While we’re remodeling this house, I’m super excited that I’ve been able to find so many of you that are willing to post on Fridays for me. 🙂 Today we have Kim Morefield from A Morefield Life. Thanks Kim!
Being a busy mom of 4 small children, I absolutely love all-in-one-meals. Add the worry-free benefit of a crock pot and you have a recipe for extra time with your family instead of time slaving in the kitchen! Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still have the smiling faces and empty plates because yumminess and wholesome goodness is still an important part of any meal in our family equation – it’ll just take less time, and time is something we all could use more of, right?
I will give the basic recipe I used, but feel free to tweak it according to your schedule, needs, and family preferences. Since I am home for summer break and not teaching, I was able to add rice and veggies later in the process to make it an all-in-one meal. If I were using this recipe on a busy school day when I couldn’t be home to add the variations below (rice, broccoli, etc.), I might alter it by simply boiling some wheat noodles and steaming some veggies to go with the main course.
Place chicken in crock pot, turn on the low setting. Then, in a small sauce pan, melt butter & saute mushrooms a few minutes until tender. Add garlic, turning to brown for only a few seconds, then add whole wheat flour, mixing together, making sure that all the flour is wet. Slowly pour and mix milk constantly stirring with fork. It will be lumpy at first, but have no fear – it will thicken! Add Italian herbs & salt & stir. This will be a very thick gravy, a MUCH healthier counterpart to the far inferior Campbell’s condensed with its MSGs and trans fats.
Now I know as you read this, you may be thinking that this sounds too difficult to be a fix it & forget it meal, but it only takes a few minutes to stir up home style, hearty, and healthy yumminess. If you are rushed like me on a wild school morning, you can easily make the cream sauce the night before and refrigerate overnight, then simply throw it all in the crock pot in the morning before you rush out the door.
I simply put the thick gravy on top of my chicken, and close the lid! I then proceeded to enjoy a wonderful day in the great outdoors, working with my family in our garden, and planting lots of flowers. Occasionally we would wonder in doors for bathroom breaks (ok frequently with 3 girls!) and water breaks to smell the wonderful aroma of a hassle free dinner in the works!
Cook 7-9 hours. I cooked mine right at 9 hours, but it easily could have been shortened.
Easy Add ins:
With 2 hours before dinner time, add in 1 cup of rice (wild rice takes about 2 ½ hours) and anywhere from 1-2 cups warm water or (organic) chicken broth. The ratio for rice to water is approximately 1:2. I estimated that my chicken had about 1/2 cup of juices so I only added 1½ cup. You may need to add a little more depending on your chicken & its juices.
As a side note, I never use warm tap water to cook as this comes from sitting in your water heater. Instead, I use our filtered water and heat it in a sauce pan until warm. You never want to add cold water to your already cooking crock pot as this will slow down cook time.
With 1 hour left, add fresh veggies. Broccoli is a hit at our house, but carrots, asparagus, peas or your favorite vegetable would go nicely as well! You will want to check after about 30 minutes or so because no one wants to eat mushy veggies, especially peas! Mine was ready after 45 minutes, so dinner was served and momma got to play in her garden & flowers all day!! 🙂
I had made some rolls with our freshly ground wheat using our whole wheat bread recipe the night before & they paired great with our easy casserole dinner. There were smiling, dirty faces and empty plates and seconds to go around!
Follow @stacymakescents on Instagram for daily meal inspiration!
Crock Pot Creamy Italian Chicken & Rice Casserole (with Dairy Free option)
- 2 lbs boneless chicken (we use Gerber Amish chicken–no antibiotics/hormones) ~ mine was frozen and I did not thaw – simply place in crock pot frozen (this is the fix it & forget it part!)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 whole mushrooms, chopped
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- ½ cup whole wheat flour (we grind ours, but feel free to use any flour)
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1/8 cup Italian herbs
- 1 tsp salt (depending on taste/preference)
Optional add ins/variations:
- 1 cup rice
- 1-2 cups water or chicken broth (we use organic)
- 2 cups fresh veggies – I used broccoli, but peas, carrots, asparagus, etc. would fit nicely as well!
- Place chicken in crock pot, turn on the low setting.
- Then, in a small sauce pan, melt butter & saute mushrooms a few minutes until tender.
- Add garlic, turning to brown for only a few seconds, then add whole wheat flour, mixing together, making sure that all the flour is wet.
- Slowly pour and mix milk constantly stirring with fork. It will be lumpy at first, but have no fear – it will thicken!
- Add Italian herbs & salt & stir.
- Pour the thick gravy on top of the chicken, and close the lid.
- Cook on low for 7-9 hours total.
- With 2 hours before dinner time, add in 1 cup of rice (wild rice takes about 2 ½ hours) and anywhere from 1-2 cups warm water or (organic) chicken broth. The ratio for rice to water is approximately 1:2.
- With 1 hour left, add fresh veggies. Check after about 30-45 minutes, cooking only until vegetables are done.
Dairy Free? Simply use olive oil instead of butter and coconut milk.
Hello! We are Scott and Kim Morefield. We live in East Tennessee with our four small children (ages 7, 5, 3, and 1). We blog about parenting, marriage, nutrition & recipes, healthy lifestyle and homesteading at our brand-new site, A Morefield Life. Connect with us on Facebook to stay up to date! If you like what we are doing, please consider helping us grow our new page by joining and we’ll automatically enter you in our giveaway!
I came across this while looking for something that would be quick while also skimming through some slow cooker recipes. I read through and decided to make it on the stove instead of my slow cooker. I used all-purpose flour, omitted the mushrooms and veggies, and used 1-1/2 cups of rice. It was ready in under an hour and was delicious. I cut up the chicken into small chunks and cooked it in butter. I’ll definitely make this again. My 3 year old devoured it, which wasn’t a surprise because she eats pretty much anything but the surprise was my 2 year old. He barely eats anything and ate it like it was going out of style.
I love when recipes are winners for everyone! Yay!!!
This recipe really didn’t work out for me. I didn’t realize that you used frozen chicken, maybe that’s why it needed the 7 hours. I used chicken from the fridge because we never freeze meat. My husband just will not eat it and there’s no fooling him. I’ve tried! I looked done at 2.5-3 hours and smelled amazing. I checked it at about 5 hours, and the milk had curdled and the oil had all gone to the top. It looked like cottage cheese sitting in oil and it smelled rancid. 🙁 Total bummer. Oh well, next time I will use my digital thermometer in the chicken from the start so I know right when it’s done. Can’t wait to try some other recipes.
Thanks!
Emily
I’m so sorry it didn’t work out! But great idea on using the thermometer next time! I love mine and use it often.
Hi. I was wondering if the sauce can be made ahead of time and put in the freezer? I am preparing a list of meals that can be semi-prepared ahead of time for the freezer and then just brought out to cook when ready. Thanks!
I think that should work, but sometimes dairy items can separate in the freezer. It won’t affect the taste, but it might look weird. 🙂
I seem to be the only dissenting voice. We had this tonight, and it was truly awful. Way too much Italian seasoning, the oregano flavor was overpowering. Not enough salt. The chicken and sauce looked pretty good when I went to add the rice, but it all came out too pasty (and I went with the 2C stock). Really upset that I wasted so much money on organic chicken, just to throw the whole pot of food away.
So sorry this dish didn’t turn out for you – all crock pots seem to cook different. I hope you’ll try again and find something you enjoy! 🙂
In super excited to try more of these recipes! And I had high hopes for this one. But the exact same thing happened to me. I wish I had stopped it right before I added rice, cooked the rice seperate oh, then had the sauce OVER the rice. The sauce looked and smelled fantastic. The rice ruined it. Only 40 minutes into the rice cooking, it saw pasty, burned to the bottom, and drsperately needed more liquid. I had added 2 cups water to the 1 cup rice. Overall taste was bad. Husband and 2 yr old wouldn’t eat it 🙁 I will try a different recipe though next time!
I’m just a little confused about the Itailian herbs part, could someone clarify that?
There is a seasoning blend in with the spices called Italian seasoning. 🙂
I discovered your wonderful blog a few months ago and found the recipes you posted fit to a tee what I had been trying to newly implement in my family food plans — whole grains, sugar replaced with stevia and the like, lower fat and no processed and packaged garbage ingredients. As I am not very good at navigating the internet or blogs, I truly believe God led me to your site! I homeschooled our two boys all the way through –even through chronic illness and later, stage 3 breast cancer! (Yes,, it can be done!) As a Christian former homeschooling mom, I feel a special affinity with you and with others who post here or are linked with your site. Like you, I have always been very frugal and am a “survivor” of compulsive couponing. 🙂 So switching to healthier, whole foods eating was financially (and emotionally! 🙂 ) challenging. Your posts have been a great encouragement and help to me in this and many other areas. I was interested in your posts about Trim Healthy Momma but knew it was too overwhelming for me to really try in my current physical state. But have still found your recipe adaptations and some of the Trim Healthy ones very good for occasional use in our diet. Thank you so MUCH for your blog! It is certainly a journey, isn’t it, these “hunger games!” I am thankful God has shown you the next step forward, and I am confident He will be with you as you continue on your (His) way. (Sorry for the long-windedness! I just wanted you to see some of the ways God is working through your blog and felt that required a little background here and there.). God richly bless you, Stacy!
To make this gluten free can I use cornstarch? Rice flour?
I’m not sure – it would probably work. 🙂
Hi Stacy, is this calling for 4 tbsp or tsp of butter? just checking my measurements! 🙂
This is a recipe from a guest poster, but it does say teaspoons for butter. 🙂
I can’t even find the ingredient list. So, I am wanting the quantity for everything.
Hello, Wendy! The ingredients list is posted in the printable recipe located at the bottom of the post.
Hi Stacy, I’ve recently stumbled across your blog and am thoroughly enjoying it. Our family is also debt free! Your blog is truly refreshing. It boggles my mind at how so many can just spend away and not save a penny. Keep it up and good luck with baby # 2. ( I just had #4 :-))
JennieV in Mississippi
Four, that’s great! 🙂 I hope the Lord blesses me to such a degree. Thanks Jennie! 🙂
I love simple meals like these! Thanks for sharing it looks yummy!! 🙂
Sounds yummy to me too!
I’m so excited to try this, but any recommendations to replace the mushrooms? My husband doesn’t like mushrooms 🙁
Weird, right?!
Since it’s basically a “cream of soup” I would think that you could substitute celery. 🙂