Oh….My….Goodness! Have you tried crack chicken yet? If not…..what are you waiting for??
So, I have seen about a million recipes online for this crazy thing called crack chicken! I read a lot of reviews and about 50% were incredibly positive but the other 50% were quite negative. It seems like you are either in the YES! I LOVE CRACK CHICKEN AND CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF IT! or the NO WAY! CRACK CHICKEN IS NOT FOR ME! camp. How on Earth can there be so much conversation about this little chicken dish? I just didn’t understand.
So…I thought to myself…..ummmm….give it a try! The worst case scenario is we have some leftovers that we don’t really want to eat….but best case scenario we find a new favorite to add to our rotation.
Let me tell you, I WAS SO PLEASANTLY SURPRISED with how DELICIOUS it was! It’s creamy, cheesy, rich, delicious goodness that my entire family loved! Literally they were fighting over leftovers!
Tips for making Crack Chicken Pasta:
- Be sure that you use the ranch powder and not ranch dressing. Ranch dressing will make a mess when you release the pressure and will not coat the chicken like the powder does.
- When cooking pasta in the Ninja Foodi, feel free to modify the pasta from the recipe. If you like bowties- go for it. If you like penne- go for it. The trick is to look at the cooking times on the box. Whatever the box says- cut it in half and subtract 2 minutes. So, if the box says to cook for 10 minutes, you will cut that in half (5) and subtract 2. All together you would cook for 3 minutes.
Instructions for Crack Chicken Pasta:
- Turn your Ninja Foodi on Saute.
- Slice bacon into ½ inch pieces.
- Once Ninja Foodi is “Hot” add bacon and sauté until fully cooked.
- Depending on the fat content of your bacon, you may need to remove some of the bacon fat from the Ninja Foodi. Ideally, you want to remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat from the Ninja Foodi. Remove excess bacon fat from Ninja Foodi with a ladle.
- Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes.
- Add chicken to Ninja Foodi and stir together with bacon until chicken is lightly browned. Do not fully cook the chicken.
- Sprinkle ranch seasoning into Ninja Foodi and coat bacon and chicken with seasoning.
- Turn saute function off.
- Pour in chicken broth.
- Pour in pasta- DO NOT STIR.
- Try to cover pasta with chicken broth by pushing pasta down in pot- DO NOT STIR.
- Close the Ninja Foodi with the pressure lid and move valve to “seal” position.
- Cook on high pressure for time associated with the pasta that you are using. Calculate cook time based on pasta of your choice. Look at the box and take the suggested cooking time and cut it in half and subtract 2 minutes. If the box says 10 minutes, cut it in half (5 minutes) and subtract 2. So your total cook time will be 3 minutes.
- When timer beeps, quick release pressure. If a substantial amount of liquid sprays out of the valve, quickly move valve back to seal and wait a minute or 2 and then move valve back to release.
- Remove the lid and add in cream cheese and cheddar cheese
- STIR!! This is when the cheesy goodness magic happens. Stir everything together until it is well combined.
- Garnish with just a bit of fresh parsley.
- IT IS TIME!!! Time for you to indulge in this creamy cheesy delicious goodness! Go for it! You deserve it!
Ingredients for Crack Chicken Pasta:
- 4 Slices bacon
- 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning
- 16 ounces of your favorite pasta- I recommend using bowties, penne or rotini. If you use long pasta like spaghetti or fettuccini the cook times for the pasta may under cook the chicken.
- 32 ounces chicken broth
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups cheddar cheese- shredded
- fresh parsley to garnish- it’s okay to skip this ingredient if you don’t like parsley or don’t have any on hand
Ninja Foodi Crack Chicken Pasta
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Ingredients
- 4 Slices bacon
- 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning
- 16 ounces of your favorite pasta- I recommend using bowties (penne or rotini. If you use long pasta like spaghetti or fettuccini the cook times for the pasta may under cook the chicken.)
- 32 ounces chicken broth
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups cheddar cheese- shredded
- fresh parsley to garnish- it’s okay to skip this ingredient if you don’t like parsley or don’t have any on hand
Instructions
- Instructions:
- Turn your Ninja Foodi on Saute.
- Slice bacon into ½ inch pieces.
- Once Ninja Foodi is “Hot” add bacon and sauté until fully cooked.
- Depending on the fat content of your bacon, you may need to remove some of the bacon fat from the Ninja Foodi. Ideally, you want to remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat from the Ninja Foodi. Remove excess bacon fat from Ninja Foodi with a ladle.
- Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes.
- Add chicken to Ninja Foodi and stir together with bacon until chicken is lightly browned. Do not fully cook the chicken.
- Sprinkle ranch seasoning into Ninja Foodi and coat bacon and chicken with seasoning.
- Turn saute function off.
- Pour in chicken broth.
- Pour in pasta- DO NOT STIR.
- Try to cover pasta with chicken broth by pushing pasta down in pot- DO NOT STIR.
- Close the Ninja Foodi with the pressure lid and move valve to “seal” position.
- Cook on high pressure for time associated with the pasta that you are using. Calculate cook time based on pasta of your choice. Look at the box and take the suggested cooking time and cut it in half and subtract 2 minutes. If the box says 10 minutes, cut it in half (5 minutes) and subtract 2. So your total cook time will be 3 minutes.
- When timer beeps, quick release pressure. If a substantial amount of liquid sprays out of the valve, quickly move valve back to seal and wait a minute or 2 and then move valve back to release.
- Remove the lid and add in cream cheese and cheddar cheese
- STIR!! This is when the cheesy goodness magic happens. Stir everything together until it is well combined.
- Garnish with just a bit of fresh parsley.
- IT IS TIME!!! Time for you to indulge in this creamy cheesy delicious goodness! Go for it! You deserve it!
Notes
Tips for making this recipe:
1. Be sure that you use the ranch powder and not ranch dressing. Ranch dressing will make a mess when you release the pressure and will not coat the chicken like the powder does.
2. When cooking pasta in the Ninja Foodi, feel free to modify the pasta from the recipe. If you like bowties- go for it. If you like penne- go for it. The trick is to look at the cooking times on the box. Whatever the box says- cut it in half and subtract 2 minutes. So, if the box says to cook for 10 minutes, you will cut that in half (5) and subtract 2. All together you would cook for 3 minutes.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only.
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it turned out in a comment below!
Christine reiners
Hi there, i want to try this conversion recipe, but i only have liquid ranch dressing, do you think i could substitute this. In place of dry ranch packet? If so, how much of prepared ranch dressing should i use?.
TheTastyTravelers
Hi Christine! No, unfortunately, you cannot use liquid ranch dressing for this recipe. The dry ranch coats the chicken and adds flavor. The liquid ranch would not do quite the same thing. Also, I do not recommend putting liquid ranch in the Ninja Foodi and cooking it under pressure. Dairy doesn’t always do well under pressure. If anything, I would skip the dry ranch steps and just add in a little ranch at the very end before serving. I’m not sure how that would turn out but that’s my best suggestion.
Christine reiners
Thanks, i made my own dry mix from another site. We shall see!😜
Joseph Graves
It was a really good recipe except it needed some cream or milk. I added 1 teaspoon salt 1)2 teaspoon pepper. 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 cup of whole milk. It was very creamy and delicious
Terri Graves
It was a really good recipe except it needed some cream or milk. I added 1 teaspoon salt 1)2 teaspoon pepper. 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 cup of whole milk. It was very creamy and delicious
Orville
Made this yesterday ( 5 Apr 2021) & it was awesome. Everyone really liked it. I felt like the pasta (used rotini) was a bit dry so I intend to add at least another cup of chicken broth or water next time which I think should rectify this. Found it was even better the next day when reheated with a little water added. Thanks for sharing. Excellent recipe.
Tracy
I haven’t made this yet. If I wanted to cut the amount of pasta in hal with the other ingredients remaining the same amounts, how much would I reduce the broth? We love lots of meat and sauce with less pasta, since we are empty nesters.
It sounds amazing and I am going to make it this weekend!
Thanks for all you do. I was intimidated by the Food at first, but your recipes are dummy-proof, so now I love it!
TheTastyTravelers
Hi Tracy! Thanks for your kind words. I’m so glad that you love our recipes! 🙂
If you want to keep all ingredients the same except the pasta, I would recommend reducing the broth from 32 ounces down to about 16-20 ounces of broth. I usually recommend cutting the liquid in half and then adding in 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of broth. That additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup of liquid allows for the necessary amount of steam to be released during the pressure release time while still allowing enough liquid to make the sauce that goes with the pasta. I would also recommend cutting back on the dry ranch seasoning if you are reducing the amount of pasta by 50%. The ranch seasoning is quite strong in flavor and the full measurement may be overpowering with less pasta.
Enjoy!
Tracy
Thank you so much! Your tips are so helpful and I can’t wait to try the crack haha!
TheTastyTravelers
You’re so welcome!! Enjoy! 🙂
Marie
This was so easy to make. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you!
F Sethman
I made this meal for the 5th time tonight!! Its one of our favorite meals now. Only thing wrong the last two times and the chicken chunks were very dry. What can I do to change this ? I follow the recipe to the T
TheTastyTravelers
I’m so glad that you love this recipe as much as we do! As far as the chicken goes, make sure you are searing it before pressure cooking it. You might want to try cutting the chicken in a little bigger pieces too. The bigger the chicken pieces are, the longer it will take for them to get over cooked.