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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!
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.
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.
- 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.
- Melt butter in the pot; add onion and garlic until soft.
- Add chicken broth and homemade Ranch mix and boil for 5 minutes.
- Add shredded chicken, and cook another 5 minutes.
- Stir in softened cream cheese until melted, then add cheddar cheese.
- Mix in baby spinach and heavy cream. Adjust seasoning as needed.
- Garnish the crack chicken soup with scallions and cooked bacon to serve.
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.
More Chicken Soup Recipes
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup with Chicken
- Chicken Vegetable Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Thai Chicken Soup
ENJOY!
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Creamy Crack Chicken Soup
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
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
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.
This is the best soup I ever made, my family loves this, especially my grandchildren,, I shared some of the soup with my friends, and they ask me all the time when you gonna make some more. This is a winner winner chicken dinner. thank you so much, from grandma, Diane.
Thank you, Grandma Diane! So glad your family and friends loved the soup—sounds like it’s become a beloved classic! There’s nothing better than a recipe everyone looks forward to. 😊
Amazing recipe.
You mention ranch seasoning. Is that the onion, garlic, dill and chives? If so, can I just use two tablespoons of prepared ranch seasoning? Thank you.
Hi!
Yes, that also works. 🙂
YUM! I think next time i would add mushrooms and broccoli.
That sounds like a delicious addition! Mushrooms and broccoli would be perfect. Enjoy experimenting next time! Thank YOU! 🙂
Very tasty, I used turkey sausage and added some smoked paprika to mine. I Will cook this again. ❤️
It sounds like your additions made the dish even more flavorful! Smoked paprika and turkey sausage are great choices. I’m glad to hear you’ll be making it again! Thank YOU! 🙂
Excellent soup. I made by the recipe except I added one ingredient.
I had a partial can of fire roasted tomatoes in the fridge from another recipe. To keep from wasting it I added to the soup at the last minute.
That sounds like a great addition! Fire roasted tomatoes must have given the soup a nice smoky flavor. I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
This soup is fabulous and very simple to prepare. Ranch Dressing is in the description but not in the recipe. just wondering why.
It’s great to hear you enjoyed the soup and found it easy to prepare! Thank YOU! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! My ONLY substitute was I used a half of a ranch packet instead of the individual spices. I am sharing this recipe with all my friends and family.
I made this soup for Christmas and it was a hit! everybody loved it.
This has become one of my favorite soups