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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 this cozy and delicious 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 or even boneless chicken thighs. 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.
- Cook the bacon. 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.
- Cook the aromatics. Melt butter in the pot; add onion and garlic until soft.
- Stir in the broth and seasoning. Add chicken broth and homemade Ranch mix and boil for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken. Add shredded chicken, and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add the cheese. Stir in softened cream cheese until melted, then add cheddar cheese.
- Add the spinach. Mix in baby spinach and heavy cream. Adjust seasoning as needed.
- Serve. Garnish your creamy crack chicken soup with scallions and cooked bacon to serve.
Recipe Tips & Variations
- Veggie options. In this crack chicken soup, you can swap out the spinach for kale or zucchini noodles. Or, take a cue from my chicken vegetable soup and add your favorite mix of veggies to make it your own!
- Add pasta. 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.
- Chicken recipes. 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.
- Use store-bought Ranch seasoning. If you’re using store-bought ranch seasoning mix, substitute with about a tablespoon. Start with two teaspoons, taste, and adjust as needed since the mix already contains salt, which could make the dish too salty if you add too much.
Serving Suggestions
This crack chicken soup recipe is everything you need on a cozy night—loaded with bacon, chicken, cheese, and ranch-seasoned goodness. To round out your meal, pair it with a crisp and refreshing radish cucumber salad, or keep it hearty with my chicken cobbler. Need bread for dunking? My dinner rolls are perfect for soaking up all that cheesy, creamy broth. It’s comfort food at its best!
How To Store Leftover Soup
- Fridge. Store soup leftovers in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat over medium heat, stirring frequently.
- Freezer. 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 Orzo Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Thai Chicken Soup
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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
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
- ½ teaspoon dried chives
- salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 8 ounces package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 to 4 cups baby spinach
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- sliced green scallions, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the bacon. 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.
- Saute the aromatics. Add butter to the pot and melt over medium-high heat. Stir in onions and cook for 3 minutes; then stir in garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
- Stir in the broth and season the soup. 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.
- Cook the soup. Add bay leaf and bring to a boil; lower heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add chicken and cheese. Stir in shredded chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and whisk it continuously until completely melted and combined. Stir in the shredded cheese; whisk until melted and thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the spinach and cream. Add baby spinach and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and cook for 1 minute.
- Finish. Taste the soup for seasonings and adjust accordingly. Remove the bay leaf.
- Serve. Remove your crack chicken soup from the heat and top it with scallions and previously prepared bacon before serving.
Equipment
Notes
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 soup was good. However I didnโt find it to be addicting. Perhaps if you had listed the ranch seasoning in the ingredients list and in the instructions it would have been much better. I will give it another try using the ranch seasoning.
I added both a whole ranch packet and the other seasonings minus the salt. I also let the bacon cook in the soup instead of using as a garnish and doubled the cheddar cheese. It was great!
Can you people read? I havenโt made the soup but I read the recipe it says you can use ranch dip OR just use the ingredients. I also read the comments and even I understand how to make it.
Can we stop calling recipes โCrack Thisโ and โCrack Thatโ? Itโs tacky, insensitive, elitist, entitled and embarrassingly tone deaf. @me all you want.
I agree Lisa. Thank you for making your comment. Calling it โcrackโ is extremely tacky and very offensive to me after I lost a daughter to this opioid crisis.
Iโm so sorry for your daughterโs passing. My heart goes out to you, your family, and your daughter. I am an addiction and mental health nurse and my passion is helping anyone in need (especially our most stigmatized population). I can understand your comments about the โcrackโ title of this recipe as I too initially felt the same. However, this title of โcrackโ falls into the same category as โcrazyโ. I truly do not believe people who make these comments are mean or trying to hurt others. Itโs just a matter of time to try and educate others in a kind manner to eliminate the stigma and change the language. I mean absolutely no disrespect towards you or the author. Every single day, we are learning and growing. Thank you for your comments. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers and I encourage you to educate others to eliminate the stigma of mental health and addiction in a non confrontational manner (as we all know no one is reciprocal to confrontation). Happy new year!
If people dont like the name, then dont look at it!! Good lord, do people not have anything else to do in their lives but be perpetually offended?
I agree Cheryl Lee, I have a lot of jerks in my life and yet Jerk Chicken doesnโt offend me. Itโs delicious and people really need to get over the ridiculous offense they take to everything.
Hi Jennifer. I just wanted to point out that jerk chicken and the use of ‘crack ‘ in recipes is not comparable. Jerk chicken has a true history and culture around the food that can be traced back to hundreds of years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people DIED because of the crack epidemic so casually calling food crack so-and-so sounds a bit insensitive and in no way has history or culture attached to food. The two are not the same and while you may not be able to relate because you didn’t have anyone close to you die because of drug addiction, it is our job to try to be sensitive to the experience of others. Please remember that. Peace to you.
As a former addict who has also lost friends to addiction, I say it’s fine to call it whatever she wants. Also… crack isn’t an opioid.
I would recommend therapy! Taking offense to a chicken soup recipe is a tad extreme.
Thank you so much for chiming in! ๐ I’ve tried to answer this question many times to a lot of commenters, but then I gave up because every other comment was about the name.
The name of the recipe is not something I made up. I don’t know who started it, and where it originated, but that group of people said it was so addictive and they compared that addiction to “crack”. Another explanation I have read is that the color of the ranch seasoning reminded them of “crack”. ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Must suck to be offended by every last goddamn thing. Elitist and entitled? Get a life, lady!
Buzz off, She can call it a**hole soup if she wants!
โค๏ธ๐
I loved it! I used kale and spinach blend. I ended up adding some mushrooms, because I love them, some tomato because I have a million for my garden right now, and I doubled the cheddar cheese amouny at the end. Just personal preferences, but it came out so delicious and will be a recipe I save. Thank you for sharing!
I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
I’m not the world’s greatest cook, but I made this today and my husband was thrilled, and me, too! It is so good. I added carrotts, celery, mushrooms. It’s delish! My husband suggested we add oysters!!!!! That’s a great idea!!!
That’s great! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
Can you adjust it to be done is a slow cooker? Also, deer sausage instead of smoked sausage? Thoughts? This sounds so good.
Made this this evening for a family of 6. I’m bummed to say we weren’t all that impressed. ๐ It just seemed to be lacking. I should mention that I used the herbs/spices as recommended so perhaps a ranch packet would have put it over the edge?? I always prefer, however, to use spices as is to avoid all the additives and preservatives in packages- but maybe that’s where all the flavor is…ha!
If I make this again, I’ll definitely add criminis and/or yukons to add more substance. I may also sub the spinach for kale as I found the spinach to be a bit slimy.
Thanks!!
Do you think it would be okay if I did it in the instant pot?
OMG!!! This was so good and will definitely make again!!! I did alter a bit but kept the base of recipe. Here’s what I did different….
Cooked in Crockpot
Used 2 lbs. Bnls breast
1 – 2 Cups broth/stalk
5 Cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, diced
Appr. 1 Cup carrots chopped small
10 oz. Baby Bella mushrooms
Half n half vs. heavy cream
11 oz pkg. Spinach and Kale mix
I added to crockpot…chicken, carrots, celery, cream cheese, broth, half n half, cheddar cheese, dried seasonings, salt/pepper, bay leaf. Then I cooked the bacon and put aside, added onions & mushrooms to bacon fat w/TBSP butter, then added garlic once almost done. Added all to crock pot and cooked all day. About 1/2 hour before eating I took out bay leaf, shredded chicken and added spinach/kale mix. I used a lot less broth since I wanted a thicker chowder type soup. I didn’t have scallions but didn’t need, the flavor was amazing!!!
That’s great! I am very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
Thanks for the suggestion, I think I will add the celery and carrots.
So you can put raw chicken in and it will cook throughly? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but I’m newly retired and have taken over the kitchen LOL! If you can will you respond to my email?
Thank you!
dsquire457@gmail.com
Hi! ๐
Yes, you can put raw chicken in the slow cooker; set it on LOW and cook it for 5 to 6 hours, or until internal temperature of the chicken registers at 165หF. I like to sear the chicken before I put it in the slow cooker because that helps to lock in moisture and keeps the chicken juicier.
This was awesome!! I love trying new recipes and this soup did not disappoint. My daughter took a container home for dinner and is now making it for her co workers. My son is overseas and made it for his family. Thank you for this recipe!!!
That’s great! I am very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! ๐
5 star
EXCELLENTO, Iโm not a cook, turned out sooo good, I packaged the soup and gave most away
I added rice cauliflower
Thank you
Thank you so much! I am very glad you enjoyed it! ๐
I was thinking maybe using cheddar jack cheese for a sharper taste. Sort of like the crack chicken dip recipe taste!! But this was good! Thank you!
Can you use frozen spinach?
Hi!
Yes, but squeeze out as much water as possible before adding it to the soup so it doesn’t water down the soup.
This looks like a heart attack in a bowl! Surprised to see it from “Diet”hood. That said, it does look delicious.
Hi! ๐
That depends on what “diet” someone is following. If they are on a low carb/Keto diet, this is a perfect recipe. If they’re on Weight Watchers, it’s best to skip this recipe. ๐ But, yes, this soup is delicious!
Can this be converted to dairy free using coconut cream and/or coconut milk???