Crack Chicken Soup
Cozy up with this favorite family dinner recipe! Creamy Crack Chicken Soup is loaded with chicken, cheese, bacon, and ranch flavor for an ultra easy (and low-carb!) comfort food.
Warm up from the inside out with a big bowl of this easy Crack Chicken Soup recipe! With juicy chicken, crispy bacon, and an ultra creamy, cheesy broth, you are going to want seconds and thirds of this simple dinner recipe. Every spoonful of this family-friendly meal is cozy, rich, and full of ranch flavor.
Why you will love this creamy chicken soup:
- Only one pot to clean. The last thing I want to do after dinner on a dark winter night is wash dishes! This recipe doesn’t use a ton of tools, pans, or utensils to make a big mess. I also included slow cooker and Instant Pot instructions if that is more your style.
- Easy to make ahead of time. Like most soups, this recipe is perfect for prepping on the weekend and enjoying all week long! Pack it for lunches or keep it available for a last-minute dinner you can microwave at the end of a busy day.
- Low-carb, gluten-free, nut-free, and egg-free. This recipe is missing several of the top allergens, making it great for most families. It is a great family dinner for those on the keto diet, too!
Can’t get enough of Crack Chicken? Neither can we! Try this Crockpot Crack Chicken or our foil pack version (great for tailgates, camping, and cookouts)!
Crack Chicken Soup Ingredients
Here is a quick overview of what you will need for this easy chicken soup. Scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact measurements.
- Meat: Thick-cut bacon and chicken breasts
- Vegetables: White onion, carrot, celery, garlic, spinach, and green onions
- Cheeses: Cream cheese and cheddar cheese
- Chicken broth
- Dry ranch seasoning mix
How to Make Crack Chicken Soup
This easy soup has a few steps, but I promise it is SO simple, and everything happens in one pot and on a cutting board.
Cook the bacon
Start by warming a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add your chopped bacon and cook until crispy. Remember to stir occasionally so nothing sticks and burns. Once cooked through, use a slotted spoon to transfer to a cutting board lined with paper towels to soak up the grease. Drain all of the grease from the pot except roughly 2 tablespoons.
Sauté the vegetables
Pour your chopped onion, celery, and carrots into the pot with the remaining grease and sauté. Once the onions are translucent, add in your garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds more or until nicely fragrant.
Place the chicken breasts into the pot and sprinkle with ranch seasoning. Add in your chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to medium low.
Shred chicken & make the soup creamy
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the pot and transfer to a cutting board. Allow it to cool while you add the softened cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese into the soup. Whisk the mixture until the cheeses are melted and fully incorporated into the broth.
When the soup is nice and creamy, stir in your spinach, allowing it to wilt for a minute or two. Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and stir so it is well distributed.
Serve
Portion your soup into bowls, then top each one with the crumbled bacon and chopped green onions. If you like, add a little extra cheese and some fresh herbs! We love this with Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread Waffles or with delicious Cheddar Garlic Keto Biscuits when we want to keep it low-carb.
Storage and Reheating
Once the soup cools, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4-5 days. Reheat individual servings in the microwave (try 90 second blasts at 50% power, stirring between each blast) or reheat the entire soup on the stove over medium heat, stirring frequently. You can freeze this, but sometimes soups with cream cheese and melted shredded cheese can separate. If you are meal prepping this, I would recommend freezing BEFORE adding the dairy, then adding the dairy when you thaw and heat.
Crockpot Crack Chicken Soup
In a large skillet, cook sliced bacon until crispy over medium heat. Remove once cooked and drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Add in vegetables and sauté until they’re nice and tender. Add in the minced garlic and continue sautéing until fragrant (30-60 seconds).
Transfer the softened veggies to a slow cooker and add in chicken breasts, dry ranch seasoning, and broth. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to the cutting board and continue the rest as written. Keep the lid on the crock pot when you can to help the cheeses melt and the spinach wilt.
Instant Pot Crack Chicken Soup
This soup is so easy in the Instant Pot! Turn the sauté function to medium and cook the bacon until crisp. Remove and drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Add in vegetables and sauté until onions are softened, then continue another 30-60 seconds with garlic.
Turn off the sauté function, place chicken breasts in the pot, then pour in the dry ranch seasoning and broth. Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set the pressure cook function to high; set the timer to 12 minutes. When the pressure cooking timer goes off, allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes. Carefully manually release the remaining pressure, remove the lid, and transfer the chicken to the cutting board. Continue the rest as written. The residual heat will melt the cheeses and wilt the chicken.
Tips, Variations, and Substitutions
- Speed it up. Skip all the chopping and pick up jarred minced garlic and a large bag of frozen mirepoix!
- Make it spicy. Add some chopped, seeded jalapenos when sauteing the vegetables and serve with your favorite hot sauce for guests to drizzle to taste. Mix some pepper jack in with the cheddar, too.
- Use what you have. Tons of leftover turkey or ham after the holidays? Snagged a great sale on a rotisserie? Skip the chicken breasts and instead make the whole soup, then toss in any shredded or cubed cooked meat at the end!
- Need to lighten it up? Reduced-fat cream cheese or thick, plain Greek yogurt could be used instead of the regular cream cheese.
- Bulk it up with beans or pasta. Need extra protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, or many other essentials? Add a can or two of beans! Any white beans, black beans, pinto beans, etc. will be great in this. Need to increase the carbs and stretch it further? Grab your favorite pasta and toss it into the simmering broth (check the box for the right timing). NOTE: Both of these options will make the soup thicker, so you may consider adding more broth.
More chicken soup recipes
- Marry Me Chicken Soup
- French Onion Chicken Soup
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Soup
- Cheesy Jalapeno Chicken Soup
- Avgolemono Soup (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)
Get the Recipe: Crack Chicken Soup (gluten-free + low-carb)
Ingredients
- 6 slices thick cut bacon
- 1 cup white onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup carrot, finely chopped
- 1 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 pounds chicken breasts
- 1 1-ounce package dry ranch seasoning mix
- 2 cups spinach
- 32 ounces chicken broth
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup green onions, chopped
Instructions
- Heat a large pot or dutch oven to medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and cook until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain off all of the grease except about 2 tablespoons.
- Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sauté until the vegetables are tender and the onions are translucent.
- Add the chicken to the pot, top with the ranch seasoning, and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a simmer, place the lid on the soup and reduce the heat to medium low.
- Allow the soup to cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the chicken is tender and cooked through, remove from the pot and shred.
- While the chicken is on the cutting board add the softened cream cheese and shredded cheddar cheese. Whisk until the cheeses have dissolved.
- Stir in the spinach and allow it to wilt. Add chicken back to the soup and stir to incorporate.
- Serve soup into bowls. Crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle it evenly over the bowls, then top each with chopped green onions.
Notes
- Net carbs per serving: 4.8
