Slow Cooker Everything Chicken

4.72 from 21 votes

Meal prep just got a lot easier with this everything chicken recipe.

slow cooker everything chicken

Think about what you could do with a batch of prepared, shredded, delicious chicken on hand! Many of our meals tend to side-step protein-rich meals that use meat, poultry, or fish. Whipping together a veggie stir fry or a big salad is often easier than seasoning and cooking meat. But, this Slow Cooker everything chicken recipe changes all that. It’s so simple: by slow cooking chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and broth, you’ll end up with a supply of chicken that is versatile enough to add to salads and stir fry dishes or to mix into tacos, soups, stews, or pastas.

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Chicken dishes are a staple in the United States, and with good reason. Chicken is an inexpensive source of lean protein, and it’s readily available. Having a pre-made batch of chicken in your kitchen is sure to make many of your recipes infinitely easier, especially on weeknights. After cooking the everything chicken recipe, you can slice it to serve on sandwiches, or shred it by hand. If you want to save time, you can toss it into a stand mixer and use the paddle attachment to shred it for you!

Ways to Use Slow Cooker Everything Chicken

everything chicken recipe

We call it Everything Chicken because you can use it on everything! Sometimes, we mix the chicken with pesto sauce and spread on bruschetta or use it atop pasta. It’s also super easy to turn this chicken into homemade chicken soup, whether it’s a traditional variety a variation like Tortilla Soup. It comes together so much more quickly with pre-made chicken on hand!

Dinner isn’t the only time of day when you need some backup in the kitchen. At lunch, whip this chicken into a chicken salad and make some satisfying sandwiches for the whole family. Add to salads or allow your family to assemble tacos or burrito bowls. Once you make a batch of this Slow Cooker everything chicken recipe, you’ll never go without it on hand again.

Storing and Reheating this Versatile Chicken Recipe

Everything chicken tacos

This versatile everything chicken recipe lasts about three days in the refrigerator, but you can also freeze it. Let the cooked chicken cool before freezing it – we like portioning it into individual portion bags so it’s easier to use. Then, just pull it out and let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating it for lunch or dinner.

We used a slow cooker that browns and sautés, making cooking a whole lot easier. You can also make it in the Instant Pot by changing the cook time to 25 minutes on high pressure.

4.72 from 21 votes

Slow Cooker Everything Chicken

This tasty and versatile everything chicken recipe will provide you with countless healthy meals, all week long!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes
Yield 9 people
Serving Size 0.75 cup
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Universal
Author Skinny Ms.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless and skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 tablespoons garlic chopped
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth or chicken broth, low-sodium

Instructions

  • Place chicken in slow cooker. Drizzle with olive oil being sure to coat all sides. Add garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Pour broth around the outside of the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees.
  • When the chicken is tender and cooked through, remove it from the slow cooker and slice or shred with a fork.
  • Serve in tacos, soup or chili, with your favorite gravy & mashed potatoes, cook it into a chicken casserole, or top it with teriyaki sauce and serve it over brown rice for a Asian twist. Enjoy!

Notes

Each pound of chicken yields approximately 2.25 cups shredded chicken. 
 

Nutrition Information

Serving: 0.75cup | Calories: 228kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 616mg | Potassium: 559mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 73IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg |
SmartPoints (Freestyle): 4
Keywords Budget-Friendly, dairy-free, Diabetic-Friendly, Gluten-Free, High Protein, Keto, Kid-Friendly, Low-Carb, Slow Cooker

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101 Comments

      1. Vicki, You can use up to that amount but we've adjusted it to say 1 to 2 tablespoons. The garlic is coarsely chopped, not minced.

    1. Toss as much as you want to shred into the kitchenaid with paddle attachment. Shreds in seconds! I lay it out on cookie sheet to freeze, then bag for sprinkling over quesadillas etc. during the week. I cube the rest to use in chicken salads.

  1. I don't have a printer at home. It would be great if there was an option on your recipes to email them. 🙂

    1. I just copy by hand in as short a version as possible.
      Keep a spiral notebook just for recipes.

    2. You can save it to messenger. Use the upload icon on bottom of page. Then choose messenger icon and send to yourself.

  2. The chicken looks browned on the outside. Did it get that way in the crockpot or was it sautéed before it was added?

    1. The chicken will brown in the slow cooker. There's no need to do anything before adding the ingredients to the pot.

      1. IF your slow cooker doesn’t have abrowning capability, would you brown stove-top before adding to the slow cooker?

  3. My chicken doesn't brown, sadly, and is done at the three to three and a half hour mark on low. It must be my cooker. I let it go for four hours the first time and as soon as it cooled it had a very dry texture. Moral, know your cooker. I think mine just cooks really hot. With adjustment, very yummy!

    1. Theresa, True, slow cookers all seem to cook differently. If your slow cooker doesn't brown the chicken, carefully remove the chicken and place in a casserole pan and brown in the oven.

        1. If you prefer to brown a little more, 375 degrees for up to 15 minutes. Be sure to add the juices from the slow cooker to prevent the chicken from drying out.

  4. Can I freeze this recipe in single serving portions?
    Could I then use a frozen single serving thawed in a salad or will I need to cook it again?
    Thanks by the way, loving your site.

    1. Once the chicken is cooked according to the directions, allow to cool before freezing. Take out the portion you want to use, place in the fridge and allow to thaw over night. You will not need to recook the chicken. Of course, if you want hot or warm chicken, just heat in a skillet or wrap in foil (add 2 teaspoon water), and warm in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

    1. Brandi, Yes, we used fresh garlic cloves, but powdered garlic can be used instead if that is what you have on hand. Just use 1 teaspoon powdered in place of 1 tablespoon fresh. 🙂

  5. Oh my word! Just made this. Made it for shredding for tacos. It was delicious straight from the crock pot. I added a bit of the liquid to the shredded chicken and a bit of taco seasoning. It was so good! Very versatile!

    1. Hmm… We can’t see any reason why that would be. Here you go!
      Directions:
      Place chicken in slow cooker. Drizzle with olive oil being sure to coat all sides. Add garlic, sea salt, and pepper. Pour broth around the outside of the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

      When the chicken is tender and cooked through, remove it from the slow cooker and slice or shred with a fork. Serve in tacos, soup or chili, with your favorite gravy & mashed potatoes, cook it into a chicken casserole, or top it with teriyaki sauce and serve it over brown rice for a Asian twist. Enjoy!

  6. Once the chicken is cooked and I put in the fridge for leftovers, how long will it last in the fridge?

  7. If you wanted to could you add chicken broth and add some veggies in crock pot / slow cooker like potatoes small, zucchini , carrots or spinach?

    1. Melanie, That don’t have to be on the bottom but you may have to adjust cooking time if they’re stacked.

  8. Since my slow cooker does not brown do you think I can brown the surface in my cast iron pan (I know it defeats the purpose of the ease of slow cooking, but I eat with my eyes first!) and then proceed with the instructions? Looks amazing! ?

  9. how did you get the browned outside part? Also, does the coating stick to the chicken? Mine came off when I poured the broth in.

    1. Holly, If the coating comes off, you’ll still have the same taste after adding the broth. If you want the outside to get
      browner, you’ll need to broil. If you do broil be sure to keep a close eye on the chicken so it doesn’t burn or dry out.

  10. Just finished my last portion of this chicken recipe. When and after I made it, I divided the shredded chicken in approximately 2 cups portions, put in ziplock bags and froze them. Came in very handy and were used in various recipes and saved a lot of preparation time. Thank you so much for this recipe.??

  11. How many ounces are in a serving? I realize it says a serving is 1/10 of recipe, but i would like to measure my portions.

  12. Have made this recipe several times! Always delicious! Tacos, enchiladas, chicken pot pie, chicken salad. My husband & I love it! We are in our 70’s and watch what we eat very carefully. I cook at home almost every night, since restaurant food does not always agree with us.

  13. What would the measurements be for 1lb of chicken? I have a small family, and they’re not big on left overs

  14. With this, I finally have found the perfect method for cooking chicken to use later in recipes which require diced cooked chicken! I hesitated to use other methods, as I didn’t want something that would be slimy or smell up my kitchen in an awful way. This smelled nice while cooking, and the end result was a flavorful chicken which I used in a recipe and then, two days later, cut up the remaining cooked chicken breast and made chicken salad. Thank you so much!

    1. Yes, you can make this in an Instant Pot. Simply change the cook time to 25 minutes on high pressure.

  15. I will try making this in slow cooker and in my instant pot to see which one is better. It’s a trial run for me. This way I learn more about my cooking gadgets times, temps, overall performance & I will have extra chicken lol.
    Thank you for this recipe & I look forward to coming back to share my experience with this recipe.

    1. Hi Wanda, yes – but I would only cook the chicken for about 15 minutes and let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes before removing the lid.

  16. I love the recipe and have used many times. How about cooking in the oven or on the stove? Do you have any instructions?

  17. i made this last night – before i saw your post. 3+ hours on low. I took the chicken out when the thermometer said 170+ – too long i thought. well the chicken wasn’t tender so i felt id left it in too long.
    not sure if i should cook it longer – or toss it.

    1. For the chicken to be tender it needs to be cooked longer than 3 hours on low, the recipe suggests about 6 hours. When cooking in a slow cooker there is no need to stop cooking when the chicken reaches a certain temperature. For the chicken to be tender, it needs to have moisture and cook for an extended period of time.

  18. Any ideas why Pinterest won’t let me save this recipe? It says “sorry; we blocked this because it might lead to spam.” I followed a link to get there and it was fine, so what’s up?

  19. I have made this recipe several times and LOVE IT!!! I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer this time 🙄
    Can I put it the slow cooker frozen? If so, do I need to adjust the cooking time? Thanks! Again, we love this everything chicken!! 😊

    1. Lisa, Frozen chicken should not be used in the slow cooker. Bacteria can build up so please make sure
      it is thawed first.

    1. Brenda, Thank you so much for the feedback. I’m thrilled you’re enjoying this and other recipes on our site. 🙂

  20. I’m wondering if I can substitute chicken thighs for chicken breasts and/or combine the two different cuts? Chicken thighs have great taste. Thank you for your time.

  21. Looking forward to trying this. Does the olive oil increase the overall fat content? If so, can I substitute something else for it to cut down on fat? It sounds awesome but I tend to look for low fat chicken recipes. If not, I will use the olive oil! Thanks.

    1. Susan, Olive Oil does contain some fat, but it can be reduced to 2 tablespoons and still works well. Canola oil works well too.

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