CROCK POT CRACK CHICKEN RECIPE

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Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe is an easy ‘dump and go’ slow cooker recipe that is so good you’ll be addicted to it! Ten minutes of prep with ingredients you probably already have and it has endless meal possibilities.

Also, try this family favorite>Slow Cooker Hoisin Chicken

Crock Pot Crack Chicken

Hey, hey, it’s also a keto-friendly recipe! It’s filled with bacon, cheese, cream cheese, and ranch dressing mix.

My best friend, Lisa, shared this recipe with me a few years back before I started blogging. It’s a staple in my house.

Crock Pot Chicken, Crock Pot Bacon Chicken Ranch Recipe

Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe

Crack Chicken ingredients

First things first…What is ‘CRACK CHICKEN’? 

Crack Chicken is the name of the combination of chicken, cream cheese, ranch seasoning, and bacon. These ingredients combined are so good ‘It’s addictive, you can’t stop eating it!’ (For those of you that want to slam me for naming it ‘crack’, when I titled this recipe, I didn’t even think about the drug. I only thought about the combination of ingredients known far and wide as ‘Crack Chicken’. I did not intentionally mean to offend anyone!)

Crack chicken ingredients in slow cooker

There are variations of the recipe but the basic ingredients are the four noted above. Some people add cheddar cheese, garlic powder, onions, mayonnaise, etc.

I for one think chicken, cream cheese, ranch, and bacon have a really good flavor. However, to kick it up and make it even tastier I like to add a cheddar/Colby mix and mayonnaise. Now we’re talking!

Crock Pot Crack Chicken

Why is this so dang good?

There are a few reasons why Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe is so good

  1. Primarily, this is a ‘dump and go’ slow cooker recipe. I say primarily because you do not want to cook the bacon in a slow cooker. Hence, you will either need to cook the bacon, crumble it, then add it to the Crock-Pot at the end of the cooking process. Or, you can use store-bought bacon bits. While real bacon, cooked and crumbled is much better and cost a lot less per ounce, store-bought bacon bits save a lot of time.
  2. It’s Keto friendly.
  3. Get my favorite slow cooker here.
  4. As well, Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe is perfect by itself, it’s also great on a sandwich, in a tortilla, over nachos, as a dip, in quiche, on pizza, over pasta, rice, or potatoes, or on a lettuce wrap for another low carb option!
YouTube video

HOW DO YOU MAKE CRACK CHICKEN IN THE SLOW COOKER?

  1. Use skinless, boneless chicken breasts so you don’t have a lot of extra fat in the recipe. You can use skinless, boneless thighs.
  2. I use two packets of seasoning. Otherwise, to me, it was a bit bland.
  3. Add the mayonnaise and Colby cheddar cheese at the end and stir until melted. (I recommend this mayonnaise.)
Crock Pot Crack Chicken

Tips for the Best Slow Cooker Crack Chicken

Can I make Crock Pot Crack Chicken in an Instant Pot?

Yes, absolutely. Although I don’t have an Instant Pot I have friends that do. Check out Instant Pot Crack Chicken.
You can eat this by itself, on a bun, or in a tortilla wrap. I also made Bacon Chicken Ranch Sliders which are excellent.

Can I cook Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe on the stove?

Simply brown the chicken in a skillet. Next, add the remaining ingredients and cook them all in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. When the chicken is cooked through, shred it then follow the instructions in the original recipe.

I like to serve it with

  1. Mexican Kale Slaw
  2. Tex Mex Cole Slaw
  3. Vinegar Slaw
  4. Deconstructed Green Bean Bundles
  5. Orange Salad
  6. Wedge Salad
Can I freeze Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe? 

This chicken recipe freezes well. Freeze it in an airtight container (<my favorite freezer containers) and let it thaw fully before reheating, you can definitely make this cooked chicken days ahead of time and store it in your freezer.

Can I use chicken thighs?

Yes, absolutely. Chicken thighs have so much flavor.

Can I use frozen chicken?

The FDA does not recommend using frozen chicken in the slow cooker because of the length of time it takes to cook. If you do use frozen, check the internal temperature of the chicken breast with an instant-read thermometer. The safe internal temperature for chicken is 165°F.

Ingredients you’ll need

  • Chicken breasts
  • Ranch dressing seasoning store-bought or my homemade recipe
  • Cream cheese
  • Mayonnaise
  • Colby/Cheddar cheese (or you can use just cheddar)
  • Bacon
  • Green onions

Stock up on boneless, skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale. There are plentiful chicken recipes on my site for boneless, skinless chicken. 

You can use more than 2 pounds of chicken without changing the other ingredients and it’ll still be good. As well, you can double the recipe and it will still be good. It’s a very versatile recipe!

Also, you can omit mayonnaise if it’s not your thing. I like the tang mayo that gives this recipe but it’s good without it too.

Furthermore, if you don’t want it as creamy, you can half the cream cheese and keep the other ingredients the same.

What to serve with Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe

You can use the Chicken Bacon Ranch Chicken as a filling for these recipes.

  1. Baked Crack Chicken Biscuit Bites
  2. Crack Wontons

UPDATE 11-12-19: I read your comments and a lot of you thought the recipe as written is too salty. Therefore, I created a Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix Recipe so that you can control the salt in this recipe. You can substitute this homemade ranch seasoning for the packs listed below in the recipe. (3 tablespoons of this mix = 1 packet of store-bought seasoning mix) CLICK HERE FOR HOMEMADE RANCH SEASONING RECIPE

Some of my most popular recipes are my pound cakes! In fact, I have a series where I have reviewed over 50 recipes for pound cakes! You can get all the recipes here

You can also find great recipes at Recipe Index 

Crock Pot Crack Chicken

Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe

Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe an easy ‘dump and go’ slow cooker recipe! Ten minutes of prep with ingredients you already have & endless meal possibilities.
Author: Paula
4.76 from 605 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Crock Pot Crack Chicken Recipe – Slow Cooker, fast, easy, keto recipe. See 'what to serve with crack chicken' in the post above.
  • Please read the post above as well as the comments if you have a question.
  • Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker. Sprinkle ranch dressing mix and cream cheese over chicken.
  • Cook on high 3 hours or low 5 to 6 hours.
  • With 2 forks, shred chicken and stir. Stir in mayonnaise. Sprinkle cheese, bacon, green onions, and jalapenos over chicken. Serve on buns, lettuce leaves, or soft or crunchy tortilla shells

Nutrition

Calories: 688kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 64g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Cholesterol: 137mg | Sodium: 888mg | Potassium: 351mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 771IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 239mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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414 Comments

  1. Hi, I was wondering if you have to stir this recipe? if so, how often? I am new to cooking with a crock pot and this will be one of my first few recipes.

  2. Do you have to stir this recipe? If so, how often? This will be my first couple crock pot recipes on my own, any advice will be helpful.

    Thank you!!

  3. Hi Paula, I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t rate it, but anything with bacon has my attention!! LOL
    But I did want to comment on the issue some have with it being too thick or thin.
    Some chicken breasts, ESPECIALLY ones bought in boxes, come pre-seasoned. Which will make a huge difference when they are being cooked.so if thats the case for some, they should soak the chicken breasts in cold water for a few hours or even overnight to draw out all the seasons.
    Just a suggestion/thought. That also applies for ones who say it’s too salty 😉

  4. How much longer would you have to cook the chicken if you double the recipe? And would you do it on high or low?
    Have you ever made it in a pressure cooker?

    1. I have not made it in a pressure cooker. The setting would just depend on how much time I had. I don’t think it matters as far as how it’ll taste. For low, I’d check after 2 additional hours. For High, I’d check at 1 hour and adjust according to how it looks then.

    2. I made mine in the instant pot. I just tapped the meat button and I didn’t add the cream cheese until the end.and I used 1 cup of chicken broth in the beginning with 1/2 stick butter or just a few tablespoons,the dry dressing mix and then added cream cheese,a heaping tablespoon of Mayo and when that melted I sprinkled the cheddar and bacon and covered it just until the cheese melted

  5. 1 star
    Was I suppose to ad some kind of liquid to this chicken? Also I cubes the chicken breasts and it burned. So now my dinner is ruined. Just a suggestion, next time give step by step instructions and include any liquids that need to be added. Ty

    1. There are step-by-step instructions in the recipe card. If you cubed the chicken that’s why it burned, recipe is for whole chicken breasts as indicated in the recipe which take longer to cook. Recipe is correct as written, no liquid. I have made this recipe probably 100+ times without problems as have about 200 other readers & commenters. I hate that it didn’t work for you.

    2. 5 stars
      Thanks for this recipe. I made it years ago I believe with Italian seasoning. Im excited for dinner tonight, we are having this with shell shaped noodles.

  6. I want to make this recipe, but do not have dry dressing mix nor do I have the items to make it. Can I use regular ranch dressing in its place? If so how much?

    1. I haven’t tried it with premade dressing, but I think it would work. I think there are 1 or 2 comments of readers that tried it.

    2. Paula do you add mayonnaise and colby instead of ranch packets. Or do you use both, and how much mayonnaise ?

  7. This is not your recipe. It has been around for a long time. So I don’t think you should feel guilt over the name. It’s been called that for years. Some people just need to complain.

  8. 4 stars
    So I used 3 chicken breast, package of cream cheese, and 1.5 packets of ranch cooked on high and it was basically done in a little over 2 hours so I started shredding apart, added big generous scoop of sour cream, 2 cups cheese and bacon. Has great taste just is suppeeeer thick. Like too thick almost, any idea why? Maybe crock pot too powerful?

    1. You can thin with water or milk. Apparently chicken holds different amounts of water, I’ve had comments that it’s super thin as well.

4.76 from 605 votes (518 ratings without comment)

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