I was thinking about one of our favorite dinners, Mr. Fuji’s Creamy Crockpot Porky Chops, and an idea started to form in my mind. What if I applied some of the same ideas to chicken? Enter FM’s Creamy Crockpot Chicken. Ok, so not as fun sounding as porky chops, but still really yummy, I promise!
I used a whole chicken that I put in my crockpot, then poured water with two Italian dressing packets dissolved in it over the chicken, covered it and left it to do its thing for 3 hours.
Then I made a mixture of cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, and diced green chiles, which I added to the crockpot and continued cooking everything for another hour.
The chicken was moist and tender, and the sauce creamy, rich, with just a touch of heat from the green chiles.
We just carved pieces from the bird while it was still in the pot, and served it over rice with the sauce ladeled over.
You could pull the bird out and carve it, but we were feeling lazy.
FM’s Creamy Crockpot Chicken
1 whole chicken
1/2 cup water
2 packages (.7 oz each) Italian dressing mix
1 10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 4 oz. can diced green chiles
1. Combine water and Italian dressing mix and pour over chicken in crockpot and cook for four hours on low.
2. Beat together cream of chicken soup and cream cheese, and then mix in diced green chiles. Add to crockpot and cook one more hour on high (or until chicken is cooked through). Serve over rice.
* Cooking time may differ depending on how large your chicken is.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Pulling chicken out of freezer now. Will eat on Sunday. Have happy Family!
This looks great! Do you think I could use boneless chicken? I don't eat chicken that is cooked on the bone. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Have a great day.
Donnelly– You could definitely make this with boneless chicken! Chicken breasts would work really well, as well as anything else. A whole chicken is just what I happened to have on hand.
We make this all the time, only we don't use the cream cheese or green chilies, and we use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken & we serve it over whole wheat pasta. My kids LOVE it! I haven't tried it on pork chops though. I'm excited to try that!
Shanda– Interesting to hear there's a similar recipe out there! If you make the pork chops, check the recipe because it is different from this one (I just used it as inspiration when creating this recipe), as it uses a ranch dressing packet and no green chiles, and the amounts are different!
Looks great! I love using my crockpot – it makes weeknight dinners so much easier to manage!
This looks really tasty! Nice job!
That looks wicked good. Heh, I wish I had a crockpot big enough to fit a whole chicken in. Although I'm sure I could do it was just a couple pieces… hm.
Bob– Just use 3 or 4 chicken breasts and halve the rest of the ingredients!
Just wanted to say that I love your blog and am always happy to see an update in my reader.
I know you obviously cook what is easier in the country that you happen to be in, but do you feel that you miss Japanese cooking, or do you just not 'feel' like cooking it so much? (I've found since moving back to Australia that I don't feel like Japanese so much even though I used to make it every day. Maybe it's the air?? :) )
Just thought I'd say that this turned out great! Big hit with the kids. I put in a big can of chillies though (that's what I had) and probably will continue to do so. This is the first time I have liked chicken cooked in the crockpot!
Emily
Emily– Yay, I am so glad that you liked it! Mmmmm, if I had a big can of chiles I totally would have thrown it in, YUM! I can eat those things straight out of the can! *Note to self: Buy big can of chiles so I can be cool like Emily next time I make this chicken.
I love my slow cooker/crock pot, it's one of the best kitchen inventions ever! Just a question for you; I often see these packet dressing mixes used in American recipes however we don't have them in Australia so what would you suggest we could substitue with? I'm thinking the italian dressing mix could be subbed with italian mixed (dried) herbs maybe? But as for Ranch I'm really clueless….
thanks fuji mama!
Kristmakes– Here is a good recipe for the Ranch dressing mix substitute (just be sure to add some dill like one of the comments suggests): http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Dry-Ranch-Style-Seasoning-for-Dip-or-Dressing/Detail.aspx
For the Italian dressing mix: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian-Dressing-Mix/Detail.aspx
My husband and I made this last night for dinner and it was so yummy! Thanks for the recipe! We did find that we needed to leave the chicken in for another hour on high… probably because the chicken and/or crockpot was/were differently sized. We'll definitely make this recipe again… so easy and tasty!
This was very good! Both of my little picky eater loved it over rice!!!! But very, very salty! Probably from the Italian seasoning packets. Is there low sodium Italian seasoning out there? Thanks for the recipe, just need to find a way to reduce the salt and will make it again and again!
@Hilary, I’m so glad it was a hit! As far as the salt content goes, this is something that has never come up! Were you using regular Italian dressing packets or Zesty? I know that the sodium content in the Zesty is much higher. Unfortunately, a lot of the commercial mixes out there are high in sodium. I’m not familiar with a low-sodium brand, but a great alternative would be to make your own–the only downside is the bit of extra time it takes. But for health purposes it’s worth, right? Here are two yummy versions I have tried:
1. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/italian-dressing-mix/Detail.aspx (use onion powder instead of onion salt, omit the other salt if desired, then add salt at the end as needed)
2. http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/ItalianSaladDressingMix.htm (this one is good, but I don’t like the high sugar content, so I still prefer #1)
Hope that helps!
Going to make this tonight and I can’t wait!! Made Mr. Fuji’s pork chops a couple of weeks ago and they were delish. I have just recently found your blog and I do enjoy it.