Name: Chicken Bacon Ranch Stew Slow Cooker Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 240 min
Total time: 245 min
Ingredients: 1 lb Chicken; 2 can Cream of Chicken soup; 2 Can Water; 1 Can Chicken Broth (14 oz); 1 Cup Dehydated Carrots (3 regular fresh carrots); 1/2 Cup Celery (3 fresh ribs diced); 1 Cup Dehydrated Vegetables (or use 1/4 Cup Vegetable Powder); 1/4 Cup Dehydrated Bell Pepper (1/2 Fresh Bell Pepper); 2 oz Ranch Powder; 2 Cup Pasta of your choice (Use hearty pasta); 1/2 lb Bacon (crisped)

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Chicken Bacon Ranch Stew Slowcooker Recipe - the perfect 'stoup' to elevate the simple chicken noodle soup! And it can all be made from your food storage!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Stew in a Honeyducke's mug in front of a Hambilton Beach slow cooker

Sometimes, you want a simple chicken noodle soup. It's fresh. It's classic. It's comforting.

But sometimes, you really want something a little heartier. Especially in the winter when you want a little more!

This simple, easy, and inexpensive recipe is perfect for winter nights when you just want to curl up with a book, or binge some Netflix, and have a comforting meal in a cup.

It's also great to have ready for when you get home from a night of school activities and need something that is ready with no fuss!

This recipe can use all fresh foods as in this inspirational recipe from Simple Joy. But I wanted to show how you can take a recipe and convert it to food storage foods, particularly dehydrated foods.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken (use a freeze-dried chicken to make it shelf-stable)
2 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
2 cans of water (altered from the original recipe to accommodate dehydrated food)
1 C dehydrated carrot (3 fresh carrots diced)
½ C dehydrated celery (3 fresh ribs)
1 C dehydrated vegetables or ¼ C dehydrated vegetable powder roughly equal to about a cup frozen vegetables)
¼ C dehydrated bell pepper (about ½ fresh bell pepper)
2 oz Ranch powder seasoning or make your own here
½ lb bacon (use shelf-stable pre-cooked bacon or bacon bits to make it shelf-stable)
2 C Noodles of your choice (but make them heartier noodles)

Step One

Mix all ingredients into a slow cooker like this one. This will work in your multi-cooker on the slow cooker setting, as well.

Step Two

Cook for 4 hours on high, 6 hours on low.

Step Three

Remove chicken to shred, return to slow cooker.

Step Four

Add noodles and allow to cook for 20-30 minutes, until done to your desired texture. Hearty noodles work better than thin noodles.

Step Five

Make bacon, crumble, then add as garnish when serving.

Recipe Notes:

Yield is about 8 servings

You can make this completely shelf-stable by using freeze-dried chicken , like this from Augason Farms, instead of fresh, and have it cooked in as much time as the noodles cook and the chicken rehydrates. No need for a slow cooker at that point.

Want to take this up a notch with a spicy twist? Use Fiesta Ranch Seasoning Mix -- or make your own in bulk from my friend Leisa Sutton's recipe!

Instead of using Cream of Chicken soup, you can make your own "Cream of Something" soup using this recipe.

DIY Bacon Bits: You can make your own bacon bits ahead of time by cooking them in the oven until crisp, dabbing as much fat off as possible, crumbling, flash freezing, and storing in the freezer.