Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders

Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders – one of our family’s all-time favorite meals. Super simple and everyone loves it! Chicken tenderloins topped with sour cream, ranch dressing mix, cheddar cheese, bacon, and french fried onions. Ready in under 30 minutes! Serve over rice, potatoes, or pasta. Everyone fights for the leftovers!

spatula of chicken and bacon topped chicken

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Sour Cream and Bacon Smothered Chicken

These Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders are a new favorite at our house. You MUST add them to your menu ASAP. This is crazy good! Chicken smothered in sour cream, ranch, bacon, cheese, and fried onions. We ate this for dinner and fought over the leftovers! LOL! This dish is super easy to make. I had it ready to bake before my oven was preheated. I used chicken tenders and this was on the table in 30 minutes! Perfect for hectic weeknights!

What does CRACK mean?

If a recipe has “crack” in the title it means that the recipe has cheddar, bacon, and ranch in the ingredients. It all started with my Crack Dip way back in 2007. I made the dip for a Titans football game. Everyone went crazy over it. We couldn’t stop eating it and said it was like crack. The name stuck. 

According to the dictionary, the definition of crack is “of superior excellence or ability”. We think the flavor combination of cheddar, bacon, and ranch fits this definition! This recipe is most definitely of superior excellence!

baking dish of cheesy bacon chicken

How to Make Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders

This chicken is effortless to make. Place chicken tenderloins in a baking dish. Combine sour cream, Ranch dressing mix, cheddar cheese, and bacon. Spread the sour cream mixture all over the chicken. Bake the chicken for 20 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven. Top the chicken with more shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and french fried onions. Bake until the cheese has melted and the chicken is cooked.

  • Can substitute store-bought sour cream Ranch dip for the sour cream and ranch dressing mix.
  • Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
  • For a lower calorie dish you can substitute plain Greek yogurt and turkey bacon.
  • You can use any boneless chicken that you prefer – tenderloins, breasts, or thighs. You will need to adjust the cooking time if you use breasts or thighs.
    • Tenderloins will cook the fastest.
    • You can also cut chicken breasts into strips and they will cook about the same time as tenderloins.
  • Are Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders gluten-free? For a gluten-free dish, omit the french fried onions.
  • Are Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders low-carb and keto-friendly? For a low-carb dish, omit the french fried onions or substitute pork rinds.
cheddar bacon smothered chicken on a plate

What to Serve with Cheddar Bacon Chicken

We like to serve the chicken tenders over rice with some lima beans. This chicken is also great over mashed potatoes or noodles. Whatever you serve it with, make sure to spoon some of the sauce/gravy from the baking dish over the chicken. You don’t want to let that go to waste. SO good!

Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this easy baked chicken:

Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni

Homemade Chicken Rice-A-Roni Recipe – you’ll never use the boxed stuff again! Rice, spaghetti, chicken bouillon, Italian seasoning, parsley, garlic…

Caesar Green Beans

Caesar Green Beans Recipe – quick and easy side dish – only 3 ingredients! Cook green beans and then sauté…

spatula of chicken and bacon topped chicken

Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders

Yield: 6 people
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders – one of our family’s all-time favorite meals. Super simple and everyone loves it! Chicken tenderloins topped with sour cream, ranch dressing mix, cheddar cheese, bacon, and french fried onions. Ready in under 30 minutes! Serve over rice, potatoes, or pasta. Everyone fights for the leftovers!

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  • Lay the chicken close together in the baking dish. Sprinkle with garlic salt and black pepper.
  • Combine sour cream, ranch dressing mix, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, and ¼ cup bacon. Spread sour cream mixture over chicken.
  • Bake for 20 minutes.
  • Top the chicken with remaining cheese, bacon and fried onions. Bake an additional 5-10 minutes.

Notes:

  • Can substitute store-bought sour cream Ranch dip for the sour cream and ranch dressing mix.
  • Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
  • For a lower-calorie dish you can substitute plain Greek yogurt and turkey bacon.
  • You can use any boneless chicken that you prefer – tenderloins, breasts, or thighs. You will need to adjust the cooking time if you use breasts or thighs.
    • Tenderloins will cook the fastest.
    • You can also cut chicken breasts into strips and they will cook about the same time as tenderloins.
  • Are Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders gluten-free? For a gluten-free dish, omit the french fried onions.
  • Are Smothered Crack Dip Chicken Tenders low-carb and keto-friendly? For a low-carb dish, omit the french fried onions or substitute pork rinds.

Steph

Remember this recipe.

Pin this recipe to your favorite board now to remember it later!

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plate of chicken topped with cheese and bacon
plate of chicken topped with cheese and bacon
baking dish of cheesy bacon chicken

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Comments

  1. Just made this chicken, and it was delicious. I substituted Helluva Good onion dip because I didn’t have sour cream or Ranch dressing packs and it was so tasty. My husband said this recipe is a “keeper”.

    1. I used full-fat sour cream, and yum. I want to try it with the greek yogurt though- I think it would give the chicken a better kick.

  2. I wonder how it would be if you were to mix up the yogurt, bacon, cheese and ranch dressing mix, then dip the tenders in the mixture and roll in the crushed corn flakes and bake? Either way, I am going to try the recipe! The ingredients sound great together!!

  3. Sounds easy and delish and I will def make it! I really love your recipes, but I have to say I'm not pleased with the giant Kraft ad that surrounds your blog now. It has lost it's coziness and browseability (is that a word?). Thanks for great recipes!

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