Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Potato Soup recipe – creamy potato soup loaded with tender chicken, cheddar, bacon, and ranch. This soup is SO freaking delicious! I wanted to lick the bowl! Frozen hash browns, chicken breasts, chicken broth, cheddar, bacon, ranch, cream cheese, Velveeta, and milk. Everyone RAVES about this easy soup recipe. Simply dump everything in the crockpot and let it do the work. Whip up some cornbread or biscuits and dinner is done!!
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Pin This RecipePotato Soup with Chicken, Bacon & Ranch
This Crack Chicken Potato Soup has quickly become one of our favorite soups. It has all of our favorite flavors in one bowl. Creamy potato soup loaded with tender chicken, bacon, cheddar, and ranch. OMG! SO good. The best thing about this recipe is that it is super simple to make. Just dump everything in the crockpot and let it do all the work. Whip up some cornbread when you get home from work and dinner is done!
What is Crack Chicken?
If a recipe has crack in the title it means that it has cheddar, bacon, and ranch in the recipe. 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. The flavor combination is amazing. This potato soup is no exception. I’m obsessed!
How to Make Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Potato Soup
This chicken soup is effortless to make. In a skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Drain the cooked bacon on some paper towels and chop it into small pieces. Place chicken breasts, ranch seasoning, chicken broth, cooked bacon, cheddar cheese, Velveeta, milk, cream cheese, onion powder, and black pepper in the crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW all day. Remove the cooked chicken from the slow cooker and transfer to a cutting board. Shred the chicken with two forks. Place the chicken breast meat back in the slow cooker and stir until the soup is smooth.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- There is no need to thaw the hash browns before adding them to the slow cooker.
- Can substitute freshly grated potatoes for the hash browns. Russet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, or red potatoes all work well.
- I suggest using no salt or low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock.
- Can substitute heavy cream or half-and-half for the milk.
- You can use any boneless chicken pieces that you prefer – chicken breasts, chicken tenderloins, or chicken thighs all work fine.
- You can use frozen chicken breasts.
- Adjust the ranch seasoning to your personal preference. I suggest making your own ranch seasoning blend if you are sensitive to the packets from the grocery stores.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
- I used precooked bacon. A ½ cup chopped cooked bacon is approximately ½ pound raw bacon.
- Can substitute turkey bacon.
- If you have clumps of cream cheese in the finished soup, use a whisk to help get it fully incorporated into the soup.
- For a creamier soup, use an immersion blender to blend the soup after cooking. Make the soup as directed, leaving out the cooked bacon. Shred the chicken. Place the chicken breast meat and cooked bacon in the slow cooker and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
- Can I Make Chicken Potato Soup on the stovetop? Yes! Place all of the ingredients in a large dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked, the potatoes have broken down and the soup has a creamy texture. Shred the chicken meat with two forks before serving.
- To cut down on time, you can use leftover rotisserie chicken in place of the raw chicken.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
What to Serve with Potato Soup
This soup is comfort food at its best! It is a great recipe to make for cold nights. We ate this for lunch and dinner on the same day. We like to top the soup with some extra bacon, cheese, sour cream, and green onions. This is a pretty hearty soup. You don’t need a lot of side dishes to go with it. We serve it with some homemade cornbread sticks. It is also great with a salad and some rolls. Give this creamy chicken potato soup a try the next time you need an easy meal the whole family will enjoy!
Looking for more side dish ideas? Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this creamy soup:
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Crack Chicken Potato Soup
Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 (32-oz) bag shredded hash brown potatoes
- 4 to 5 Tbsp ranch dressing mix
- ½ cup cooked chopped bacon
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 lb Velveeta, chopped
- 1 cup milk
- 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp pepper
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients to the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.
- Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Add shredded chicken back to slow cooker and stir.
Notes:
- There is no need to thaw the hash browns before adding them to the slow cooker.
- You can use any boneless chicken pieces that you prefer – breasts, tenderloins, or thighs all work fine.
- You can use frozen chicken breasts.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
- I used precooked bacon. A ½ cup chopped cooked bacon is approximately ½ pound.
- Can substitute turkey bacon for pork bacon.
- I suggest using low-sodium or salt-free chicken broth if using store-bought ranch dressing mix.
- If you have clumps of cream cheese in the finished soup, use a whisk to help get it fully incorporated into the soup.
Steph
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Can I run the crock pot on high to shorten the time?
Yes – it will take about half the time on HIGH.
I imulsified the potatoes added chives and sour cream ! I think I’m now stuck in my boyfriends family … Don’t think his momma is gonna let me go any where now ! 🤣 Even the 2 yrs old picky eater enjoyed this !
I have four breast I need to use. Can you just double the recipe?
yes
Can I use beef broth?
Sure
Is it necessary to cook this in a crock pot? We don’t have one.
Thank you for great soup and your help.
Could I use cut up raw potatoes? Would I still put them in with all of the other ingredients at the same time? Thanks xx
I am sure you can use raw potatoes. I have never made this with cut-up raw potatoes, so I can not give any advice on cooking time, etc.
Raw potatoes work just as well! You can always boil them just a little bit first butt if you dice them into very small cubes, they will cook! Rinse them before adding to get the additional starch off though!
Love this recipe!!! So good and filling.
Do you think it would be OK to freeze?
I think it would be fine to freeze it.
I would like to avoid using Velveeta. Do you have any recommendations to substitute Velveeta? Or is there a way could I modify the recipe to omit Velveeta?
Any changes and modifications to the recipe would be entirely up to you.
Please don’t laugh… When you say we can use frozen chicken breasts, should we thaw them first before putting in the crockpot?
No. I mean that you can toss them in the crockpot still frozen. You can obviously thaw them as well.
Can you use precooked chicken instead of raw or would that alter the cooking time (such as not adding the cooked chicken in the beginning, but maybe later towards hour 6 or 7?
Thanks!
You can use already cooked chicken if you prefer. You can add it in the beginning or towards the end. I don’t think it would make a difference.
Has anyone tried this without Ranch? I know it’s crazy, but most of the family doesn’t care for Ranch.
Omitting the ranch seasoning will be fine. When I make it I’m not going to add it, I love ranch dressing but doesn’t sound good in some recipes to me. It should be fine, if you want more flavor you could add a little poultry seasoning.
How long on high?
Usually about half of the time on LOW.
Can you cook it on high for a shorter amount of time?
Thanks
yes
Thanks . Love your recipes 🙂
I used gouda cheese instead of Velveeta and diced red potatoes instead of hashbrowns. Definitely a win!!! Just don’t make the mistake of using sharp cheddar like I did. I had no idea sharp cheddar doesn’t melt creamy, it clumps.
Did you grate the cheddar yourself? The bags of cheese cellulose on it. It is an anti-caking moisture-absorbing agent. It can prevent the cheese from melting properly. If you try it again with cheddar, grate the cheese from a block.
Did you use the same amount of gouda as velveeta? A pound?
Also, with the red potatoes instead of hash browns did this alter your cooking time?
Thanks!
Any changes and substitutions to the recipe would be up to you.
Tried this with the only difference of using cubed potatoes vs the hash browns. Very tasty! Will certainly go into the winter soup rotation! Thanks!
Did you use fresh potatoes or were they still the frozen? I’m having trouble finding the frozen hashbrowns right now.