Crockpot Chicken and Rice Recipe

This easy and delicious crockpot chicken and rice recipe is the perfect comfort food for a busy weeknight. Just set it and forget it for a warm and satisfying meal.

Throw everything in the crock pot and in a few hours you have a delicious, creamy tender chicken dish that can be served over rice, noodles, or potatoes!

Yup, this Crockpot Chicken and rice is the old classic you grew up eating. We will post the originally recipe of shredded chicken with a soup and cream cheese mixture and add the adaptations that we make.

This Crock Pot Chicken recipe is such a reader favorite that we are often looking to share new chicken recipes you can make in a crockpot. Sadly we sometimes forget about the old recipes so it was time to bring back the classic.

Ingredients for Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice

My favorite thing about this recipe, except for dang good it tastes, is that it uses just 5 simple ingredients that I usually already have on hand. Check this list to see if you already have everything in house:

• Cream of Chicken Soup: You can use store bought or you can make your own. See section below for making it from scratch.
• Butter: I like to use unsalted butter so that I can better control the saltiness of the dish.
• Italian Dressing Seasoning Dry Mix: You can find this by the salad dressings by the other dressing packets.
• Chicken Breasts: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are what you are after. You can even throw them in frozen and it will work great.
• Cream Cheese: Full fat cream cheese provides the best flavor, but the less fat version works fine too. Avoid the fat free.
• Rice: You can make white rice, brown rice, pasta or mashed potatoes to serve with this creamy chicken.

The measurements for each ingredient is listed in the recipe card at the end of the post so keep scrolling for all the details.

How to Make Crockpot Chicken and Rice

If you’re looking for the easiest dinner recipe ever, then you have come to the right spot. It is everything a crockpot recipe should be. The prep time is literally 2 minutes. Then start the slow cooker and walk away. Here are the steps:

1. Mix: Add cream of chicken, butter and Italian seasoning to the crockpot and mix together then place chicken breasts in the crockpot.
   • PRO TIP: Spray the inside of your crockpot with cooking spray before adding any ingredients too it and you’ll be happy when it comes to clean up time.
2. Cook: Set the slow cooker to cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 3-3 ½ hours.
3. Shred: Use two forks to shred the chicken then add the cream cheese.
4. Stir: Stir everything together until smooth. If it seems really thick, add a little milk or chicken broth to thin it out.
5. Rice: About a half hour before you’re ready to eat dinner, make some rice. White rice, brown rice, whichever you prefer!
6. Serve: Dish this up hot over rice or pasta!

The complete recipe can be found in the recipe card where it can also be saved or printed.

What to Serve With Crockpot Chicken

I’m sure that you could add some broccoli pieces or maybe even carrots to this crockpot chicken and it would help a little bit on the nutrition side of things. Frozen peas or green beans would also be great options.

Maybe you could even try adding a little bit of sour cream or plain yogurt if you aren’t a big fan of the cream cheese. Anyway, we eat this with brown rice or whole wheat angel hair pasta. I am sure you could serve it over mashed potatoes too!

I also love to have a vegetable with this dish just to lighten it up a little. Roasted veggies or a spinach salad are both great options!

What to Substitute for Cream of Chicken Soup

If you’re not into using a can of cream of chicken soup, no worries! You can actually make your own using milk or cream, butter and flour along with some easy seasoning.

Our post on Cheesy Ground Beef and Rice Casserole has a quick and easy recipe for making canned soup at home. This particular recipe makes a cream of mushroom soup but just omit the mushrooms and use a few dashes of poultry seasoning and you’re all set!

Adding More Flavor to Crockpot Chicken and Rice

We really like to add more flavor to this crockpot shredded chicken and rice recipe so we like to add in Montreal Chicken seasoning, lemon pepper, onion powder, garlic powder or other favorites as it is cooking in the slow cooker. We’ve found that depending on our mood we could use anywhere from 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of seasoning along with a little salt and pepper.

It’s up to you, and isn’t normally part of the recipe, but it’s a great addition. Sprinkling a fresh herb on top before serving would also amp up the flavor. Fresh parsley would be my first choice. Shredded cheddar cheese also makes a great topping for an added punch of flavor. This chicken can also be used for tasty Hawaiian haystacks too! It’s so versatile!

Storage Tips

Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It will keep for 3-4 days. You can store the chicken with the rice or store them separately.

Normally you don’t want to freeze anything that has a lot of cream or cream cheese in it as it can curdle when reheating or separate. This crockpot chicken and rice recipe is a different story as that can of soup really helps to keep things together. I would store chicken by itself and then make fresh rice when you are ready to eat it again.

We still have much better luck when we use a food saver to suck out all of the air, but ziplocs will do fine. This creamy shredded chicken will last for about 1 month or so if you use a food saver or 2-3 weeks if it’s in freezer bags.

To reheat, let the chicken thaw in the fridge overnight and then warm it up on the stove top over medium heat until heated through. You can add milk as needed to loosen it up. For a single serving, a quick zap in the microwave does the trick just fine!

This easy and delicious crockpot chicken and rice recipe is perfect for a family-friendly weeknight dinner. Simply throw all the ingredients in your slow cooker and let it cook all day for a flavorful and comforting meal.

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