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All it takes is one bite to obsess over this crack chicken soup! It’s loaded with shredded chicken, bacon, ranch seasonings, and all of your favorite creamy crack-inspired flavors!
If there is the word “crack” in the title of any recipe, you have my full attention! It means it has the irresistible ingredients of cheese, ranch seasoning, cream cheese, and bacon. Sign me up! Try my other crack-inspired recipes like this chicken, casserole, or this tasty dip.
Crack Chicken Soup
Crack chicken soup is our new favorite soup because it is bursting with all the best flavors! It starts with softened vegetables and crumbled bacon…the perfect base for any soup. Then add in shredded chicken, cream cheese, ranch seasoning, and sour cream for all that creamy flavor. Finish it off with shredded cheddar cheese and spinach and just wait until you take that first bite! So creamy, so comforting, and so incredibly tasty! It’s going to have everyone wanting seconds.
I love a good, hearty soup. If it’s easy to make, that’s even better! After you try this amazing crack chicken soup, try this cheeseburger soup, 8-can chicken taco soup, or broccoli cheese soup!
Ingredients You Will Need
This crack chicken soup needs to be made this week, so make sure you have all the ingredients ready to go! It’s a great recipe for using up leftover shredded chicken if you have it. You can find exact measurements for each ingredient in the recipe card below.
- Bacon: Crumbled crispy bacon is the best part of this soup. Set some aside for garnish!
- Unsalted Butter: Butter to saute the veggies.
- Yellow Onion: Diced onion is a must in soup and adds great flavor.
- Celery: Diced celery adds great texture.
- Carrots: Peeled and diced carrots.
- Garlic: Minced garlic adds great flavor.
- Chicken Broth: Chicken broth is the base of this soup.
- Dry Ranch Dressing: The key ingredient in crack chicken is dry ranch flavoring.
- Black Pepper: Cracked black pepper to taste.
- Parsley: Fresh chopped parsley for garnish.
- Shredded Chicken: Cooked and shredded boneless skinless chicken. Leftover chicken is great for this recipe.
- Sour Cream: Adds a tangy creaminess to the soup.
- Cream Cheese: Softened and cubed cream cheese is delicious in the soup.
- Cheddar Cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish!
- Baby Spinach: Fresh spinach is a delicious touch at the end of this recipe.
- Green Onion: Chopped green onion for garnish and flavor.
The BEST Crack Chicken Soup Recipe
In just 30 minutes, you’ll have the tastiest crack chicken soup ready to be devoured! It’s such an easy recipe because it’s all made in the same pot! Follow my full instructions below to walk you through all the steps.
- Cook the Bacon: Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and cook the diced bacon. Remove the cooked bacon from the pot and set aside.
- Saute the Veggies and Add the Garlic: Add the butter, onion, celery, and carrots. Saute the vegetables until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic to the pot and saute for just a minute.
- Add the Broth, Seasonings, Chicken, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, and Bacon: Add the chicken broth, ranch packet, pepper, parsley, shredded chicken, sour cream, cream cheese, and cooked bacon. Cook and stir continually until the cream cheese melts into the soup evenly.
- Add the Shredded Cheese and Spinach: Add in the cheddar cheese and spinach, and cook until the spinach has wilted and the cheese is melted.
- Garnish and Enjoy: Serve soup with additional cheddar cheese and chopped green onions. Salt and pepper to taste.
Storing Leftovers
Have some leftover crack chicken soup? Don’t worry! You can keep it in the fridge or freezer and then enjoy it later. It’s so easy to reheat and retains its flavor and texture perfectly.
- In the Refrigerator: Once the soup has cooled, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- In the Freezer: After cooking and allowing the soup to cool down, transfer it to freezer-safe containers or resealable freezer bags. Be sure to leave some space at the top to account for expansion as the soup freezes. Then, label it with the date. The soup will last about 2-3 months.
- To Reheat: When you’re ready to use the frozen soup, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, you can reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave until it’s heated throughout.
Can I Cook it in a Crockpot or Instant Pot?
Yes! This crack chicken soup is a fast and easy soup to make last minute because it uses pre-cooked shredded chicken. But if you have extra time this can be cooked in both a slow cooker and an Instant Pot! If using raw chicken, use 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts. You can also cut down on the cooking time if you decide to use pre-cooked chicken. It’s up to you!
- Crockpot Crack Chicken Soup: Before adding your ingredients to the slow cooker, go ahead and brown the bacon and sauté the veggies. Once cooked, add those to your slow cooker along with all of the other ingredients except for the sour cream, spinach, and cheddar cheese. Those ingredients you’ll add before serving. You can also use raw chicken breasts because they will fully cook in the crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. 20 minutes before serving, stir in the sour cream, spinach, and cheddar cheese. Shred the chicken and enjoy!
- Instant Pot Crack Chicken Soup: To cook this in the instant pot, sauté the bacon and veggies right in the instant pot on the “sauté” mode. Then, add in the rest of the ingredients except for the sour cream, spinach, and cheddar cheese. You can also use raw chicken breasts because they will fully cook in the instant pot. Cook on “manual” mode for 25 minutes. Then, do a slow release. Stir in the sour cream, spinach, and cheddar cheese. Shred the chicken and enjoy!
More Tasty Soup Recipes
Soup is comforting, delicious, and feeds a crowd! I love it when the seasons start to change and I can start adding it back into my meal rotations again! There are so many variations and soup flavors my family loves. Check out a few more of my favorites that are hearty and delicious.
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Crack Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup bacon, diced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 pkg dry ranch dressing
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons parsley
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 cup sour cream
- 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
- 2 cups baby spinach
- green onion, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium high heat and cook the diced bacon. Remove the cooked bacon from the pot and set aside.
- Add the butter, onion, celery, and carrots. Saute the vegetables until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic to the pot and saute for just a minute.
- Add the chicken broth, ranch packet, pepper, parsley, shredded chicken, sour cream, cream cheese, and cooked bacon. Cook and stir continually until the cream cheese melts into the soup evenly.
- Add in the cheddar cheese and spinach, cook until the spinach has wilted and the cheese is melted.
- Serve soup with additional cheddar cheese and chopped green onions. Salt and pepper to taste.
Video
Notes
You can keep leftovers in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 2 months. To cook in the slow cooker, Follow the instructions up to sauteing the vegetables. Once the vegetables have cooked add them along with all the cooked bacon, chicken broth, ranch packet, pepper, parsley, shredded chicken, sour cream, cream cheese into a large crockpot. Set the heat to low and cook for 3 hours, check the soup and stir it after about 2 hours. Add in the cheddar cheese and spinach, cook until the spinach has wilted and the cheese is melted.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious and easy to make. Fairly quick, esp if you cook chicken & bacon, and cut the veggies the night before.
This was prepared exactly as outlined and was amazing! (My husband’s on his 2nd bowl 😋) I WILL be making this again: I might try adding some diced potatoes next time just to experiment. Thanks for a really great tasting soup!
I just tried making it with potatoes and it was amazing!! Thanks for giving the recipe a try. 😊
Oops, I forgot to rate it when I posted my comment!!! 5 stars!
I was excited to make this soup, and it did not disappoint!!! I made it just like it says, but I added mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. It was a bit too thin for my liking as well, I’d normally do a roux but it’s already very rich, so I just used some cornstarch until I got it to the thickness I wanted! A huge hit! Loved it!!! I didn’t find it to be too salty abd I’m very sensitive to salt, in fact I hate most chicken soups as they are always too salty for me! This was perfect!
The crack chicken soup looks wonderful. I have a question. You say a cup of diced bacon. Is that a cup before cooking? If not, approximately how many slices of bacon will make up the cup? A pound? I’m looking forward to making this but I need to know how much bacon. Thanks. Holly Garrett
Wonderful flavor. So delicious on this chilly night. Was perfectly with the recipe as printed. Will definitely make again❣️
Looking forward to trying this crack chicken soup. It looks and sounds delicious. Thank you.
The flavor was outstanding but the soup was thin.
This soup is delicious, and easy to make. I added potatoes to mine though
Do you have to cook the potatoes first?
Thanks!
We loved this recipe! I used a rotisserie chicken and made homemade broth with the carcass first. We skipped the bacon (intending to add cooked bacon on top, but it was incredible without, so we skipped entirely.) We topped with fresh cilantro and diced jalapeños. Finished with some fresh ground pepper.
I plan to use this as a pasta sauce next time, as our kids prefer pasta to soup. The broth had fabulous flavor, so I plan to double the veggies to thicken it up, then toss with al dente penne to serve.
Flavor gets 5 stars! Too much fat though!!! I don’t have a gall bladder and ever since I ate this for dinner last night my stomach has been killing me. If you make it, reduce the amounts of cream cheese, sour cream and cheddar cheese!!!!!
Orrrrr, use fat free cream cheese, fat free sour cream and reduced fat cheddar cheese because, you know, gallbladder got removed and that’s what your doctor would have advised you to do.
The sodium in this is over the top!
I’m thinking low sodium chicken broth is a good choice for those with salt sensitivity. Maybe your store has it nearby the regular chicken broth. I’m going to modify this to low fat, limited sodium and go from there.
this was very good. I made it in the instant pot. If you make it in there, she said to add the cream cheese at beginning (wasn’t listed in things to wait till after)-don’t put it in beginning as it will curdle. Also, don’t cook for 25 minutes, cook for about 15 with a 5 minute natural release (chicken almost shredded itself at 15 min). I normally don’t leave comments on this site as she almost never will respond, I wrote this for all of us who make the recipes. I’ve used IP for years and use it at least once or twice a week. I make a lot of her recipes but don’t like the fact she doesn’t answer them.
Sounds delish but we can’t have it. Toooo much salt and stuff we can’t have.
So goooood! One of my favorites now. I substituted spicy sausage for the bacon and left out the cheddar (just added a little for garnish when served). Easy, fun and the whole family loves it. It does have some heat but we love that.
Does this soup need the buttermilk powder found in the mix packets?
I always make ranch dressing from scratch to control sugar & salt content as well as avoid unpronounceable ingredients. This soup sounds so good that I’m going to do whatever necessary to put it on the table very soon!