How to Use a Slow Cooker for Chicken Breasts With Cream of Chicken Soup

Start to Finish: 7 hours
Servings: 5
Difficulty Level: Beginner

Chicken breasts smothered in cream of chicken soup is a comforting meal that will warm you up on a cold night. Using a slow cooker means you spend less time in prep and can turn your attention to other things. Cream of chicken comes in a can, but why add a processed product when you can make it following these easy steps? This dish is adapted from a cream of chicken soup recipe published on the Taste.com website.

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• Kosher salt, to taste

Place the slow cooker on your kitchen surface and plug it into an electric socket.

Put the chicken on the base of the slow cooker's cooking pot.

Add the onions, carrots, celery, basil, oregano, cornstarch and chicken stock to the slow cooker.

Ensure that the chicken and vegetables are immersed in the chicken stock; add more chicken stock if necessary.

Cover the slow cooker with the glass lid and cook for about 5 to 7 hours on the medium setting.

At the end of the cooking time, stir in the half-and-half. Add salt to taste and serve with white rice or a mixed salad.

Variations

• Blend the carrots and onions with the chicken stock before cooking for a smoother texture.
• Near the end of cooking time, remove and shred the chicken with a fork and knife, return it to the cooker, put the lid back on and let it cook for an additional 20 minutes, so that the chicken can absorb the cream sauce.
• You can substitute chicken breast with boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Tips

• Mix in an additional tablespoon of cornstarch and cold water if you want to thicken the soup. Adding diced potatoes also thickens the soup. For a lighter soup, you can add mushrooms to the ingredients or pour in more water.
• You can cook the chicken breast with cream of chicken soup on a low setting for 10 to 12 hours or a high setting for 3 to 4 hours.
• For a quick recipe pour 2 cans of Campbell's cream of chicken soup on the chicken breast and cook for 4 to 6 hours on a medium setting.

Do not open the slow cooker lid while it is cooking. This will affect the cooking time and your soup will lose moisture.

The slow cooker gets hot while cooking, so do not touch.