Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken
on Dec 28, 2019, Updated Sep 01, 2024
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Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken is a comfort food classic that the whole family loves. This delicious meal is one of our most popular slow cooker recipes and is perfect for a big family or a delicious dinner for two.
The best part of this crock pot chicken is that it has a prep time of eight minutes! Read on, and I’ll show you how to make this delicious dish using a few very simple ingredients.
Table of Contents
What is Crock Pot Chicken Recipe?
Slow cooker creamy chicken is part of our collection of popular slow cooker chicken recipes. I’m speaking of many different recipes like our honey garlic crock pot chicken quarters, our slow cooker Mexican chicken soup, and our slow cooker roast chicken.
There’s something magical about coming home to the aroma of Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken. This delicious dinner recipe is a staple in our home, especially on those nights when comfort food is a must.
It’s a recipe that’s been perfected over time and cherished by the whole family, making dinner time a delightful moment of togetherness. Whether it’s your first time or you’re a seasoned pro, this crock pot creamy chicken never fails to impress.
What’s in it
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Tenderloins: We’re talking about tender chicken that falls apart with a fork. Shredded chicken is also a great option if you prefer. I always prefer free-range organic chicken in all of my chicken recipes. It costs more, but I know I’m not buying a preservative-filled bird, pumped with antibiotics and hormones and forced to live its life in a show box-sized cage. Plus, there is no comparison in the quality of meat and flavor!
- Cream of Chicken Soup and Sour Cream: These basic ingredients form the backbone of our creamy sauce, giving that rich, comforting texture.
- Cheese: I love using a mix of cheddar and parmesan cheese, and sometimes, I even add a bit of mozzarella cheese for extra gooeyness.
- Seasonings: A blend of garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and a touch of salt and pepper. For a bit of kick, red pepper flakes are my go-to.
- Vegetables and Herbs: I use a prepackaged 12 oz. mix of vegetables and garnish with green onions for a fresh touch.
- Egg Noodles: The perfect canvas for our creamy sauce, but you can also try this with wild rice or even a simple rice recipe.
How to Make Creamy Crock Pot Chicken
Towards the end of cooking, add your vegetables and prepare your side dish, be it egg noodles, white rice, or homemade mashed potatoes.
Remember, the full measurements and ingredient quantities can be found at the bottom of the page on the printable recipe card.
- Using your crock pot, combine the creamy elements at the bottom of the pot. Add the soup, shredded cheese, sour cream, garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, and water, in a crock-pot.
- Add the raw chicken on top of the mixture, ensuring the top of the chicken is well-coated. Cooking on low heat allows the flavors to blend beautifully.
- Towards the end of cooking, add your vegetables and prepare your side dish, be it egg noodles, white rice, or homemade mashed potatoes.
- Add an optional garnish of fresh chopped parsley and serve this slow cooker creamy chicken!
Finally, this creamy crockpot chicken is an ideal choice if you want to contribute a meal to your local homeless shelter. We have more Ideas for Making Meals for the Homeless as well.
Recipe Tips
- Set the slow cooker on low, when adding the ingredients.
- Omit carrots and noodles to cut carbs.
- Substitute chopped onions or dry onion soup mix for onion powder.
- You can also use cream of mushroom soup.
- This reheats well, just follow our directions to reheat alfredo sauce.
Variations and Substitutions
- Dairy-Free: Use corn starch mixed with low sodium chicken broth as a thickener instead of cream.
- Spice it Up: Add Italian seasoning or garlic powder for an extra zing.
- Other Recipes: This method is versatile; swap out the chicken for a pound of beef tenderloin strips! You can also try things like creamy Tuscan chicken, slow cooker crack chicken, or even white chicken chili.
- Protein: Swap chicken breasts for boneless skinless chicken thighs or even go for creamy Italian chicken.
Food Safety Tip
Food Safety Tip: The FDA recommends chicken to have an internal temperature of 165° F before serving it. This instant-read thermometer is the best one out there and it is the one I always recommend using.
How do you serve it?
This creamy chicken soup-like dish is best served over a bed of egg noodles, brown rice, or even cauliflower rice.
Pair it with a side of steamed broccoli, a green salad, or some delicious homemade mashed potatoes for a complete meal.
Readers questions
Yes. Bake at 400° in a covered baking dish, such as a Dutch Oven.
We don’t recommend putting frozen poultry in a crockpot, although many people will do this.
Yes, but add it at the end, just prior to serving.
No. You can use whole, boneless, skinless breasts for this crockpot recipe.
Yes, you can convert this into an instant pot recipe! See our exclusive content below.
Instant Pot Creamy Chicken
Use the same ingredients to turn this slow cooker creamy chicken into an instant pot recipe!
- Place 1 to 2 lbs of boneless skinless breasts in the instant pot.
- Add 1 cup of broth.
- For frozen breasts, pressure cook on a manual setting for 6 minutes.
- For thawed breasts, pressure cook on manual setting for 4 minutes.
- Do a natural release of 6 minutes for both frozen and thawed meat
- If using frozen vegetables, thaw them in a sink of warm water them to the instant pot.
- Remove the poultry from the Instant Pot after a 6-minute natural release, tent with foil, and set aside, reserving liquid.
- For the pasta, either prepare it according to the package instructions on the stovetop or in the instant pot.
- If using the Instant Pot for cooking the pasta, add 12 oz of pasta to the reserved liquid.
- Add tap water to cover the pasta by 1/2 an inch.
- Pressure cook on manual setting for 2 minutes and use a quick release
- Stir in the cheese, vegetables, and sour cream and the cooked poultry to the Instant Pot and serve.
More Slow-Cooker Recipes for Kids
If your family enjoys this slow cooker creamy chicken, be sure and take a look at these family favorites as well!
- Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Slow-cooked pork roast combined with white soda, brown sugar, and some other common pantry ingredients.
- Slow Cooker Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes & Ham
- An easy and affordable crock-pot meal and a good way to use leftover ham.
- Slow Cooker Sticky Caramel Pumpkin Cake
- A crock-pot dump cake that is ready to eat in two hours.
Remember, whether it’s a busy day or a relaxed evening, this Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken is a great dinner option. It’s a simple, easy recipe that the whole family loves.
From creamy chicken pasta to a more traditional creamy chicken soup, the possibilities are endless. So why not make it your dinner tonight? Your family will thank you!
I challenge you to try this creamy crockpot chicken. I know that your family will enjoy it as much as ours did.
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Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken tenderloins or boneless chicken breast
- 1 Family sized can of Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 cup water or broth, Optional in crock-pot version but not optional in Instant Pot Creamy Chicken version.
- 2/3 cup of sour cream
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 12 oz Frozen vegetables, for convenience I used a prepackaged bag with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 12 oz. egg noodles for a side
Instructions
- Combine in a crockpot cream of chicken soup, water, sour cream, minced garlic, cheese and salt and pepper.
- Add chicken into sauce mixture, make certain to cover chicken with sauce.
- Cover and turn crock pot on low. Cooking times will depend on how thick chicken is. Because I used chicken tenderloins which are thinner, chicken was done after 4 1/2 hours. If using a thicker chicken breast, continue in the crock pot until fully cooked.
- Add the vegetables on top of sauce and then add salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste to the vegetables.
- Before you are ready to serve, prepare egg noodle according to directions on bag.
- Stir sauce in crock pot prior to serving.
- Serve over egg noodles.
- Enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Use white or dark meat for this crockpot chicken recipe.
- This recipe is oven-friendly; bake at 400°, covered for 30 minutes.
- Adding veggies at the end will make this less mushy!
- Use either cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup for this recipe.
- To reduce the carbs in this recipe, omit the carrots.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I have made this recipe before to feed about 24 people, and they loved it. I guessed at the vegetable amount, because your recipe does not specify an amount. I’m sure that’s a matter of preference.
I need to make a very large batch of this recipe for a crowd. How many servings of this recipe would I need to make to use a 60 ounce bag of Normandy vegetables make? That would be my guide for making larger batches to feed 100.
You’ll want to use 12 oz of frozen vegetables for this recipe. 60 oz of frozen vegetables will make 5 batches, which is about 40 servings. For 100 people, you’ll want to use about 150 oz of frozen vegetables.
Thank you. Very helpful. Love your recipes.
Hi! Quick question it says to use Lipton mix as a sub for raw onion but I can’t see where it says to use raw onion prior to that…I see onion powder.
Hi, there is no raw onion in this recipe and we corrected that error. Thanks so much.
When do I add the frozen vegetables??
And how much longer do I leave them in the crockpot??
Carol, add the frozen vegetables into the hot crockpot about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve.
Do I add the veggies toward the end of cooking or heat them separately.
You will want to add the veggies about 30 minutes prior to serving this. Enjoy!
Can you use bagged frozen chicken breasts in this recipe?
Yes, that should work.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Yes, that should not be a problem.
This recipe was amazing I made this last week.everyone loved it.the kids tore it up and my husband couldn’t get enough of it.now I’m making it again today only thing I’m changing is instead of two cans of the cream of chicken soup I’m doing one can of cream of chicken and one can of cheddar cheese Campbell’s soup.yummm thank so much for this recipe.i try to make it at least once a week!!!
Thanks Leeann. Scott deserves all the credit for this one and it is one of our family standards too! Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a comment for this recipe!
This recipe would work really well with Turkey, too! To thicken a watery broth. Dip out ¼ to ½ cup broth into a bowl, or more if needed. Whisk flour into this broth until it’s very thick, then and the mixture back to the slow cooker, while stirring continuously. The broth should thicken without lumpiness. Or you could use a blonde roux, if fat is not an issue. A corn starch slurry could be used.