Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta is an absolutely delicious one-pot meal your whole family will love. The flavor of garlic parmesan wing sauce marries with cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, milk, and a few other pantry staples for so much flavor.
This chicken pasta isn’t the only dish that tastes great with a garlic parmesan flavor. Try my Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Potatoes, Garlic Parmesan Chicken Dinner, or Angel Chicken.
Why this parmesan chicken pasta recipe works
The staples in this recipe – garlic, parmesan, and chicken – are great by themselves, but when put into a crock pot and mixed with a few other ingredients, you have an even more delicious dish. This slow cooker meal is easy to prep, quick cooking, and versatile when serving.
The combination of pasta with potatoes is unique and a must try. It’s like getting the best of both worlds.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are ideal for this recipe as they cook to fork tender and are easy to shred. They’ll also soak up the garlic parmesan flavor perfectly.
- Wet Ingredients: Whole milk, heavy cream, cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, and garlic parmesan wing sauce combine to make the creamy base.
- Red Potatoes: Baby red potatoes hold up very well when cooked in the crockpot. They also soak up some of the flavors during the cooking process.
- Sweet Onion: Onion add a bit of crunch as well as flavor.
- Cheddar Cheese: Added in the beginning to melt during the cooking time and aid in creating a creamy sauce.
- Rotini Pasta: The pasta of choice for easy mixing and holding the sauce. Other pasta shapes can be used if you prefer a different one.
- Fresh Parsley: For serving and garnish (optional).
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Pour the milk and heavy cream into the slow cooker. Then add the cream of chicken soup, garlic parmesan wing sauce, cream cheese, and shredded cheese.
Step Two – Stir the cream sauce ingredients together until well-mixed. Add in diced sweet onion and quartered red potatoes.
Step Three – Place the chicken breasts into the crock pot in a single layer.
Step Four – Use a spoon to scoop some of the cream sauce over the chicken—Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
Step Five – When cooking time is complete, and the chicken is tender, use two forks to shred one chicken breast at a time directly in the slow cooker.
Step Six – Stir the cooked chicken into the creamy garlic parmesan sauce.
Step Seven – Add cooked pasta noodles (cooked al dente) into the garlic parmesan chicken base.
Step Eight – Stir well. Serve and enjoy!
Variations and Serving Suggestions
- Garlic parmesan chicken can be served in a bowl alongside a buttered piece of garlic bread (or with garlic sticks).
- You can make it more hearty by adding fresh spinach, frozen broccoli, peas, and carrots.
- If you want even more garlic flavor, throw in some minced garlic from fresh garlic cloves.
- Don’t hesitate to be generous with fresh parsley when it comes to toppings. Add a bit of spice with a dash of red pepper flakes or more Italian flavor with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning.
Recipe FAQs
It’s best to boil your noodles outside of your crockpot towards the end of the cooking time. When added to the crockpot, the noodles tend to soak up the moisture that the rest of the dish needs to cook properly. This leaves you with dry chicken and burnt potatoes.
You can substitute the rotini pasta with any variation of noodles, such as bow tie pasta, penne pasta, or cavatappi pasta. If you’re looking for a gluten free pasta, try zucchini noodles.
Transfer any remaining chicken pasta into an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to four days.
Once the garlic parmesan chicken has cooled completely, place it in a freezer safe container or bag. It will keep for up to 3 months. When you want to reheat it, allow it to defrost before warming it over medium heat. You’ll need to add additional cream, milk, or even chicken broth to prevent burning.
Yes, boneless skinless chicken thighs work well with this recipe.
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Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 8 oz. cream cheese cubed
- 10.5 oz. cream of chicken soup
- 12 oz. bottle of garlic parmesan wing sauce (look for wild buffalo wings brand, I find this at Walmart or Albertsons).
- 1 cup Colby jack cheese shredded
- 1 cup diced sweet onion finely diced
- 1 lb. baby red potatoes quartered
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 16 oz. box of rotini pasta (will be cooking on the stove top)
- parsley for garnish
Instructions:
- In a 6-8 quart crock pot, stir together milk, heavy cream, cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, garlic parmesan wing sauce, and Colby jack cheese.
- Once mixed well, stir in sweet onion and quartered red potatoes.
- Place chicken breasts into the crock pot in a single layer and use a spoon to scoop sauce over the chicken to completely coat it.
- Set your crockpot on high and cook for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
- 20 minutes before the end of cook time, boil your noodles according to box instructions in a separate pot (usually 10 minutes). Drain well and set aside. Do not rinse your noodles.
- Using 2 forks, shred the chicken and mix thoroughly with the sauce.
- Add your boiled noodles to the crock pot and stir very well until all noodles are coated in sauce and shredded chicken.
- Top with chopped parsley and serve warm.
Recipe Notes:
- You can substitute the rotini pasta with any variation of noodles such as bowtie pasta, penne pasta, or cavatappi pasta.
- Thinking of adding the noodles uncooked to the slow cooker? It’s best to boil your noodles outside of your crockpot towards the end of the cooking time. When added to the crockpot, the noodles tend to soak up the moisture that the rest of the dish needs to cook properly. This leaves you with dry chicken and burnt potatoes.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Can you replace potatoes with broccoli???
I made this almost exactly as written, and it was delicious, although a bit on the spicy and salty side. We just finished eating, and my lips are burning. I used 2% milk, half and half, and only 3 cups of large elbow macaroni, about 12 oz. This makes a lot, and is good to feed a crowd. For two people, there will be a ton of leftovers. I’ll keep it in my recipe file for the next potluck.
I also left out the potatoes!
Yummy! I definitely, will be making this again, although I made a few changes. Since I did not have the garlic wing sauce on hand, I used a cup of my concocted Italian Ranch dressing (a combination of Olive Gardens Italian and Hidden Valley Ranch dressings) as well as 4 cloves of pressed garlic. I also stirred in 1 cup of parmesan cheese when I added the noodles.
(sorry) or is it like a salad dressing, i.e. the ranch you said
It’s almost like a salad dressing but it’s a wing sauce coating.
I have no idea what the garlic parmesan sauce is like. Could you say it is like a spaghetti sauce? A condensed soup? An alfredo sauce? I just have no sense of what it is like?
Thanks,
Jackie
It’s basically wing sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings
This sounds delish! In the description and photo, you use grated cheddar cheese, but in the actual list of ingredients and the directions you have Colby Jack cheese. Does it matter which one? Or using Monterey Jack? Or grated Parmesan?
It doesn’t matter, though some sort of cheddar will have more flavor.
Could you substitute an 8 oz. jar of basil pesto sauce for the wing sauce?
That should work fine.
What can I uses in replace of the garlic parmesan sauce?? I don’t have that available??
I think ranch would be a good choice.
This is a terrible dish. Groceries are too high to waste on bad dishes, and this is definitely a no. I didn’t use the whole bottle, and the garlic Parmesan was still too strong. I would not recommend.
Can you skip the potatoes?
Yes!