Want to Read Later?
Ok so here's what you need to make this week.
And next week.
And every week until it gets warm again because 1. it's easy, 2. it's delicious, and 3. cheese.
This was actually inspired by my friend Nathan, who sent me a message one morning and was all "do you have a recipe for chicken chowder?" and I was all "I didn't know that was a thing." And then I proceeded to rattle off what I WOULD do if I was making chicken chowder in a slow cooker, had I known that was a thing.
And then I thought about it all week and MADE IT and it turned out way better than I ever could have expected. I just kind of went with a standard broth-based-but-with-dairy version of chowder with chicken instead of any kind of seafood. I used SUPER simple ingredients because this time of year I feel like the fancy stuff has to be reserved for parties and gifts and holidays, and the rest of the time you really need simple things that are balanced and comforting and EASY.
Enter the slow cooker. And cheese.
Ingredients
You need onion, garlic, potato, carrot, chicken, thyme, cayenne pepper, chicken broth, frozen corn, heavy cream, green onions, and grated cheddar. If you have celery you could toss some in there too because it's totally normal to do that in a soup like this BUT I didn't have any and the soup was still delicious. Moving on.
Step By Step Instructions
To prep the veggies, dice the carrot, onion, and potato. I like to make everything pretty small, just slightly larger than the corn kernels. Then, mince the garlic.
Sprinkle all the veggies in the bottom of a slow cooker.
Add the chicken to the veggies and sprinkle with the spices, then pour the stock over everything. You should have enough stock to come to the top of the veggies and barely touch the chicken; use less or more stock than the recipe states if needed.
Now we're ready to cook! This cooks in 3 stages, so it's a teensy bit high maintenance for a slow cooker recipe.
We cook the veggies and chicken for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
Then, use 2 forks to shred the chicken into chunks and sprinkle the corn in the slow cooker. Put the lid back on and cook on high for 20 minutes.
THEN, add half the cheese and half the scallions with the cream to the mixture. Put the lid back on and cook on high for another 20 minutes.
Now this is a chowder. Stir it around to finish melting the cheese, then taste it and add salt if you think it needs it.
Is drippy a gross word to describe food? I say no, but you're in charge. I think that drippy soup is a great thing in this case: the liquid isn't too thick or thin, and the chicken is EVERYWHERE. So hearty without being heavy.
Then serve! Extra cheese, extra scallions, crackers. You could do bread if you're feeling fancy, but this isn't exactly fancy food.
This isn't fancy, but by golly it's delicious. Potato soup meets chicken noodle sans noodles plus chowder, and the thyme is SUPER delicious. I made this on Saturday and we had people in and out all day for various things, and the house smelled incredible. Then people just kind of started....sampling...this, and suddenly it was gone.
Which is exactly what you want in an easy Crockpot meal. Make this soon!
Recipe
Crockpot Chicken Corn Chowder
Ingredients
- 1 medium potato diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 pound total
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves or fresh, or ground, whatever
- ½ cup frozen corn kernels
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Arrange the potato, onion, carrots, and garlic in the bottom of a slow cooker. Top with the chicken breasts, and sprinkle the cayenne and thyme over the whole dish. Pour in the stock.
- Cook the chowder on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours (set to go to warm after this time if leaving for work or cooking overnight). Remove the lid and shred the chicken with 2 forks. It should shred very easily! Add the corn and cook covered for 20 minutes on high. Add the cream, half the cheese, and half the scallions. Stir together and cook for 20 minutes more on high until the cheese is melted. If the soup is very thick, add more chicken stock as needed to thin. Taste the chowder and add salt to your taste if needed.
- Serve topped with the remaining cheese and scallions. Enjoy!
Liz
this is my reminder that i need to start using my crockpot more often! what a yummy recipe!
Lilly
I love how easy this was to put together! My family and I loved it!
Oscar
This looks so good, I am going to save it for the new year as I will be meal prepping everything so I can stay on track. Thanks so much.
Chelsea
Hm. So I thought about replying to your no-knead bread idea on Friday and then I didn't because I procrastinate and also feel weird about putting my words on the internet (but think it's awesome that you don't have that problem, btw). But then I figured I'd just go for it, and you might not read old comments (do bloggers do that? or not?) so I'd put it here.
I make no-knead bread all the time and sorta-kinda lived on it for a year or two when I just worked constantly because it is so cheap and easy. Basically the second rise in the recipe is totally optional and you can let it rise anywhere from 8-24 hours (and then if you still don't have 45 minutes to cook it just stick it in the fridge till you do and cook it 50 minutes instead).
Also my current favorite variation: http://steamykitchen.com/6795-no-knead-baguette-stecca.html
Also you can totally sub in any combo of whole grains and seeds and stuff for the 3 cups of flour, but if you put in a lot of whole wheat then you probs actually want to do the second rise cause whole wheat likes to be denser.
funnyloveblog
Awesome, thank you! And YES, I read any comment on any post, no matter when it's posted. 🙂