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. Im late to the party, but plan to make this for our Halloween party, would it be good to use a a dip, meaning if I put scoop chips chips next to the crockpot. I was also thinking a basket of croissants. Thoughts?
    Thanks!

    1. I made it for dip this Halloween I slow cooked it all night then made the bacon and added the rest this morning. It’s so good and with a bunch of kids that like different things, they can use whatever they want to dip with. I’m so happy I made this today!

  2. 5 stars
    I too thought, “doesnt it need liquid?” when I put the chicken, cream cheese and ranch seasoning together in the crockpot but I trusted the process and wow wow wow it was amazing. Laid a bed of boneless skinless chicken breasts (3 good sized ones) and glooped the cream cheese in three parts over the chicken, sprinkled just one packet of the ranch over all of it, turned the crock on high, put the lid on and 3 hours later followed the rest of the directions using prepackaged bacon bits, and monterayjack and cheddar shred. At first I was worried the amount of liquid after cooking would be too much but once I shredded the chicken it reabsorbed the juices and i ended up needing to add about a 1/4 cup of milk to loosen things up a little. My teenager stuffed a tortilla with it and I ate it over some Ritz crackers but I think it would have been most amazing over baked potatoes like another comment suggested. Thanks for posting the recipe! BTW…my kids and I joke about things being “crack” all the time so we like the name 😉 (was a lil salty but still soooo good) Thanks again, gave it 5 stars <3

  3. Would I be able to cut this recipe in half? Just cooking for two. If so, would I need to adjust cook time?
    I can’t wait to try this! Trying to decide between serving it on croissants or pretzel buns 🙂

    1. Yes, you can cut in half. It’ll take a little less time but it really depends on the size of the chicken breast.

  4. 5 stars
    Don’t apologize for the name for goodness sake. If adults can’t handle it then fine. This is a good little recipe. And we happily call it crack chicken.

    1. Right? People are really that sensitive to a name? Ridiculous!! Thank you for taking your time and talent for posting this recipe for us all to enjoy!

  5. 5 stars
    I’m so excited to be making this for my family of 4 tonight. For my kids sake I will be serving over rice but next time want to try pasta and wraps. Thanks for sharing .

  6. 5 stars
    Thank you for this yummy, SIMPLE, and straight forward recipe. I’m newly married and have never been good at cooking but this was clear cut and straight forward. (Not to mention great taste). For those other commenters that seem upset about sodium content, and ingredients which are clearly marked with amounts etc… it sounds much more like a literacy problem or inability to follow directions. People need to stick to productive feedback, instead of inaccurate criticisms. I appreciate the new addition to my recipe portfolio so thank you Paula! Also I added corn and served over baked potatoes, it was delightful 👍🏼👍🏼

    1. I added corn, black beans & 1 cup mayo, 1/2 cup miracle whip. Only one pack ranch. Great!

  7. 5 stars
    First of all I did not made a connection with” crack ” so don’t worry at all if some reacted , it is foolish…
    Number two, your recipe is delightful, actually It became one of my favorite dish many years ago at a locla restaurant in North Carolina , the only difference is they would put pasta in it , and loved it.

    1. My favorite is to serve it over pasta (I love pasta) but I’ve never actually cooked the pasta in it. I’m trying that! Thanks
      Thanks as well for your comment about the name!! 💝

    2. Do I just add the pasta when I add the chicken and everything and it will cook

      1. 5 stars
        Christina, I would prepare this as directed and then just add cooked and drained pasta, at the end.

4.76 from 605 votes (518 ratings without comment)

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