My Keto Crack Chicken Bake combines the method I use for chicken bake dinners with the flavorful crack chicken sauce so many people love! Even people who aren’t eating Keto will love this recipe, and kids will devour it!
Pin Keto Crack Chicken Bake to try the recipe later!
Probably everyone who is interested in low-carb eating has heard of the famous Crack Chicken that you can find all over the web. I’ve been seeing recipes with that name for years, but so many of them were for shredded chicken with a creamy sauce and used Ranch Dressing mix, and that didn’t appeal to me much.
And then one day I had the idea of using my method for the easy dinners I call chicken bakes with a sauce inspired by the Crack Chicken ingredients and this Keto Crack Chicken Bake was the delicious result! And for the Ranch flavor I used the seasonings from Grandma Denny’s Homemade Ranch Dip!
Kara and I made this a few times to get it just right, and when I tested the final version, I immediately sat down and devoured a serving of it for an early dinner! And if you like chicken, bacon, cream cheese, cheese, and a touch of Ranch flavor, I bet you’ll love this idea for an easy meal the whole family is going to love!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- thick-sliced bacon
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
- Onion Powder (affiliate link)
- dried Dill Weed (affiliate link)
- Beau Monde Seasoning (affiliate link)
- black pepper
- cream cheese
- sour cream
- mayo
- shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- green onions
What do I mean by Chicken Bake Dinners?
Recipes I call Chicken Bakes are quick dinners that start with four chicken breasts. The chicken is rubbed with seasoning, quickly browned in a frying pan, usually cut into strips, covered with a flavorful sauce or topping, and baked in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The quick browning and baking the chicken with flavor-adding ingredients has consistently produced great results for me. (Look below for a list of other recipes where I’ve used this technique.)
Why is this recipe called Crack Chicken?
The recipe is called Crack Chicken because it is supposed to be addictive in the way drugs are. I don’t especially love the name, but I do think it conveys how absolutely delicious this creamy chicken and bacon recipe is!
What if you don’t want so much fat?
There’s no question that Keto Crack Chicken Bake as written is a high fat dish, suitable for the Keto diet. If you’re not eating Keto and just don’t want that much fat, I would encourage you to try variations like using a bit less bacon, using reduced-fat cream cheese, sour cream, and/or mayo, and maybe using a bit less cheese. I haven’t tried making a version with less fat like that, but these ingredients are so delicious together that I’m betting it will still be very flavorful.
Can you use Ranch Mix to season this Keto Crack Chicken Bake?
I love my Grandma Denny’s Homemade Ranch Dip and I was glad I could use the ingredients she uses to season the chicken and the sauce for this recipe. But I know that Beau Monde Seasoning (affiliate link) won’t be an ingredient everyone has on hand. If you don’t want to buy that, just substitute the spices used here for about 2 tablespoons of packaged Ranch mix, no problem!
How to Make Keto Crack Chicken Bake:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
- Take cream cheese out of the fridge to soften.
- Slice bacon into thin strips and start cooking it in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
- While bacon cooks combine Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dill Weed, Beau Monde Seasoning, and black pepper.
- Trim chicken breasts and rub on both sides with seasoning mix, using about half of it.
- When bacon is done remove to a paper towel. Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon grease.
- Heat bacon grease in the frying pan over medium-high heat, add chicken breasts and cook until both sides are browned but chicken isn’t cooked through.
- When chicken is browned, move to a cutting board. Cut each piece into 4 or 5 lengthwise strips.
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ casserole dish with non-stick spray and arrange chicken strips in the dish.
- Put softened cream cheese in a bowl and microwave a few seconds, or until it’s quite soft.
- Chop up half of the cooked bacon.
- Mix together softened cream cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream, mayo, sharp cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack cheese, and the other half of the seasoning mix.
- Spread mixture over the chicken.
- Sprinkle over the other 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack cheese.
- Bake chicken 20-25 minutes, or until it’s bubbling hot and starting to slightly brown.
- While chicken cooks, thinly slice green onions.
- When chicken is done, sprinkle with sliced green onions and other half of the cooked bacon.
- Serve hot.
- This will stay good in the fridge for quite a few days and reheats well. I haven’t frozen any yet, but I am confident it will freeze well, although I can’t imagine most people will have many leftovers to freeze!
Make it a low-carb meal:
I would serve Keto Crack Chicken Bake with a vegetable side dish like Stir-Fried Spinach with Garlic and Parmesan, Green Beans with Lemon, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts, or Garlicky Green Beans Stir Fry. It would also be delicious with a salad like Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing, Kalyn’s Low-Carb Coleslaw, or Kalyn’s Favorite Baby Arugula Salad.
More Tasty Chicken Bake Dinners You Might Like:
Ingredients
- 8 slices thick-sliced bacon
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 2.5 pounds of chicken
- 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 2 tsp. dried dillweed
- 3/4 tsp. Beau Monde Seasoning (see notes)
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 3 green onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
- Take cream cheese out of the fridge and cut into pieces so it will soften on the counter.
- Slice the bacon into thin strips and start cooking it in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. (Choose a pan that’s large enough to hold all the chicken breasts.
- While bacon cooks combine Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dill Weed, Beau Monde Seasoning, and black pepper to make the seasoning mix
- Trim any fat and undesirable parts from chicken breasts and rub the chicken on both sides with the seasoning mix, using about half of the seasoning mix
- When bacon is crisp and well-browned, remove it to a paper towel. Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon grease from the pan and discard the rest. (I would wipe out the pan if there are a lot of bacon crumbles.
- Heat the bacon grease in the frying pan over medium-high heat, add chicken breasts, and cook until both sides are browned but the chicken isn’t cooked through. (That should only take 2-3 minutes per side.)
- When chicken is browned, move it to a cutting board. Cut each piece or chicken into 4 or 5 lengthwise strips, depending on how large the piece is
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ casserole dish with non-stick spray and arrange the chicken strips in the dish. (I stagger them so most of the surface of the baking dish is covered.
- Put the softened cream cheese in a bowl and microwave 20 seconds, or until it’s quite soft
- Chop up half of the cooked bacon so it’s finely crumbled
- Mix together the softened cream cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream, mayo, sharp cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese, and the other half of the seasoning mix
- Then spread that mixture over the chicken in the baking dish
- Sprinkle over the other 1/2 cup of Monterey Jack cheese
- Bake chicken 20-25 minutes, or until it’s bubbling hot and starting to slightly brown on top
- While chicken cooks, thinly slice the green onions
- When chicken is done, sprinkle with the sliced green onions and the other half of the cooked bacon
- Serve hot
- This will stay good in the fridge for quite a few days and reheats well. I haven’t frozen any yet, but I am confident it will freeze well, although I can’t imagine most people will have any leftovers to freeze!
Notes
If you don’t have Beau Monde Seasoning and don’t want to buy it for this recipe you can definitely season the chicken and the sauce with about 2 tablespoons of Ranch Dressing mix, divided as described.
It’s hard to accurately calculate the amount of fat in this recipe because the bacon fat is mostly discarded. I have adjusted for that the best I could.
This recipe adapted from many Crack Chicken recipes found online and inspired by my easy dinners called Chicken Bakes. It was tested and adapted by Kalyn and Kara.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 736Total Fat: 45gSaturated Fat: 21gUnsaturated Fat: 20.2gCholesterol: 257mgSodium: 879mgCarbohydrates: 5.4gFiber: .4gSugar: 2.5gProtein: 74g
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This is a good dinner option for any low-carb or Keto diet plan. It is too high in fat for any phase of the original South Beach Diet, but if the idea really appeals to you I think you could make a version using lower-fat ingredients that would still be tasty.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
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