Delicious and hearty chicken bacon ranch soup, as known as crack chicken soup, takes the soul satisfying flavors of chicken, bacon, and ranch seasoning and combines it into a one bowl dish your favorite won’t be able to get enough of!
Not only is the crack soup gluten free, but it’s low carb and keto friendly too.
If you’re a super lover and always on the lookout for new tasty soup recipes, then you’ll want to try our Crockpot taco soup, Pizza soup, Instant pot broccoli cheddar soup or Eggdrop Soup.
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Chicken Bacon Ranch Soup
With my husband being on a keto diet for over a year now, we’ve definitely eaten the popular keto dish called crack chicken. For some reason it wasn’t ever a favorite of mine, but maybe it’s because I didn’t create my own version and just pulled random recipes off of the internet 😉
Soup however, is a whole nother deal! Just taking the classic ingredients of chicken, bacon, and crack chicken seasoning mixed with a creamy broth takes crack chicken from good to ahhhhmazing!!
The chicken bacon chowder was SO delicious, my husband already asked me to make it a second time that week AND to make sure it got into our monthly meal rotation.
That’s how you know it’s a winner my friends. Winner winner crack chicken soup for dinner!
What is Crack Chicken Soup?
What exactly is considered crack chicken really depends on who you ask! Many will say that crack chicken and crack chicken soup are called that because it’s so addictive. When you search for crack chicken recipes on the internet, the majority will be a combination of bacon, chicken, cheese, and Ranch powder turned into a hearty casserole, soup or dip.
Hence, how we came up with our chicken bacon ranch soup recipe 😉 It combines all of the yummy flavors that hit every note.
The “original” creators of Crack Chicken is actually a business called the Eastside Fish Fry & Grill in Michigan who use a secret chicken crack seasoning to coat their chicken and fish. According to locals, anything other than the Eastside recipe is an immation, but like most home cooks, we love to take what tastes delicious and adapt it to our own kitchens!
For most crack chicken recipes, including this yummy chicken bacon soup, the crack chicken seasoning actually comes from powdered Ranch seasoning, which of course is easy and accessble from your local grocery store. And instead of using the chicken crack seasoning to coat the chicken, the seasoning is mixed into the soup instead.
Why maybe creamy chicken bacon soup with Ranch seasoning isn’t the original, one thing we can ALL agree on….
It IS addictive!!
Ingredients for Chicken Bacon Chowder
Thick addicting chicken bacon chowder is super addicting! And thankfully, it’s super easy to make and even faster when you start with a rotisserie chicken!
- 2 lb chicken breast, cooked and diced or sliced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- Ranch seasoning packet
- 8 oz cream cheese, cubed and softened
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (shred from a block of cheese, do NOT use pre-shredded)
- 8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup almond milk or half n half
- Green onions, sliced to garnish (optional)
If you’d rather not purchase a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, the easiest an one of the cheapest ways to quickly cook chicken for recipes is to pan fry chicken tenders. Cooking chicken tenders on the stove top takes just 10 minutes, plus it stays moist in the middle, yet gives you a crispy crust on the outside.
We also love to make instant pot chicken tenders from frozen or to bake chicken breasts to meal prep for the week.
And to easily cook bacon when you want to cook an entire pack at once, you’ll want to cook bacon in the oven! Our favorite way to make bacon.
IMPORTANT TIPS: Be sure to soften the cream cheese before adding it to the soup, if it’s too cold the cream cheese will clump together and won’t fully break down into the soup.
Do not use pre-shredded cheddar cheese in this recipe. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with potato starch to keep it from sticking, which means when you try and melt it into something like soup, it won’t fully break down.
We alwasys recommend shredded your cheese from a block of cheddar instead.
How to Make Crack Chicken Soup
You won’t believe how easy it is to make crack soup and you’ll be wondering why you didn’t try it earlier! Especially if you already have rotisserie or pre-cooked chicken, and pre-cooked bacon on hand, putting this together is a breeze.
Because we love to prep a batch of bacon on weekends to add to dishes like this, to have on hand for breakfast, or to add to salads or meal prep lunches, we also love to save the bacon grease!
If you’re just making your bacon fresh to use in this recipe, keep 1 Tbsp of the bacon grease set aside to fry the onions.
Preheat a soup pot over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp of bacon grease if you have it, if not substitute an oil like olive oil or avocado.
Sauté the onion until it’s soft, which took about 6-7 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and Ranch seasoning packet and stir the ingredients together.
Bring the chicken stock and almond milk to a gentle boil over medium high heat, and then turn down to medium low heat as soon as it starts bubbling.
Add the precooked chicken and simmer until the chicken is heated through, which should take 1-2 minutes.
Then the softened cream cheese cubes to the hot broth and stir until combined.
Slowly stir the shredded cheese into the soup.
Right before serving mix in the chopped bacon.
Garnish with more bacon, shredded cheese and green onion slices.
Enjoy!
Keto Chicken Bacon Chowder?
If by chance you’re following a keto diet like my husband, rest assured, this keto crack soup or keto chicken bacon chowder–whichever you prefer to call it–is definitely low carb and keto friendly!
this crack chicken soup only has dsssg net carbs per serving.
Chicken Bacon Soup Recipe Tips
- You can use rotisserie or pre-cooked chicken. Roasted or pan fried chicken from home will have the most flavor over poached.
- Bake the bacon in the oven so you don’t have to cook more than one batch like you might in a skillet
- Fully soften the cream cheese so that it melts into the soup (instead of clumping)
- Grate cheese from a cheddar cheese block, pre-sliced cheese is coated with potato starch and doesn’t melt well
- Use almond milk or half n half to make it creamy, to make it even richer substitute whipping cream
Can I Freeze Crack Chicken Soup?
Crack chicken soup is NOT a good soup for freezing. Any soups with dairy in them generally do not freeze well and might separate.
Fortunately, because the crack soup is so addicting, you won’t have to worry about leftovers going bad! 😉 You can however, store it in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Easy Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
- Keto Chicken Noodle Soup with Zoodles
- Chicken Fajita Bake
- Chicken Green Chili Casserole
- Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Easy Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip
More Soup Recipes
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Chicken Bacon Ranch Soup (Crack Chicken Soup)
Delicious and hearty chicken bacon ranch soup, as known as crack chicken soup, takes the soul satisfying flavors of chicken, bacon, and ranch seasoning and combines it into a one bowl dish your favorite won't be able to get enough of!
Not only is the crack soup gluten free, but it's low carb and keto friendly too.
Ingredients
- 2 lb chicken breast, cooked and diced or sliced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- Ranch seasoning packet
- 8 oz cream cheese, cubed and softened
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (shred from a block of cheese, do NOT use pre-shredded)
- 8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup almond milk
- Green onions, sliced to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat a soup pot over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp of bacon grease if you have it, if not substitute olive oil or avocado.
- Sauté the onion until it's soft, which took about 6-7 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and Ranch seasoning packet and stir the ingredients together.
- Bring the chicken stock and almond milk to a gentle boil over medium high heat, and then turn down to medium low heat as soon as it starts bubbling.
- Add the precooked chicken and simmer until the chicken is heated through, which should take 1-2 minutes.
- Next add the softened cream cheese cubes to the hot broth and stir until combined.
- Slowly stir the shredded cheese into the soup.
- Right before serving mix in the chopped bacon.
- Garnish with more bacon, shredded cheese and green onion slices.
- Enjoy!
Notes
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 573Total Fat 31gSaturated Fat 15gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 206mgSodium 1909mgCarbohydrates 5gNet Carbohydrates 4gFiber 1gSugar Alcohols 0gProtein 62g
Kay Lynn Lee says
I would not use a pre-packaged ranch dressing product; regardless of keto friendliness, those have maltodextrin as the first ingredient and MSG not far behind. Having adopted a keto diet for migraines, not weight loss, these are triggers for me and other migraineurs. There are ample ranch dressing recipes out there which are equally delicious and less harmful. Otherwise, sounds like a great recipe.
WholeLottaYum says
Hi Kay, that’s why we suggested using an organic brand of Ranch seasoning like we did in the recipe–it doesn’t include artificial ingredients. But it might not be sold at all grocery stores. People of course can make their own homemade Ranch seasoning if they have time. And yes, it’s really really good soup!