Slow Cooker Crack Chicken and Rice – a quick and easy weeknight recipe! Just dump everything in the slow cooker and dinner is done! Only a few simple ingredients – chicken, ranch dressing mix, bacon, cheddar cheese, cream of chicken soup, milk and rice. Can add some mixed veggies too! Everyone cleaned their plates! Leftovers taste great too! YUM! #crockpot #slowcooker #chicken #rice
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Pin This RecipeEasy Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice Casserole
I love my slow cooker. especially during the hectic holiday season. I love dumping everything in the slow cooker and coming home to dinner. Who’s with me? This Slow Cooker Crack Chicken & Rice is one of our favorite slow cooker recipes. It has been on repeat at our house lately! Chicken and rice loaded with cheddar, bacon, and ranch. What’s not to like?!?!? All of my favorites in one dish.
How to Make Crack Chicken & Rice in the Crockpot
This Slow Cooker Crack Chicken & Rice is very easy to make. Start by spraying the slow cooker insert with some cooking spray. Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker. You will need three or four boneless chicken breasts – just depending on their size. You want about two pounds of chicken. Next mix together the ranch dressing mix, bacon, cream of chicken soup, milk, cheese, and rice. Pour the rice mixture over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and let it work its magic!
If you feel like the chicken and rice mixture is too thick, feel free to add some chicken broth or extra milk to thin it out. You can also toss in some frozen mixed vegetables. A one-pot meal is hard to beat!
This recipe uses a packet of ranch dressing mix. You are not going to make the dressing. You are only going to use the seasoning packet mix. Feel free to adjust the amount of ranch dressing mix up or down according to your personal preference.
What to Serve With Slow Cooker Crack Chicken & Rice
This Slow Cooker Crack Chicken & Rice is a new favorite at our house. It is super easy to make and tastes great. We like to serve this with some green beans and some rolls. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this yummy Slow Cooker Crack Chicken & Rice:
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Slow Cooker Crack Chicken and Rice
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 4 chicken breasts)
- 1 pound bacon cooked and chopped
- 2 (10.5-oz) cans cream of chicken
- 1 (1-oz) package Ranch Dressing Mix, or to taste
- 1¾ cups milk
- 1 cup regular long-grain rice
- 1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions:
- Spray the insert of the slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken in the bottom.
- Mix together the cream of chicken soup, bacon, ranch dressing mix, half of the cheese, milk, and regular rice. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of rice mixture.
- Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 or 4 hours.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and chop. Place back in the slow cooker and stir to combine.
- If rice mixture is too thick, add water, chicken broth or additional milk to thin out.
Notes:
- Do not cook rice in advance.
- I used Great Value Long-Grain Rice.
- This recipe is formulated to use long-grain white rice. I have not made this with brown rice. Brown rice and white rice are not equal substitutes. Brown rice uses more liquid and takes much longer to cook.
- To avoid sticky rice, rinse your rice before adding it to the slow cooker. Rinsing the rice removes excess start that causes the rice to plump and stick together.
- Do not make the Ranch dressing. You are using only the dry mix.
- Here is our recipe for Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix: https://www.plainchicken.com/homemade-ranch-dressing-mix/
- I used a Hamilton Beach 6-qt Slow Cooker. It took 3 ½ hours.
- Do not open the lid while the rice is cooking. When you lift the lid, the carefully calculated rice-water ratio is thrown off which will result in dry and undercooked rice. Unless you’re adding seasoning or checking how much water remains, leave it alone.
- The rice will not be light and fluffy like plain cooked rice. The rice is soft. This is a casserole. The mixture will be somewhat thick.
- Can use frozen chicken breasts.
- Can substitute turkey bacon.
Steph
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Made this with brown rice and it worked out really well. I find adding an extra 1/4 cup of milk and cooking for the full 4 hours makes this rice fluffy and soft.
Has anyone tried this with pork tenderloin ?
That would work fine.
Crazy picky husband and I LOVE this recipe! I use one can of Cream of chicken and one can of Cheddar Cheese soup. The rest as written. Was just wondering if anyone has successfully adapted this for a pressure cooker/Instapot.
I’m making this right now. It is so easy. I followed your recipe as it is. People have NO common sense on here. Reading all of the comments, come on people read it. Why would you add something that’s not in the recipe? Good grief @plainchicken. I’m sorry we have so many people with no common sense. Thank You for your amazing recipe 😘
My son and I loved this. Since it is only us two, it will yield lots of leftovers. I only had Velveeta cheese. So had to use that instead of shredded cheddar, and since we love them, I added a small can of chopped green chilies. Thanks for sharing this!
Can you use minute rice
The recipe clearly says to use long grain rice. Minute rice will not work.
Would adding potatoes change anything?
Probably
You have the patience of Job, with the silly questions. I think some of these people have never even boiled water!
NOTE: If you substitute ingredients, it’s not the same recipe.
Delicious! Use Meijer insta rice and went by the recipe! Shedded my chicken and add bread crumbs on time! Definitely making this again!
Made this tonight and it’s definitely a keeper! The only thing I changed was I cut up my chicken breast into pieces and then added the mixture on top and I only had 1 can of cream of chicken so I used it and 1 can cream of mushroom with garlic and it was fabulous! Thanks for the recipe!!
Husband isn’t fond of rice BUT he could not get enough of this dish. Has raved to everyone about how good it is. I am now making it for a family reunion. I made it exactly how instructed in the recipe. No alterations.
This recipe sounds so good. My husband is a picky eater & I do make a chicken & recipe casserole recipe in the oven. But, your recipe sounds so good too & I like the idea of making it in the slow cooker. Though, I do have 1 question for you. You state you use frozen chicken breasts. Are you putting the frozen breasts in the slow cooker or are you thawing them first. Thank you.
You can put them in frozen or thaw them.
Can I halve the recipe? I don’t want leftovers
Have you ever made this in the oven? I work long hours and can’t use a crock pot, but this recipe looks great and I’d like to try it in an oven, but don’t have a clue as to how to adjust liquids etc.
You can add a can of Rotel for a spicy pop 🙂
Canned mixed veggies, or frozen? Has anyone tried this?
Can you bake this in oven?
do you put the rice in there not cooked or do u cook the rice by itself then add it. which one do u do
uncooked
Would I be able to use mozzarella in this recipe and have it still taste good? I have some cheddar, but not a lot and I don’t have time to run to the store this morning.
Only you can answer that. Do you like mozzarella? If so, you would probably like it. Any cheese will work fine.
Can you cook on low and just make rice seperate
You can make it however you want.
Wonder if you could use cauliflower rice instead?
Thanks for a great”What’s for dinner recipe”! I am sending you lots of prayers. After reading the comments above I think you have the patience of a Saint and could use a few prayers. I don’t know why people try to rewrite recipes. I can see asking for an unusual substitute but your directions (if read and followed) are a list of what makes the recipe work! Thanks for all your recipes which are part of my rotation. Stay brave. You have dedicated followers,
How long should I cook this, if I triple the recipe ingredients?
I just made it tonight, and it’s tasty. I cooked the chicken on low for 8 hours, and cooked my rice separate in a rice cooker. About an hour before serving, I put the rice in the crockpot with the chicken. Worked great.
What about minute rice? That’s all I have!
This recipe is for regular long-grain rice, not minute rice.
I did this differently. We used the pressure cooker and the slow cooker options on our instapot. We also used 2 packages of chicken broccoli rice sides. So, we put the frozen chicken in the insta pot and mixed the rice with all the other ingredients including the ranch seasoning packet. Because we had more than a cup of rice in it, we used 2 and 3/4 cups if milk but kept everything else at the same quantities the recipe calls for (except the cheese. We almost never measure cheese unless we are making a cheese sauce). We pressure cooked the chicken and rice mixture for 20 minutes and then slow cooked in the insta pot for an hour. Everything came out really good! If you use the rice sides, since there is already a lot of seasoning in it, you could omit the ranch seasoning to cut back on sodium but we used it anyway and it tasted really good.
Thanks for adding this. I have an instapot too and it doesn’t hAve a high setting. Didn’t realize this is cooked on high.
Hi! I absolutely don’t like cheese. How do I adjust the recipe? Do I use heavy cream instead of cheese?
I think you could just omit the cheese and not substitute with anything and it should work just fine. We love cheese so much though that omitting it is not an option in my household! Lol
I do NOT cook, but figured I’d give this a try… SUCCESS!! My husband even went back for seconds! For milk, I used 1 cup almond milk & 3/4 cup 2% milk. Also used jasmine rice instead of regular because that’s all I could find. YUMMY!!! Will definitely be doing this more often.
Woohoo!!! I’m thrilled it turned out good for you. Thank you for sharing your substitutions. I’m sure it will help other readers out.
Hey I’m about to make this – do I actually make the cream of chicken the way the can describes? Mine say to add milk and water, or should I just add to the crockpot as a concentrate mix?
just use the can of soup by its self.
Thank you!
How long in a pressure cooker?
Can you use brown rice instead of white rice?
You will need to adjust the cooking time and maybe the liquid. Brown rice and white rice do not cook the same.
Has anyone tried adding broccoli to this?? Curious if I would add veggies in the beginning or wait and add towards the end so they don’t get too mushy…
can you make it without bacon? I want to make this ,but don’t have any bacon.
sure
I made this recipe with brown rice not knowing that brown rice took longer to cook. It cooked on high for 6 hours, worth it. It came out delicious. I had to add one extra cup of milk so it wouldn’t be so thick.
Would it be possible to cut the recipe in half? What changes would I have to make other that the amount of ingredients?
That is the only thing I would do. I may cook quicker if you use a large slow cooker.
Do you use the ranch dressing dry or mix with milk and mayo?
dry
Cooking for 3.5 hours and the rice is still hard! I used brown rice that shouldn’t change anything should it?
It would change everything. White rice and brown rice do not cook the same.
Mine was too soupy..I guess from not enough chicken? Any ideas?
Maybe cook it a little longer? I haven’t had any issues with this dish, so that is my best guess.
You mention water in the directions but I don’t see where/when you add water??
I say if the cooked rice/casserole is too thick to add water to thin it out.
Good morning, as the recipe is can you tell me about how many people it will serve? Not sure if I need to double … thank you
Just made this the other day. Very good. We
I was planning to make this tomorrow for dinner. Can I use some chicken that I already cooked and shredded tonight? I read the recipe wrong!
I’m sure that will work fine. You may need to add a little extra liquid to make up for the missing liquid the cooked chicken makes.
All I have is instant rice. Has anyone used this instead? If not do you think it would be ok to put everything in the crockpot except for the rice, then cook the instant rice on the stove top and then add it at the very end?
You would also need to adjust the liquid content if you use already cooked rice.
I have chicken thighs, would I need to cook it longer?
I have only made this as written. You will need to check the chicken to ensure it is cooked to 165ºF before eating.
Do u have to use ranch packs. My husband do not like ranch. Just asking
I have the same question as several others, and maybe you’ve answered somewhere but I didn’t see it. Have you tried cooking this on low?
Thank you
I have not made this on low. I am sure it would be just fine.
Would this be enough to feed 7 people? I love adding onions and garlic when I cook. Would that change the flavor too much?
Making this now! Curious as to if anyone has cooked this on low? I see a lot of people asking the same question, but no responses. Looks so yummy though!
Response to everyone who asked if you can cook on low. I tried it, and no. After 5 hours of it being on low, the rice still wasnt cooked. I added more liquid and cooked on high for 2 hours, and rice still isnt done..so dont do what I did and try to cook on low in the crockpot
Thank you Kelly. I was wondering the same thing. I know you can switch most cooking times on slow cooker recipes, like going from high to low means you double the cooking time and opposite if going from low to high. I was wondering about how rice would turn out.
Can you cook this on low instead of high?
Does this freeze well? Making tonight!
I’m sure the leftovers would freeze just fine.
Can I I use jasmine rice?
Could you use cream cheese in this recipe?
Lovely idea, Can not wait to try it
How long in an electric pressure cooker? Do you think this would work?
I haven’t made this in an Instant Pot so I don’t know.
Could you take out the rice? I’d like to serve over cauliflower rice. Would I need to remove a can of soup?
Can you cook on low?
1 lb. of bacon…about how many slices is that?
I just made this for the first time and I bought a small pouch of real bacon pieces in the salad condiment isle at my local Wamart for $1.48. I put the entire pouch in there and it did great. It actually cooked a little and had a great flavor.
In the recipe it calls for 1 1oz ranch packet or to taste… has anyone ever used 2 ranch packets? I’ve never made this before. Will 2 packets be too much?
I would start with one and taste it before adding a second one. Some people find the Ranch mix to be salty.
Do you wash the rice first?
I didn’t, but you certainly can.
Hi! What can I substitute the canned chicken soup with? Thanks! 🙂
I used 1/4 cup of heaving whipping cream as a substitute and it turned at really good.
Can I add the rice later so it doesn’t get so soft
You can certainly give it a try.
Can you use bacon bits?
sure
Looks and sounds delicious. Has anyone ever tried sausage (like breakfast type) instead of bacon?
If I have frozen breast how long should it cook ? On high or low
I am curious about that as well!
You can use frozen chicken. It would need to cook on the higher end of the cooking time.
Can I cook it on low for 7-8 hours?
I want to make this without the rice and use riced cauliflower (frozen) instead. Should I cut any of the milk? And do you think the cauliflower will be mushy if I add it when I add the other ingredients?
Do you think I could cook this on low for eight hours instead of high for four?
Do you think orzo pasta would work like the rice?
Interesting idea. I think it could work.
The bacon looks crispy in the photo. Did u use it as garnish? I feel like it would look rubbery in the crockpot the whole time
It doesn’t get rubbery, but make this however you prefer.
So do you cook the bacon first then crumble in with other ingredients?
the bacon is cooked before adding to the crockpot
Could I substitute milk for chicken broth?
If I don’t have ranch seasoning can I substitute onion soup mix? Others seasoning I should add to that? I have everything to make my own ranch seasoning except buttermilk powder.
Looks great it’s currently in the crockpot. I had to substitute the soup with mushroom and I used ranch out of the bottle so we will see in a few hours. Thank you for the recipe!!
I have jasmine rice will that work? Can’t wait to try this, thanks so much.
I'm sure that would work fine. Enjoy!
New favorite in my house! Currently in the crockpot for Christmas lunch at the in laws!