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Crockpot Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Chicken, a cozier weeknight, slow cooker meal. This comforting chicken and broccoli is tossed in a creamy, spicy salsa verde white cheddar cheese sauce, then finished with a golden garlic thyme butter, so delish. It’s the perfect hearty and delicious meal to come home to at the end of a busy day. And what’s even better is just how easy it is to prepare!
And just like that, the crockpot recipes are slowly returning for the season ahead. To say that I’m excited would be an understatement. It’s not that I’m ready for chilly fall days, but I am ready to celebrate and share all of my favorite things. Baked apple recipes, dishes made with pumpkin, cozy stews and chilis, fresh bread, and warming cocktails.
As we enter into September this year, I have so much excitement. There’s so much to look forward to in the autumn months.
And the one thing I think we all know I love is creating easy, cozy dinners that we can all really enjoy.
At this point, I have more broccoli cheddar recipes in my toolbox than most need, but they’re all so yummy. My very favorite is a good bowl of broccoli cheddar soup. But I love my broccoli cheddar chicken noodle casserole, broccoli cheddar chicken and rice casserole and we can’t forget creamy one pot broccoli cheddar orzo.
Yes, I love this combination. But this is my first recipe for the crockpot, and I think you’ll really love it. This is the creamiest chicken, and it’s topped with a little garlic butter to make it that much more delicious.
Here are the details
Step 1: layer the chicken
Working in the bowl of your crockpot, layer the onion, chicken, and seasonings. Pour over the salsa verde, then add some water.
Now cover the crockpot and let the chicken cook. I usually cook 1-2 hours on high or 3 to 4 hours on low.
Step 2: make the chicken creamy
Once the chicken is cooked, mix in a bit of milk or cream, a block of cream cheese, a couple of handfuls of cheddar cheese, then lots of fresh broccoli.
Now let this cook on high for 10 or 15 minutes. Just until the sauce is very creamy and the cheese has melted.
Step 3: brown the butter
Brown the butter in a small skillet with garlic and thyme. The goal is to get the butter to a nice golden color and the thyme crispy. This takes about 4-5 minutes.
This is “extra” and while you don’t need it, it makes every bite of this dish that much yummier. So I of course recommend it.
I love to serve the chicken, broccoli, and sauce over rice or creamy polenta. And then drizzle that golden butter on top.
Once you plate this, I recommend adding fresh basil on top and some crusty bread on the side. The bread is perfect for scooping up all that extra creamy sauce.
Looking for other easy weeknight night dinners?? Here are my favorites:
One Pan Herb Butter Chicken and Zucchini Rice Pilaf
Simple Thai Chicken Zucchini Meatball Curry
Sheet Pan Hot Honey Garlic Chicken and Zucchini
Slow Cooker Mustard Herb Chicken and Creamy Orzo
Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup with Salty Lime Chips
30 Minute Creamy Chicken and Parmesan Sage Dumplings
Creamy Gnocchi Soup with Rosemary Bacon
Lastly, if you make this Crockpot Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Chicken, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Crockpot Creamy Broccoli Cheddar Chicken.
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 612 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 3/4 cup salsa verde
- 1/2 cup milk or cream
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 3-4 cups chopped broccoli
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves
- fresh basil for serving
Instructions
Crockpot
- 1. In the bowl of your slow cooker, layer the onion and then the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salsa verde and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high for 1-2 hours.2. Crank the heat on the slow cooker to high. Stir in the milk, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese. Add the broccoli. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until the sauce is creamy.3. Melt together the butter, garlic, and thyme leaves in a small skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter is browning and the thyme is crisp, 4 minutes.4. Serve the chicken, broccoli, and sauce topped with brown butter and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Instant Pot
- 1. In the bowl of your Instant Pot, layer the onion and then the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salsa verde and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.2. Once done cooking, release the steam. Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Stir in the milk, cream cheese, and cheddar. Add the broccoli. Cook 6-8 minutes, until the sauce is creamy.3. Melt together the butter, garlic, and thyme leaves in a small skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter is browning and the thyme is crisp, 4 minutes.4. Serve the chicken, broccoli, and sauce topped with brown butter and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Really good! Added egg noodles at the end and it soaked up all the yummy-ness!
Thank you so much! Hope you have a great fall season! 🙂 xT
100/10 this was amazing!!! Thank you so much for an amazing recipe Tieghan!
Thank you so much Sarah! xT
Tieghan, thank you for another delicious recipe! This one has been on my list to make for a while, and finally got all the ingredients and made it tonight. My husband and really enjoyed it. It was delicious on rice. I really love having a new crockpot recipe. Thanks again!
Thank you for taking the time to try out this recipe! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! xT
This was insanely good! Broccoli definitely needed 40 minutes though
Thank you for taking the time to try out this recipe! So glad to hear you enjoyed it! xT
Made this and it was very good. I read a lot of reviews before so I made some adjustments. most said that it was watery and I noticed the same so I did less milk and shredded the chicken. This cause the chicken to soak up some of the broth and it was a good consistency: more white chili type but good. Also used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder because I don’t like garlic powder.
I only had frozen broccoli so I blanched it before putting it in and it was perfect.
Overall we enjoyed it and would make it again. It was super easy and quick.
Thank you so so much for trying out the recipe! I really hope you loved it! 🙂
This is going in my don’t cook again file. Too soupy…your description says a bit of milk, recipe 1/2 c. Could have eliminated it all together. Not very cheesy due to the fact it was to soupy. Broccoli needed more than 15 minutes but we do like it on the crunch side. The taste was good but it just didn’t hit the ok mark.
Hey Carol! I appreciate the feedback. Thank you for letting me know! xT
Such a yummy recipe! I ended up cooking the chicken for closer to 5 hours on low and put the broccoli in for the last 30 minutes of that, then kept it in after increasing the heat to high when adding the milk, cream cheese, and cheese. I used 4 ounces of cream cheese and it was plenty creamy. Skipped the butter sauce and topped with fresh basil – I offered it with egg noodles or orzo for my sometimes-picky eater-kids and I personally loved it with the orzo!
Hi there! Thank you so so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Have an amazing weekend 🙂 xT
So delicious! My broccoli didn’t cook all the way through with this method. (Probably too big of pieces, so my fault) I will cook it before adding next time. I upped the quantity of spices and used medium salsa verde and it wasn’t spicy for my 8yo. Highly recommend making. And don’t skip out on the thyme butter sauce!
Love to hear this! Thank you so so much! xT
Amazing!!!! So so good and loved how easy it was. I bet it would’ve been 10 stars if I had, had time to make the thyme garlic butter sauce. I do wish it had more chicken but that’s just a personal preference!
Thank you so so much for trying out the recipe! Hope you have a great fall season! xT
I love using crockpot dinners because I have two young kids. It is so helpful to have quality recipes. I made this last night, and I loved the flavors! My sauce did not come together, it was “watery.” But it still tasted good. I added the broccoli a little earlier to make sure it had enough time to cook.
Thank you for the feedback Catherine! xT
This was delish! We will for sure be making this again many times this fall/winter. My husband went back for seconds so you know it was good! I used frozen broccoli cause that’s what I had on hand and it was great and made it even easier to throw together.
Thank you so so much for giving this recipe a try! Hope you’re having a lovely week! xT
Would it be ok to shred the chicken? I feel like it may soak up more of the sauce. Let me know your thoughts!! This is my first recipe and can’t wait to taste it!
I broke/shred the chicken up after it was cooked and it was really good that way!
Hi there! Yes, that would be just fine! xT
I made the instapot version and it came out pretty watery. Flavours were good, reminded me of my grandmas brocolli cheddar casserole
Hi there! I would maybe use a little less liquid if you feel like it didn’t turn out thick enough for you! Thank you for letting me know! xT
Can frozen broccoli be used for this?
Yes! That should work fine! xT
Made this for dinner tonight. It was excellent. Really easy to put together, but tasted like a much more complex dish. I’ll definitely keep this in rotation.
Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try! Have a great day! xT