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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.
Do you know how many points this would be for Weight Watchers?
Under the “Notes” section in the recipe card:
WW FREESTYLE POINTS: 8
Reduce points down to 3 by using fat free cream cheese, fat free cheddar cheese, and turkey bacon.
I love crack chicken in any and every form. I still miss the 80’s. I’ll try this one too!
I hope you enjoy it! Thank YOU! 🙂
This soup is amazing , my son made it for me a few weeks ago, and loved it , he gave me the recipe and I made it tonight , this will be a regular soup in our household , so many things you can do with it . Haven’t tried it with the bacon yet as we haven’t had any both times and still delicious . Thankyou so much for posting this recipe
Made this tonight and eating it now. Yum! I added celery and carrots. Also a little Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning and 3 top of sugar. I add sugar to most of my soups and stews. Will be sharing with family tomorrow. Thanks for the deliciousness!
3 tsp sugar
I made this last week using a shredded rotisserie chicken. My new favorite soup! Making it again today. Thank you Katerina for this yummy recipe.
That’s great! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Made this tonight with just a couple of tweaks and it’s AMAZING! I used leeks in place of onions because I had some extra already cut from another recipe. I also added some sliced shiitake mushrooms I need to use when I cooked the leeks & garlic. I also decreased the cream cheese by half because that’s all I had on hand, but we didn’t seem to miss it and it was perfectly creamy with the amount I used. I will definitely be making this again and again!
That’s great! I’m very happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for chiming in! 🙂
We make this soup every couple of weeks, soooo good!
That’s great! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Made this yesterday for dinner. It is my #1 favorite right now. My whole family loves it and wants me to make more. Great recipe!
Amazing! I made it as it was laid out and added cauliflower florets at the same time as the broth. I think we have a new winter/fall favorite soup!
PS- former addict- loved crack. I know how good it is so do not worry about people who says its disrespectful. Crack is almost as good as this soup! (But today I choose soup)! 🙂
Thank YOU! 🙂 I am very glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Im going to make a dairy free version of this but I am really appalled by the named including “crack” it is very insensitive to people with addiction issues. Please consider changing the name to something more elegant and respectful.
Seriously!!! That’s such a snowflake comment. Don’t take everything so seriously. If you’re an addict, own it, but don’t expect everyone else to tippy toe around you!
I agree with your comment. There’s Christmas crack candy. No one says anything about that. Jeez
It’s delicious! My family loves it. It’s up there with the best soups that I have ever made.
Perfect when entertaining a larger group.
That’s great to hear! I’m very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Lighten up there KAREN.
There’s enough snowflakes whining about everything, we don’t need to hear about someone’s “sensitivity” towards everything even here on Pinterest!
Loser
What an awesome soup! My 80 old Father said it was the best soup he’s had in years. My 2 old had seconds. A easy soup to make, for all generations!!!
That’s wonderful! I’m very glad everyone enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂