Crack Chicken Pasta – chicken and bacon tossed in a quick homemade cheesy ranch sauce! Ready to eat in under 15 minutes. Such an easy weeknight meal!! Cooked chicken, bacon, butter, flour, milk, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing mix, and pasta. Everyone in the family loves this! Serve with a salad and some crusty garlic bread – so delicious! We make this all the time!
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Pin This RecipeChicken Pasta with Cheddar, Bacon & Ranch
This Crack Chicken Pasta is a weeknight favorite. Chicken and bacon tossed in a quick cheddar ranch sauce. OMG! SO good. The best part about this recipe is that it is super easy to make. I boiled the pasta and then used the same pot to make the cheese sauce and toss everything together. I took a shortcut and used half of a rotisserie chicken and this was done in minutes. We both loved it. How could we not since it has all the flavors of our beloved “Crack” Dip in it! Serve this with a salad and some bread for a delicious weeknight meal!
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!
How to Make Crack Chicken Pasta
As I said, this dish is super simple to make. In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In the same pot melt butter. Add flour and stir. Cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens. Stir in ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add chicken, bacon, and pasta. Stir to coat and enjoy!
- I used rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken in this pasta dish.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Can substitute turkey bacon for pork bacon in this pasta.
- Can use any shape of pasta that you prefer. I like penne or bowtie pasta.
- Feel free to toss in some steamed broccoli for a full meal!
- Adjust the ranch dressing mix to your personal preference.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
What to Serve with Chicken Mac & Cheese with Bacon
This quick pasta is one of our all-time favorite recipes. I always have the ingredients on hand to whip up a batch at a moment’s notice. We usually serve the pasta with some broccoli or a salad and some rolls. Give this a try the next time you need a quick and easy meal to please the whole family!
Need more side dish ideas? Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this stovetop mac & cheese:
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Crack Chicken Pasta – Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 8- ounces penne pasta
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp ranch dressing mix
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ⅓ cup cooked chopped bacon
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken
Instructions:
- In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In the same pot melt butter. Add flour and stir. Cook flour for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue cooking until the sauce thickens.
- Stir in ranch dressing mix and cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Add chicken, bacon, and cooked pasta. Stir to coat.
Notes:
- I used rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken in this pasta dish.
- Here is our recipe for Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken: https://www.plainchicken.com/slow-cooker-rotisserie-chicken/
- Can substitute turkey bacon for pork bacon in this pasta.
- Can use any shape of pasta that you prefer. I like penne or bowtie pasta.
- Adjust the ranch dressing mix to your personal preference.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
Steph
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I want to try this tonight…. this looks delicious.
I used this as the starting point for our dinner tonight. Followed the recipe, but used egg noodles cuz that's all I had. I added a bunch of spinach, upped the sauce amount slightly, and mixed it all together in a 9×13 pan. Popped it in the oven because I like crispy food, and holy smokes, this was so tasty!
One thing I've noticed, sauces like these only thicken if you use something other than skim milk. I cheated and added some half-and-half to my skim to simulate whole milk…
I just made this for dinner and it was delicious!!!! I used elbow macaroni and it turned out great! Thank you for a great recipe!!!!!
The addition of sautéed onions and fresh diced tomatoes would be awesome!
How wuld you make this recipe if you had the packit off ranch all redy make. I want to make it but I dont have the dri ranch.
Made this last night and everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing.
Doubled this and fixed it tonight for my Grown Daughters and their Boyfriends, A HUGE HIT, no leftovers.
Debbie, I think canned chicken would be fine. Hope you enjoy it!
Do you think this would be ok with canned chicken? I have some in the pantry and need to use it in something. Want to use chicken breast with other recipes on your blog.
Omg I am all over this recipe! It's going on my menu for this week, thank you!
Miss Hensley – it will serve 4. You can stretch it to 6 if you serve bread and salad.
About how many does this recipe feed? I'm making dinner for 6 and was wondering if I should double the recipe or not. Thanks!
Another great dish!!!
I took a shortcut and used "Real Bacon" bits. I've fixed this twice and shared it also.
Thanks for sharing it.
Try marinating the chicken in fajita seasoning. Someone suggested this to me in version that puts these ingredients on a pizza using ranch as the sauce and I though it sounded nasty but I took her at her word and there just are no tasty adjectives I could use to describe how even more over the top delicious I thought chicken, ranch and bacon could be.
Thank you Stephanie!!