How To Make Instant Pot Crack Chicken
You are just 4 easy steps away from serving up some delicious crack chicken! Make sure to taste the crack chicken before you season it, I often find I don’t need any more salt.
This recipe makes 8 servings of crack chicken, which is plenty at my house. However, if you need to increase the servings this recipe is super simple to scale up by just doubling all the ingredients !
Crack chicken is a perfect appetizer, for lunch, or dinner! If you are serving up sandwiches, try some air fryer potato chips on the side!
From Family Dinner To Parties This Recipe Is The Best
This recipe is amazing and always a hit. We have served this for a quick weeknight dinner as well as for parties and gatherings.
Sliders are perfect if you are making this for a party. We also use sliders for the kids sometimes.
It is the perfect size for little hands to pick up. Plus, it is just fun to eat sliders!
You can quickly and easily serve these on platters for parties and gatherings for the perfect meal without much work. Everyone will enjoy it.
If you want something different for birthday parties, try making Crack Chicken. The delicious chicken mixture is perfect to feed a crowd.
Everyone will definitely love this and it is sure to be a hit!
It is so easy to make pressure cooker crack chicken recipe!
Keep reading for the full recipe. Try using cooked bacon to save even more time.
Recipe Tips And Notes
- My chicken breasts were on the smaller side . If your chicken breasts are larger, you may want to increase the pressure cooking time to 18 minutes.
- You can use regular chicken broth, but using the low sodium version ensures the crack chicken isnt too salty.
- My chicken was the perfect consistency after returning the shredded chicken to the Instant Pot, but if your chicken is too liquidy at this point, leave it on warm for 5 minutes or until it thickens up to your liking.
This Instant Pot crack chicken is so delicious, I can see why its called crack! So simple to make in the pressure cooker, youve got to try this one!
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Can You Make It Ahead Of Time
This is delicious served warm straight out of the Instant Pot, but its also a great ahead recipe too.
It will keep well in the fridge for up to 4 days and can be enjoyed cold, or you can reheat it quickly on the stovetop. Once you have made it, you can keep it warm in the Instant Pot til you are ready to serve it.
Slow Cooker Crockpot Crack Chicken
If youd rather use a slow cooker crockpotfor this chicken recipe instead of an Instant Pot, you can easily do so!
To start, place the chicken, cream cheese, and ranch seasonings into the slow cooker and mix everything with the chicken broth. After you thoroughly mix the above ingredients, set the crockpot to cook on low between six and seven hours, or set the temperature to high and cook for three or four hours.
Cooking the crack chicken in the slow cooker allows you to prepare the meal either before dinner or in the morning before you go to work. Doing it in the latter fashion will enable you to enjoy the smell of crack chicken as you walk in the door after coming home, and theres nothing better.
Then, after cooking the recipe in your crockpot, remove the chicken from the pot and shred it with the forks as described earlier.
Next, you’ll want to return the chicken to the slow cooker and mix in the other ingredients, including the bacon, onions and cheddar cheese.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll want to start cooking the bacon before you start shredding the chicken. As it will finish cooking right about the time that you finish shredding the chicken.
Oh, and remember to mix your crack chicken thoroughly in the crockpot just like you would with the Instant Pot to make sure it’s the appropriate consistency.
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Crack Chicken Instant Pot Recipe
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Instant Pot Crack Chicken is so flavorful, and will easily become your new dinner obsession! This creamy shredded chicken is flavored with ranch, crispy bacon, fresh green onions, and takes only 15 minutes in the Instant Pot. Serve it on sandwich buns, over pasta, or in lettuce cups for an easy weeknight meal.
Easy Chicken Recipe For A Crowd
These chicken bites are one of my favorite party foods. This recipe makes about three dozen appetizers. You can easily double or triple the recipe for a crowd. This is a great recipe for football parties, holiday parties, or a quick lunch and dinner. They are great dipped into our favorite Jalapeno Ranch Dip! Whip up some french fries and veggie sticks and you are set!
Looking for more party food recipes? Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with these chicken bites:
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How To Make Crack Chicken In The Instant Pot
If youre just getting started with the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker, be sure to follow my directions. Youll want to insert the stainless steel insert into the pressure cooker. In the insert, add in the chicken broth, chicken breasts, ranch seasoning, Italian seasoning, and the cream cheese cut into 1 oz. squares. Yes, the cream cheese gets added to the pressure cooker before it cooks. Sometimes it will hold its shape while cooking and other times, it will just help to soften it.
Next, plug the pressure cooker in and turn it to ON. Secure the lid on top and set the Steam Release Handle to the SEALED position. This is the knob on top of the pressure cooker by the handle. Select the MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK button on the panel. Use the and set it to 15 minutes. The pressure cooker should then beep and say ON which means it is working to come to pressure. Once it comes to pressure, it will beep and count down from 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the Instant Pot will beep to indicate its done. Since meat should always be naturally released, keep the SEAL position on for at least 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn the Steam Release Handle to the VENTING position.
What Is Different About This Version Of Instant Pot Crack Chicken
So the long story is that I read a lot of reviews of the original version of crack chicken. The main negative comments were that it was too salty, that it was bland, and that it had the texture of mush. So I set out to fix all of that.
- What I did differently:
- The first fix was the easiest, the mushy texture. The answer lies with you though. When you shred your chicken, use two forks, not a hand mixer or something like that. This way you still get some chunks of chicken to give you something to chew on. Some texture.
- The next thing to tackle was the saltiness. This was tough because everyone has a different salt tolerance. You can either use a low sodium ranch dressing mix or my Homemade Ranch Dressing .
Or use chicken that has no salt added . Youd be surprised by how many places inject their chicken with a sodium solution!
The other solution to this was to simply use water instead of chicken broth.
- The biggest complaint about this recipe was that it was bland. I thought about this a lot, and then it hit me. Add more ranch flavor without adding more salt!
Since I know what my ranch dressing recipe is made of, it was easy to add some of those herbs and spices to this recipe for the flavor without adding more salt. I think it worked well.
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Using Frozen Chicken Breasts
Can I use frozen chicken or should it be thawed?
- Pour 1 cup water into your pressure cooking pot and place a trivet in the bottom.
- Balance the frozen chicken breasts on the trivet, stacking crosswise if necessary.
- Lock the lid in place.
- Select High Pressure and 1 minute cook time.
- Quick-release when done. Use chicken in the desired recipe as normal.
If you like pressure cooker recipes, try these favorite Instant Pot recipes next. For more ranch inspired recipes like this one, try these Crack Brussels Sprouts next.
What Do You Need To Make Instant Pot Crack Chicken
- Chicken you can use chicken breasts or the same equivalent of boneless/skinless chicken thighs.
- You will need cream cheese and cheddar cheese. You can also replace the cheddar cheese with Mozzarella, Provolone, Mexican blend cheese, Italian blend cheese, Gruyere or Pepper Jack Cheese.
- Dry Ranch Mixthis is what makes this dish so amazing.
- Chicken Broth you can use water, but I prefer to use chicken broth to add extra flavor. I always keep Better Than Bullion paste on hand, so much cheaper than buying cartons of broth.
- I used a 6 qt Instant Pot for this recipe.
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Ninja Foodi Crack Chicken Pasta
Like I said, any brand of electric pressure cooker will work here really. You are going to use the saute and high pressure function so as long as you have those youre good to go. On Crockpot Express saute is labeled brown, it is the same thing. Allows you to cook everything together without dirtying more than one pot or pan.
Can You Freeze Crack Chicken
Yes, you absolutely can.
- Let it cool down completely then transfer it to a large freezer bag or airtight container. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When ready to serve, remove from freezer the night before and let thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Reheat and serve.
TO REDUCE YOUR POINTS TO “4”, USE FAT FREE CREAM CHEESE.
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Ways To Serve Crack Chicken
The best thing about crack chicken is there are so many different ways to serve it. You could make it every week and serve it a new way.
- Make a sandwich on hamburger buns or gluten free sandwich bread.
- Make crack chicken pasta with regular noodles, egg noodles or even zucchini noodles .
- Stuff baked potatoes with it for a flavorful meal.
- Wrap it up in homemade blue corn tortillas.
- Serve over rice for a simple one bowl meal.
- Make lettuce wraps for another low carb option.
- Use it as an appetizer dip with tortilla chips or crackers.
Crack Chicken Instant Pot Is So Easy
This meal is so simple and the pressure cooker gets dinner on the table fast. Literally, this meal is SO fast.
The chicken is so tender and delicious and everything just has the best flavor. You will think that it was slow cooked all day but really the pressure cooker make this meal in minutes.
The mixture of chicken, cream cheese, bacon and ranch come together to make a meal so tasty that you will not be able to eat just one sandwich. Your family will go crazy over this recipe!
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Crack Chicken Is Keto
And did I tell you these are absolutely gluten-free, low carb, and can be made keto-friendly?
This keto crack chicken recipe has nothing fried in it. Chicken and bacon have loads of protein which is your principal component of the keto diet. The carbs are very limited to what the chicken and cheese have.
Cream cheese and cheddar provide healthy fat in this recipe. All you need is some greens to go with this.
Can I Freeze Crack Chicken Pasta
Yes, you can freeze this crack chicken pasta, but the pasta texture may be slightly different. If you plan on freezing it, you may make the mixture without the pasta. Then mix in the cooked pasta when you are ready to serve.
Store the crack chicken mixture in a freezer safe container. Place in the freezer and it will be good for up to 3 months.
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How To Make Crack Chicken Pasta In Instant Pot:
- Mix Ingredients In a large size bowl, beat together the ingredients. Cream of chicken soup, sour cream, ranch seasoning mix and pepper with a hand held mixer until creamy.
- Stir in Chicken, cheese and bacon Then gently mix in the chicken, the cheddar cheese and half of the chopped bacon. Stir by hand carefully until the ingredients are completely combined.
- Add in Chicken Broth Pour the chicken broth into the instant pot. Add the chicken mixture on top.
- Cook in the Pressure Cooker Seal and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. After the cook time, do a quick release to release the pressure. From the instant pot by moving the valve on the lid from the seal to the vent position.
- Cook the Pasta Then switch the instant pot to the sauté setting. Stir in the elbow noodles and make sure that they are completely covered.
- Cook noodles with other ingredients Cook for 4-5 minutes stirring frequently. This prevent the bottom from burning until the noodles are soft.
- Top with Cheese and bacon Then turn the instant pot off. Top with the remaining shredded cheddar cheese, bacon and the sliced green onions.
- Serve and Enjoy Let the meal sit for a few minutes. This lets the sauce can thicken and the heat from the meal will melt the cheese.
What To Serve With Crack Chicken Pasta
Because this crack chicken is a comfort and hearty meal, we keep the side light and simple. Here are some recommendations that we serve with this delicious meal.
- Side Salad We often serve a simple salad with this meal and it is really tasty. The salad balances out the pasta and makes a really great dinner.
- Roasted Vegetables You could also try Roasted Green Beans for another easy side dish idea. We also love broccoli and it is so easy. Learn how to steam broccoli in the microwave for a super easy veggie side dish.
- Homemade Bread Whenever we make a pasta dish, I love to make a side of garlic bread. Pasta and bread just go together.
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Cooks Notes: Tips For Perfect Chicken
- IF the sauce is too thick, stir in a bit of water.
- IF the sauce is too thin, make a slurry with cornstarch and a little cold water mix until smooth. Stir the mixture into the hot liquid until its blended.
- You can use a Ranch Seasoning packet if you want, but I suggest making it from scratch. The store-bought stuff has too much sodium.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- I use rotisserie chicken for the cooked chicken.
- You can use any cooked chicken that you would like. Skinless chicken breasts, chicken tenders, or chicken thighs.
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What Is Crack Chicken
My Crack Chicken recipe is delicious and its named such because ranch seasoning, bacon, and cheddar are a winning combination that so many people love together. Ive come to learn that you either love or hate this cream cheese ranch chicken recipe. For every 10 people that love it, there is one that doesnt and thats okay. If youre suspect to the ingredients, try adding only 4 oz. cream cheese and reducing the ranch seasoning. Then, if youd like, add more cream cheese to the mixture once everything is tossed together. I like to add some hot sauce into the mix because it adds additional flavor without the distinct hot sauce taste.
My favorite way to serve up this cheesy shredded chicken is on a toasted bun or wrapped in lettuce. The Crack Chicken filling is perfect for a sandwich in much the same way Sloppy Joes are, too.
