In the oven or in the slow cooker, this Dump-and-Bake "Crack Chicken" is an addicting easy dinner recipe that your family will love! Serve the creamy, cheesy, bacon and Ranch chicken in sandwiches, in wraps, on a salad, or over rice or pasta. So versatile, and so delicious!
What is "Crack Chicken"?
I've seen a variety of "Crack Chicken" recipes across the internet over the years, and I have no idea where it actually originated. The name of this recipe suggests that the meat is so delicious that it's as addicting as crack...but we obviously know that's not literally true!????
While there are different versions of the dish with the same name, most of the recipes include slow cooked chicken breasts that are combined with ranch seasoning, cream cheese and bacon. Today, I've taken those same flavors to create my own dump-and-bake version of this popular dinner -- with just 10 minutes of prep!
How to make Crack Chicken in the Oven:
To start, you'll need:
- 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast (or thighs)
- ½ cup cooked, diced bacon
Place the chicken and the bacon in a dish.
Next, prepare the sauce. You'll need:
- a packet of dry Ranch seasoning and salad dressing mix (just the dry mix -- not prepared according to package instructions)
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
Whisk together the sauce in a measuring cup or bowl.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and bacon.
Cover the dish and bake the chicken at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes (or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F).
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove the cover and add 8 ounces of diced cream cheese. Return the dish to the oven and bake, uncovered, for about 5 more minutes -- just until the cream cheese starts to melt.
When you pull the dish out of the oven, the cream cheese will be soft, but it will not be blended into the sauce. That's fine!
Just shred the chicken in the dish using two forks, and then give everything a good stir. The cream cheese will melt and blend right into the rest of the ingredients, creating a creamy, cheesy sauce for your meat!
How to serve Crack Chicken:
This versatile dish can be served in a variety of ways, so pick whichever option works best for your family's preferences. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- In sandwiches
- In wraps or lettuce wraps
- Over rice or cauliflower rice
- Over pasta
- On salad
- Over mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower
Can Crack Chicken be frozen?
I find that cream cheese-based sauces do not freeze well because the cream cheese can "break" when it's reheated. This won't make the dish unsafe to consume, but the texture isn't very appealing.
Can you eat Crack Chicken cold?
You can absolutely refrigerate any leftover chicken to use at a later meal. The chicken will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Since the cream cheese firms up when it's refrigerated, the texture of cold Crack Chicken is not nearly as good as the warm version. As a result, I suggest reheating your leftover chicken before eating.
How to reheat Crack Chicken:
To reheat your chicken, place the meat in a microwave-safe container, cover, and microwave until warm (about 2 minutes). Alternatively, you can put the chicken in a saucepan on the stovetop, cover, and warm over low heat.
Cook's Tips and Recipe Variations:
- Buffalo Crack Chicken: drizzle your chicken with buffalo sauce for a spicy kick!
- You can substitute with 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the breast meat.
- If you prefer, you can cook the chicken in a slow cooker instead of baking it in the oven. The Crock Pot instructions are included below.
- Garnish the cooked meat with fresh herbs (I love a bit of fresh parsley or chives) for a bright burst of flavor and color.
- I like to use store-bought cooked bacon for a shortcut, but you can certainly cook your own bacon to use in this recipe instead.
Other easy baked chicken breast recipes that you might enjoy:
- Southern Baked Chicken Parmesan
- Golden Baked Chicken Breasts
- 5-Minute Honey French Baked Chicken Breasts
- "No Work" Baked Chicken
Dump-and-Bake Crack Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 4 chicken breasts that were about 8 ounces each)
- ½ cup cooked, chopped bacon (about 6 slices)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 (1 ounce) packet dry Ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix
- 8 ounces cream cheese, diced into small squares
- Optional garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
FOR THE OVEN:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place chicken breasts and bacon in prepared dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar and dry salad dressing mix. Pour over the chicken and bacon.
- Cover tightly with foil. Bake (covered) for 45 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Add the cream cheese to the dish, cover, and return to the oven (uncovered) for 5 more minutes (or until the cream cheese starts to melt).
- While the chicken is still in the dish, use two forks to shred the meat. Stir the chicken and sauce together until everything is combined. Garnish with fresh herbs, if desired.
FOR THE SLOW COOKER:
- Add chicken and bacon to a slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar and dry salad dressing mix. Pour over the chicken and bacon.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours (or until chicken is cooked through and tender).
- Add cream cheese and cook for 5-10 more minutes. Shred the chicken, stir with the sauce, and garnish with fresh herbs.
Notes
- You can substitute with 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the breast meat.
- If you prefer, you can cook the chicken in a slow cooker instead of baking it in the oven. The Crock Pot instructions are included below.
- Garnish the cooked meat with fresh herbs (I love a bit of fresh parsley or chives) for a bright burst of flavor and color.
- I like to use store-bought cooked bacon for a shortcut, but you can certainly cook your own bacon to use in this recipe instead.
I just came across your blog this year, and I adore it. I"m sure you've heard from so many people that these are the recipes they've been looking for. I am going to make your "crack chicken" because I"m sure it will taste great. But I am a little uncomfortable with your use of the word "crack" because it is a really loaded term.
From the San Francisco Chronicle (https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Words-you-ll-never-see-me-use-in-restaurant-13652564.php): "In addition to being overly dramatic, it seems really callous to write that a bowl of bean dip is “like crack.” No matter how delicious something might be, its effect on me is nothing close to what crack does to people and their families. It’s supposed to be funny and edgy to compare a gourmet cupcake to crack because of how far the chi-chi bakery I’m standing in is from the kind of community that has historically been devastated by the crack epidemic. The ignorance is the joke."
Just something to think about... Thanks for your work.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Lisa! I totally respect that and I understand. It's not a term that I came up with (as I mentioned in the post above), so I didn't spend too much time considering the various ways the name could be interpreted. I'm so sorry if it comes across as offensive -- it's certainly not intended that way.
I'm also very happy that you enjoy the blog and that the recipes have been helpful. I appreciate readers like you so much, and I always welcome your feedback! Have a great weekend!
By and large the people who get upset about using “crack” in such an ameliorated way as to use it to describe recipes— are not crackheads.
Like the writer explained- she didn’t invent the name for this recipe.
As a recovering addict, I find the term a bit insensitive, but honestly, I have way bigger things in my life that I need to focus on.
Your recipe is in the oven right now, and I look forward to trying it.
Also, your explanation was enough, and the original commenter has a gross attitude.
Thanks so much, Icy! 🙂
very tasty
Oh this looks absolutely sinful!!! Have to give this a try.
Hi Blair ~~~ I enjoyed wandering through your wib site. Your Dump & Bake Crack Chicken caught my eye. I always keep chicken breasts and thighs in the freezer, so opted for the breasts. Plus I always have bacon, cream cheese and linguini on hand, also. I loved your recipe and it was so easy to put together, topped with chopped fresh cilantro from our herb garden. It turned out great and was soooo YUMMY!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Nancy! I'm so glad that you found my site and that you enjoyed the chicken recipe. 🙂
Should I alter the recipe if I only have frozen chicken tenderloins?
Hi, Thea! If you're baking the chicken tenderloins while still frozen, they will probably require about the same amount of time as the thawed breasts. If you have time to defrost the tenderloins first, then you would want to reduce the cooking time to about 25-30 minutes. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you for your reply! What about in the slow cooker?
In the slow cooker they'll probably need about 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low. 🙂
Can you substitute normal ranch dressing in this recipe instead of the oil and vinegar and ranch packet?
Hey, Ashley! I haven't tried it with Ranch salad dressing, so I honestly don't know. I think it would probably work, but it will have a creamy texture and slightly different taste than the original recipe. Let me know if you give it a shot!
I tried it last night! The consistency was a bit soupy but overall very tasty! I would recommend not using an entire bottle of ranch - which I did to be consistent with 16oz in the dry packet prepared vs 16 oz in a bottle pre-prepared. Overall I would certainly make this again with the bottled ranch! I will be trying the dry powder version as well!
Awesome! So glad to hear that it worked, Ashley. Thanks for taking the time to leave a note, too! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe Blair. I just made it . was so delish I used the oven method the only altering I did was add 4 more oz of the cream cheese . my son and husband devoured it. We ate it on toasted buns. Will b making this again. Tonya.
Awesome, Tonya! Thanks for taking the time to leave me a note. I'm so glad that it was a hit! 🙂
Loved this! I added about 1/4 cup hot sauce and a few tablespoons of ranch dressing because I didn’t have ranch seasoning. So easy!
Thanks, Haley! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it, and I appreciate your tip about the ranch dressing and hot sauce. 🙂
In the slow cooker version I usually make, it doesn't say to add the oil. Do you add it just so it wont be dry? Also, I am making this for a graduation party for 100 plus. Do you suggest a large roasting pan (throw away) and maybe 10- 15 pounds of chicken breasts? (we are also having another shredded meat so I don't want so much leftover.
Hi, Tarah! Yes, I use the oil for flavor and to keep the chicken moist. The slow cooker creates a lot more condensation (and therefore liquid) in the dish as opposed to baking the chicken in the oven.
It's so hard to anticipate how much food folks will eat at big events like the party. In general, a good rule of thumb is about 8 ounces of meat per person when the meat is served as the main dish. That would be about 50 pounds of meat for a party of 100 -- which is obviously way more than you'll actually need. Since some folks will not eat the chicken at all, and others might just eat a small portion (especially since another meat will be offered), I would say that you'd probably be safe with about 30-40 pounds of meat total. If you assume that half of that is the chicken, then your estimate of about 10-15 pounds sounds reasonable to me! Again, I'm not a caterer, so I'm definitely not the expert here. 🙂
And yes -- I would just cook it in one of those disposable foil roasting pans. Enjoy!
Hi! Is the red wine vinegar absolutely needed in this recipe? Trying to save myself a trip to the store. 🙂
Hi, Emily! Nope -- no need to go to the store! You can omit the vinegar, or sub with another type of vinegar if you have some on hand. Lemon juice would also be good. It just adds a nice acidic touch to the recipe...but it's not absolutely necessary. 🙂