separate sealed container in fridge)
Cover raw chicken with remaining marinade in a sealed container and place in fridge to marinate overnight (8 hours)
Remove chicken from marinade and dispose of used marinade. *The chicken will have a pinkish/orange color from the marinade.
Grill marinated chicken (or cook in frying pan on stovetop over medium-high heat) until thoroughly cooked, internal temperature is 165 degrees F/74 degrees C (about 15-20 minutes), brushing with the marinade you set aside, before removing from the grill.
Serve hot.

Notes

*NOTE: This Copycat Chicken Monterey recipe is better grilled, but if it's too cold to grill outside and you don't have an indoor grill, then a stove top grill may be a good option for you. But you can also make it in a frying pan- that's what I did in the main photos. But when I updated the photos, I used a stovetop grill (as per images in my process shots).

Expert Recipe Tips

The Fork-Pierce Method: Don't skip Step 2! Lightly piercing the chicken with a fork creates tiny channels that allow the marinade to penetrate deep into the meat, ensuring every bite is flavorful.
The "Clean" Baste: Always set aside a portion of the marinade before adding the raw chicken. This ensures you have a safe, uncontaminated sauce to brush on the chicken during the final minutes of grilling.
Temperature is King: Use your instant-read thermometer! Chicken is so juicy at 165°F (74°C), but it dries out quickly if it goes over.
The "Lazy" Pan Fix: If you don't have a grill, a heavy cast iron skillet or a stovetop grill pan works perfectly to get those beautiful sear marks

🌡️Storage

Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Freezer: You can freeze the raw chicken in the marinade for up to 3 months. It's the ultimate "The Lazy Way" meal prep-it marinates as it thaws!
Reheating: Reheat gently in the microwave or a covered skillet with a splash of water to keep the meat from drying out.

WW Points:

Because chicken breast is a ZeroPoint food on most plans, the points come entirely from the dressing and sauces that actually stick to the meat and only a small portion of the marinade is absorbed, then basted on.

Standard Version (with regular Catalina): 4 WW points per serving.
Lightened Version (with Light Catalina): 2 WW points per serving.

Nutrition