Easy Crack Chicken Sandwiches

Love chicken? Love dishes that all you have to do is dump it into the Crockpot and go about your day? Maybe you have picky eaters...like I do, or maybe you have limited ingredients on hand with grocery stores still facing a lot of demand. Whatever the reasoning behind not standing at a stove for an hour or longer to make a delicious meal...I have a chicken recipe for you that is simple, only takes a few ingredients, and even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy!

Crack Chicken Sandwiches: What You Need

We refer to this recipe as Crack Chicken. Yes, an odd name, but it was something that I discovered years ago online, and have since made a few changes to make this more appealing to my entire family. So, what are you going to need?

It is super simple:

1. A Crockpot

2. Chicken thighs, breast, tenderloins, basically whatever cut of the chicken that you have in your freezer. I prefer chicken tenders just because they cook faster. But, I have made this with every cut out there. The chicken thighs are a bit more greasy due to the cut of meat, so keep that in mind. You will want to have 2 to 3 pounds of whatever cut of chicken that you have on hand.

3. Cream cheese...just one package for the 2 to 3 pounds of chicken.

4. A dry ranch packet. While you can get name brand “Hidden Valley”, you will get the same results as using the store brand. Now, if you are out of these packets, you can try to make this on your own with the seasoning that you have on hand. However, word of advice, find a great recipe for this. I tried this one time and it was a dud!

5. Fresh ground pepper to season this with.

6. Bacon...if you love bacon then you are going to want 10 ounces or so. However, if you have some bacon open that only has a few slices, you can still put this to good use in this recipe.

7. Chives or fresh green onions. Right now, I have chives in my pantry for other recipes, so this is what I am going to be using.

8. Cheese, either a package of shredded Colby-jack or slices, depending upon how much cheese you like to have on your sandwiches. I prefer using a shredded cheese, since it goes a bit further than slices in our household.

9. Buns to put the chicken on. Or, if you want something that kids like even better, get some Hawaiian Rolls and let them make mini-sandwiches.

How to Cook

When getting started, I like to to wipe the inside of my Crockpot with a little olive oil to make sure that the chicken doesn’t start to stick. If not, then clean up is a bit more of a headache. I also thaw out the chicken to decrease cooking time.

1. After oiling the Crockpot, turn it on Low.

2. Throw in the thawed chicken.

3. Place the brick of cream cheese (8 ounces) on top of the chicken.

4. Sprinkle the ranch packet onto the chicken and cream cheese.

5. Add some black pepper to the top of this.

6. Sprinkle in a few chives.

7. Let cook for 4 to 6 hours.

The cooking time is going to depend upon your Crockpot. I have put this on High and got the entire dish done in 2 hours. The cut of chicken that you use will also affect how long this needs to cook. You will want to cook this to the point that when you put a fork into the concoction, that the chicken tears apart easily.

Once the chicken starts to tear apart, then you want to mix all this together, until you have a consistency that is like Chicken Salad. Meanwhile, start to cook your bacon.

Hint: For those who want to avoid the grease splatter that bacon causes on the top of the stove, bake this. In a cold oven, put the bacon on a cookie sheet. Then put the oven at 425. Let it cook for 15 to 25 minutes depending upon how crispy you want this.

Once the bacon is done and cooled, chop this up and add to the chicken mixture in the Crockpot. Mix again. Take your shredded cheese, if you opt to use this, and sprinkle about one cup of this into the mixture and let it sit there warming together. If you opt to go with slices, you can simply add the slices onto the buns.

Serving Ideas

This is a chicken sandwich that carries a ton of flavor, so when it comes to making this a meal, you have options. I have served this with homemade french fries, but they take a bit longer to make. These days, with everything else going on, I often opt to serve with chips or even a green salad to add some veggies into the dinner.

And if you are looking to take it easy, serve this with a cold beer. It will be a meal that makes you remember picnics and BBQ’s, without the hassle of standing over a grill!