Crockpot Ranch Chicken and Potatoes

Crockpot ranch chicken and potatoes is chicken thighs and halved baby potatoes cooked in ranch-seasoned broth, finished with a cream cheese sauce and a handful of sharp cheddar.

There is no canned cream of chicken soup in this one.

The sauce is built from chicken broth, a block of cream cheese and a cornstarch slurry, and the cream cheese goes in at the very end instead of at the start, which is why it stays smooth instead of breaking into grainy flecks after hours of heat.

Count on about 6 hours on low from loading the cooker to serving.

Why You’ll Love It

• No canned soup, the sauce is broth, cream cheese and cheddar
• Chicken, potatoes and sauce cook in one pot
• One packet of ranch seasoning does all the flavoring
• Low for 5 to 6 hours or high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours
• Serves 6 and keeps 4 days in the fridge
• Gluten-free if your ranch packet is

Ingredients

For the Chicken and Potatoes

2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 6 thighs)

1 1/2 lb baby Yukon Gold or red potatoes, halved

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 (1 oz) packet ranch seasoning mix (about 3 tablespoons)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

For the Sauce and Finish

8 oz full-fat block cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons cold water

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped green onion or fresh parsley

Steps

1. Halve the potatoes with an 8-inch chef’s knife, quartering any that are bigger than a golf ball so every piece is roughly the same size.

2. Toss the potatoes in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker with the olive oil, salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.

3. Potatoes go on the bottom on purpose, since the base of the cooker runs hottest and potatoes need more heat than the chicken does.

4. Whisk the broth, ranch seasoning and garlic powder together in a measuring cup until the powder dissolves, then pour it over the potatoes.

5. Season the thighs with the smoked paprika and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and lay them on top of the potatoes in a single layer.

6. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, until a fork slides into the potatoes with no resistance and the thighs read at least 175°F (79°C) on an instant-read thermometer.

7. Move the chicken to a cutting board and cut it into large chunks, or shred it with two forks if you prefer.

8. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot cooking liquid into a medium bowl, add the softened cream cheese cubes and whisk with a balloon whisk until completely smooth.

9. Tempering the cream cheese this way matters, because cold cubes dropped straight into the cooker leave white lumps that never fully melt.

10. Stir the cornstarch and cold water together until smooth, then stir both the slurry and the cream cheese mixture into the slow cooker.

11. Turn the cooker to high, cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce thickens enough to cling to the potatoes.

12. Stir in the cheddar until it melts, then fold the chicken back in gently so the potatoes keep their shape.

13. Taste for salt, and top with the bacon and green onion before serving.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

Use block cream cheese and not the whipped kind in a tub, because the tub version has more water and stabilizers and gives a thin sauce that never sets.

Chicken breasts work in place of thighs, but cut each one in half crosswise, cook on low for 4 to 5 hours and pull them at 165°F (74°C), since breasts turn dry and fibrous if they ride along for the full 6 hours.

Stick with waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold or red, since Russets break down and turn the sauce mealy.

Ranch packets are salty, which is why the recipe adds only 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the potatoes and none to the chicken, so taste before adding more at the end.

To make your own ranch seasoning, mix 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 teaspoon dried dill, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and skip the extra garlic powder in the broth.

Neufchatel cheese melts just as smoothly if you want to cut some fat, but fat-free cream cheese stays grainy and is not worth it here.

For a vegetable in the same pot, add 2 cups of trimmed green beans or broccoli florets on top of the chicken for the last 45 minutes on low.

If the sauce is thicker than you want after the cheddar goes in, stir in a splash of milk until it loosens.

Serving Ideas

Serve it in shallow bowls with the sauce spooned over, since the potatoes mean it needs no second starch.

A plain green salad with a sharp vinaigrette cuts the richness better than another creamy side.

Kids tend to clear the plate on this one, and the 10 kid-approved crockpot dinners for picky eaters has more in the same spirit for the rest of the week.

If you want another dump-in dinner with the same amount of effort, the 11 lazy dump-and-go crockpot chicken dinners is where to look.

Leftovers reheated with a little extra broth turn into a loaded potato soup with almost no effort.

Shredded leftover chicken and sauce also works spooned into a baked potato or over toast.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Halve the potatoes the night before and keep them covered in cold water in the fridge so they do not brown, then drain and pat dry before they go in.

Mix the broth, ranch and garlic powder ahead too, and keep it in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Leftovers keep 4 days in the fridge in glass meal prep containers.

The sauce sets firm when cold, so reheat in a covered skillet over medium-low with 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk per serving, stirring until it loosens.

In the microwave, use 70 percent power in 90-second bursts and stir between rounds so the edges do not boil before the middle warms.

Do not freeze this with the potatoes in it, because cooked potatoes turn watery and grainy once thawed.

The chicken and sauce without the potatoes freeze fine for up to 3 months, and you can boil fresh potatoes when you reheat it.

Cool leftovers within 2 hours of cooking and get them into the fridge, since a dairy sauce left in a warm cooker is a bad idea.

The cream cheese timing is the whole recipe, and 15 minutes at the end gives you a smooth sauce that 6 hours at the start never will.

The potatoes soak up the ranch broth as they cook, so they taste seasoned all the way through rather than coated on the outside.