Crack Chicken Instant Pot Recipe

Crack Chicken made in the Instant Pot is a combination of salty, creamy, tangy and rich ingredients including bacon, chicken, cheddar and cream cheese. The best part?

This recipe takes less than 40 minutes start to finish, including pressure build up. Serve inside a sandwich, over rice, on a baked potato or just grab a fork and dig in.

Why This Tastes Different From Slow Cooker Crack Chicken

This recipe takes a combination of pretty unexciting ingredients, ranch seasoning, cheddar cheese and cream cheese, combines them with chicken and bacon and whips them into something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I promise you wouldn’t want to eat those unexciting ingredients on their own.

It’s when they’re mixed and cooked with chicken and bacon under pressure that they’re magic.

I find that Crack Chicken tastes different from Slow Cooker version for two reasons:

• Pressure cooking makes the chicken easier to shred into a much finer texture. Slow cooker Crack Chicken still has bigger, chunky pieces. Pressure cooker Crack Chicken shreds much easier and is more uniformly combined with the sauce.
• Sautéing the bacon renders the fat and leaves some delicious browned bits in the bottom of the pot that cook into the recipe. This adds to the flavor.

What Goes In and What Each Thing Does

The Chicken

I recommend cooking four boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in half so you have pieces of chicken that will all be pretty close in size and cook evenly. Chicken thighs will work here, but breasts work better for an even texture since thighs have different shapes and sizes and some pieces will be thicker than others.

If you do use chicken thighs, I’d add a minute or two to the recipe. Thighs have more leeway with cooking time and the fat will add an element of richness to the recipe.

The Ranch Seasoning

I specifically call for Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch because I find buttermilk ranch has more of a flavor than regular ranch. You can use regular, but I promise buttermilk tastes better.

Just one packet of ranch is all you need to properly season the recipe. Two packets is too salty and will overwhelm other flavors.

The Cream Cheese

Use full-fat cream cheese to give the dish a nice, thick and creamy texture. Low-fat will work, but it will be a bit thinner.

Do not use whipped cream cheese, as it has additional water and air mixed into it, so it’s not going to perform as well. Cube the cream cheese to help it melt more evenly.

The Bacon

Use raw bacon for this recipe, diced. One pound will be perfect.

You can save yourself some prep time and dishes by snipping the bacon directly into the pot with some kitchen shears. Turkey bacon works well here too, but will benefit from adding a tablespoon of butter to make up for the lower fat content.

The Mayonnaise

The mayonnaise adds a nice richness and tangy flavor that really shines through in the final product. The mayo also helps stabilize the crack chicken once it’s cooked and is still warm.

You can omit it, but I would not recommend it.

The Cheese

I recommend using shredded cheese from a block because it will melt much better than the bagged shredded cheese. Bagged shredded cheese is coated with starch to keep them separated in the bag, making it less likely to melt well.

How to Make Instant Pot Crack Chicken

Step 1: Cook the Bacon

Dice your bacon, or snip the bacon with some kitchen shears directly into the instant pot. Turn your instant pot to ‘sauté’ and use the + and – buttons to make sure the setting is on high.

Cook the bacon for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is fully cooked with crispy edges. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the instant pot and set aside.

Do not drain the drippings, because we’re going to cook the chicken in those.

Step 2: Brown the Chicken – optional but worth it

Leave the instant pot on ‘sauté’ and brown the chicken in those yummy bacon drippings.

Add the chicken and sear for about 2 minutes per side for color and flavor only, as it won’t cook through at this point. This step can be skipped if you’re in a hurry.

Step 3: Deglaze and Add Ingredients

Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot, placing on a plate or cutting board. Pour the chicken broth into the pot and stir to loosen any bits that are stuck to the bottom.

Sprinkle the contents of the ranch seasoning packet into the pot and stir to combine. Add the chicken to the pot along with cream cheese, cubed or sliced, and the cooked bacon.

Make sure chicken pieces are covered with broth.

Step 4: Pressure Cook

Close the lid, making sure the pressure valve is in the sealing position, then select Manual/Pressure and set to High. Adjust the time for 15 minutes.

Allow to come to pressure, cook, and naturally release pressure for 5 minutes. Then do a quick release of any remaining pressure.

Step 5: Shred and Finish

Remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred using 2 forks. Stir the remaining ingredients in the Instant Pot to incorporate the cream cheese, which should be mostly melted thanks to the heat.

Add the shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot along with cheddar cheese. Add mayonnaise now too, if using.

Give it another stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

The bacon and the ranch packet are quite salty so it shouldn’t need any salt. It may need some black pepper.

Step 6: Add Green Onions and Serve

Stir in green onions right before serving so they don’t get too wilted. Serve in bowls with a big spoon and enjoy.

Instant Pot Tips for This Recipe

Steering Clear of the Burn Notice. Bits will inevitably stick to the bottom of the pot during the bacon/chicken saute step and it’s important to remove them by deglazing as directed.

Leaving them there may result in the Instant Pot issuing a burn notice and refusing to come to pressure. Trust us, you won’t want this recipe to go sideways.

• The smell of savory foods may get trapped in the Instant Pot sealing ring. To remedy this, either run the Instant Pot on a steam cycle with some white vinegar or invest in a second sealing ring to use for savory dishes.
• If you use the quick release instead of the natural release (which means waiting five minutes for the pressure to come down), it’s possible the chicken can be a little on the tough side. Quick release means the pressure comes down immediately whereas natural release means the pressure comes down on its own.

Three Things That Can Go Wrong and How to Fix Them

• If it seems bland when you taste it, it will be okay. Trust me. The ranch and bacon really season it nicely. It can be tempting to add more salt but resist. If it’s bland when you try it after making it, because cream cheese mellows everything out, then add more black pepper, not salt, and mix well. If you added shredded cheddar cheese into the pot when it went on or put the lid back on with the shredded cheddar cheese added, it’s certain the cheese stuck to the sides of the Instant Pot or the bottom. Make sure you add the shredded cheddar cheese AFTER the Instant Pot is done and the lid is OFF. If you received a BURN message, turn off the pressure cooker and quick release. Use a wooden spoon to scrape off the bottom and add a couple of ladles of broth. Put the lid back on and follow the recipe directions again to cook until pressure builds then turn off and quick release.

Six Ways to Serve This

• Crack Chicken Sandwiches: Spread the shredded chicken on toasted brioche buns, potato rolls, or a hoagie roll, with pickles if you’d like.
• Over rice: Serve over white rice to soak up all of that delicious sauce.
• Loaded baked potato: Spoon into a baked potato then add some cheddar and green onions.
• Dip: Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or pieces of French bread and leave it on the Instant Pot WARM setting so it stays hot.
• Crack chicken lettuce wrap: For a lower carb option, spoon into butter lettuce leaves or romaine hearts.
• Cauliflower rice: Another lower carb option would be to spoon this over cauliflower rice.

Three Directions You Can Take This

Spicy Version

Love it hot? Add a few tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce (Frank’s RedHot pairs beautifully with a ranch-based sauce) to the Instant Pot when you add the rest of the ingredients after pressure-cooking.

You can also dice a jalapeño and add it with the rest of the ingredients before pressure-cooking.

Buffalo Crack Chicken

After shredding the chicken, stir in 1/4 cup Frank’s RedHot buffalo sauce and serve on rolls with blue cheese dressing in lieu of ranch.

Slow Cooker Version

This recipe can be made in a slow cooker too. Cook the bacon in advance and add it with the rest of the ingredients.

Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours, shredding the chicken and stirring in the cheese and green onion slices. You’ll love my Crockpot Crack Chicken Sandwiches.

How It Keeps and How to Reheat It Right

The sauce will keep in airtight storage in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can freeze it too, for up to 2 months, ideally portioned out in single-serving containers for easy reheating.

It will be thicker when chilled. To reheat in the microwave, thin the sauce with 1-2 Tbsp water or chicken broth, cover, and microwave in 90 second increments, stirring in between, until heated through.

Alternatively, reheat the mixture on the stove, stirring, in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add a splash of broth if needed.

Try not to cook it at high heat or the cream cheese sauce can “break”. If the mixture separates in the fridge or freezer, it will come back together upon stirring as it heats.

Instant Pot Crack Chicken FAQ

Can you make a double batch of Instant Pot Crack Chicken?

You can make a double batch in a 6-Quart Instant Pot. The size of a batch does not change the cook time as long as everything fits.

This recipe cannot be doubled in a 3-Quart Instant Pot as it would exceed the minimum and maximum fill lines.

Why is my Instant Pot Crack Chicken runny?

Make sure the cream cheese is fully incorporated into the sauce and melted. Sometimes adding more broth than the recipe calls for will make it thin as well.

Also, previously-frozen meat can release extra moisture during cooking. If needed, cook on the Instant Pot saute/low setting after shredding the chicken and reduce the sauce as it heats.

More Crack Chicken Recipes Worth Making

• Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Pasta – Crack chicken, pasta, Velveeta, and ranch come together for an insanely delicious combination of flavors. It’s one of the most-shared recipes on the site for good reason.
• Crescent Roll Crack Chicken – Take crack chicken to a whole new level with this recipe. The signature flavor of the dish gets baked into heavenly crescent roll dough. Ready in 25 minutes.
• Crockpot Crack Chicken Sandwiches – My original crack chicken recipe. Made in a slow cooker and perfect for large crowds.