Creamy Crack Chicken Soup

4.88 from 182 votes
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This Creamy Crack Chicken Soup recipe is loaded with incredible cheesy flavor! It is a delicious soup with bacon, chicken, cheese, spinach, and ranch seasoning. Low carb and Keto-approved, too!

Are you looking for more crack chicken recipes? Try this Baked Crack Chicken Breasts or my Instant Pot Crack Chicken recipe!

serving crack chicken soup in a bowl


 

Crack Chicken Soup

Warm up to a big bowl of this Creamy Crack Chicken Soup! Judging by the popularity of my slow cooker crack chicken AND the chicken noodle soup, me thinks you will absolutely LOVE crack chicken in soup form.

SO good, so comforting, and really easy to make, this soup is by far my favorite homemade chicken soup. Ready in less than 30 minutes, you will enjoy every spoonful of it. Like a good ol’ split pea soup, this chicken soup also makes an ideal meal for cold winter nights, but we enjoy it year round, no matter the season. 

Why It’s Called Crack Chicken

I get this question on ALL my crack chicken recipes; the basic internet explanation is that the flavors of dry ranch seasoning mix paired with the creaminess of cream cheese and cheddar cheese make this chicken 100% addictive, just like crack.

cooking chicken soup in a pot

How To Make Crack Chicken Soup

Just pick up a cooked rotisserie chicken, and let’s get on it! OR, you can use leftover cooked chicken breasts. It’s a tasty and creamy soup, and also a keto chicken soup, and it will have you drooling while simmering away in that pot.

  1. We start with cooking some bacon in a Dutch oven or a soup pot; cook the bacon until crispy, then remove it from the pot.
  2. Melt butter in the pot; add onion and garlic until soft.
  3. Add chicken broth and homemade Ranch mix and boil for 5 minutes.
  4. Add shredded chicken, and cook another 5 minutes.
  5. Stir in softened cream cheese until melted, then add cheddar cheese.
  6. Mix in baby spinach and heavy cream. Adjust seasoning as needed.
  7. Garnish the crack chicken soup with scallions and cooked bacon to serve.
Crack Chicken Soup in Dutch oven

Tips & Variations for Chicken Soup

  • Instead of spinach, you can add in kale or zucchini noodles or take some inspiration from this chicken vegetable soup.
  • For those not following a low carb/keto diet, add pasta noodles to the boiling chicken broth and cook for 8 minutes. Then, continue to add the rest of the ingredients per the recipe directions.
  • If you don’t have any leftover cooked chicken to use, I suggest making my Oven Baked Chicken Breasts. Use these shredder claws to shred afterward.

    How To Store Leftover Soup

    • Store soup leftovers in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. 
    • Reheat over medium heat, stirring frequently.
    • To freeze this keto soup, store it in freezer bags and freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before serving. Reheat on medium heat without boiling.
    crack chicken soup in a bowl topped with bacon and green onions

    More Chicken Soup Recipes

    ENJOY!

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    4.88 from 182 votes

    Creamy Crack Chicken Soup

    This Creamy Crack Chicken Soup recipe is loaded with incredible cheesy flavor! The perfect winter comfort food prepared with bacon, chicken, cheese, spinach, and ranch seasoning.
    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes
    Servings: 10 servings

    Ingredients 

    • 4 slices bacon, diced
    • 1 tablespoon butter
    • 1 small yellow onion, diced
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 4 to 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
    • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
    • 1/2 teaspoon dried chives
    • salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
    • 1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese
    • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
    • 3 to 4 cups baby spinach
    • 1/4 cup heavy cream
    • sliced green scallions, for garnish
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    Instructions 

    • Cook diced bacon to a crisp in a Dutch Oven or soup pot.
    • Remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon, leaving bacon grease in the pot.
    • Add butter to the pot and melt over medium-high heat.
    • Stir in onions and cook for 3 minutes.
    • Stir in garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
    • Add chicken broth and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
    • Season with garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed, chives, salt, and pepper.
    • Add bay leaf and bring to a boil; lower heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.
    • Stir in shredded chicken; cook for 5 minutes.
    • Add cream cheese and whisk in until completely melted and combined.
    • Stir in shredded cheese; whisk until melted and thoroughly combined.
    • Add baby spinach; cook for 2 minutes.
    • Stir in heavy cream and cook for 1 minute.
    • Taste for seasonings (salt and pepper) and adjust accordingly. Remove bay leaf.
    • Remove soup from heat; top with scallions and previously prepared bacon.
    • Serve.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1cup | Calories: 309kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 292mg | Potassium: 351mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1575IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 133mg | Iron: 1mg

    Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.

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    274 Comments

    1. Laurie says:

      Recipe did not contain the ranch dressing ingredient to the list of ingredients.

      1. Katerina says:

        Hi!
        This recipe uses a homemade ranch seasoning mix, not ranch dressing.
        The mix includes:
        1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
        1/2 teaspoon onion powder
        1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
        1/2 teaspoon dried chives

        It’s all in the recipe card found right above the comments section.

    2. Ang Fergtown says:

      Very good! Most chicken soup is watery and bland, but this was thick and tasty! I read the comments and added noodles, but this will be my only chicken soup now! Thanks much

    3. Connie Cable says:

      So yummy! You have to try this!

    4. Aretha says:

      This is the best soup I have tasted in a long time. Everyone loved it!

      1. Katerina Petrovska says:

        That’s great! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐Ÿ™‚

    5. Lois says:

      This is the best soup I have ever put in my mouth! I did add some egg noodles to mine for the boys and my husband after I took some out for me. It is amazing both ways!

    6. Tammy says:

      Made this because my daughter had loved crack chicken I made in the crockpot. She wouldnโ€™t eat this soup. Just so much grease or fat that kinda floats on top and coats your tongue.

    7. Karla says:

      Delicious! I added turkey bacon to the soup instead of on top and really enjoyed. I will make again with adding more spinach!

      1. Katerina Petrovska says:

        Thank YOU! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! ๐Ÿ™‚

    8. Jean says:

      Do you use Ranch Seasoning? Or is that the
      Garlic onion dill & chives?

    9. Bev says:

      First of all this took me almost 2 hrs. to fix. I had to boil my chicken. I added sliced carrots, celery and mushrooms after reading comments. I drained the bacon fat, and I used frozen spinach. Everything turned out great, hubby loved, but not sure I would fix again because w/all the shredding and peeling etc. just took too long. It sure tasted good.

    10. Isabell says:

      I cannot tell you how many times I have made this now my family always wants this. whenever I ask my kids what they want for dinner this is what they want. I make the more unhealthy version by cooking more bacon and shredding more cheese for topping and adding in more cream. I add a whole container of spinach and if I’m lazy I’ll use rotisserie chicken so so good.