Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne
340 CommentsUpdated Jan 28, 2026
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This Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne has all the creamy, comforting goodness of mac and cheese, with tender chicken added for a heartier meal. It’s an easy, family-friendly dinner that’s perfect to come home to after a busy day.
I was on
You can start it, continue your day and finish up minutes before serving. This pasta is an excellent idea for any time of year and is sure to become a new family favorite. Heaven on a plate! Plenty of sauce to coat all the noodles. I highly recommend this meal for an easy weeknight meal.
Key Ingredients:
Here is what you need to make this crockpot pasta recipe. See the recipe card for full ingredient amounts.
- Chicken and Sauce Ingredients: Boneless skinless chicken breasts slow cooked with two cans of cream of chicken soup and broth.
- Seasonings: Pepper, and dried tarragon (or oregano or Italian seasoning) go well with the chicken and sauce.
- Mushrooms and Onion: Sliced mushrooms and diced sweet yellow onion add flavor and moisture (mushrooms can be skipped if preferred).
- Creamy Finish: Sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese (sharp or medium) stirred in at the end.
- Pasta: Penne pasta, cooked separately according to package directions.
Variations
This is a very basic kid friendly meal, you can make it to suit your families tastes.
- If you have extra picky eaters and want to omit the mushrooms and onions add an additional 1/2 cup of broth. This will replace the moisture from the mushrooms and onions.
- You could always add more vegetables such as peas, corn, broccoli, bell peppers, green chiles and the like.
- Rotini pasta is another go-to pasta that can be used to substitute the penne pasta. If anything, use whatever you have in your pantry. Egg noodles can be used, though you have to be EXTRA careful not to overcook.
- You can use Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, or even dried basil! Make the dish your own with your favorite spices.
How to make Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Penne
Step One: Add the cream of chicken soup to the slow cooker with the chicken broth. Mix until smooth. Add the mushrooms, diced onion, tarragon, and pepper and mix again.
Step Two: Place the chicken breast on top of that.
Step Three: Cook on LOW for 6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time. Just before the cooking time is up, boil your water, then cook the pasta to Al Dente. Shred the chicken with two forks right in the slow cooker.
Step Four: Add the sour cream and half the cheese. Stir.
Step Five: – Add the cooked and drained pasta to the slow cooker. Stir gently.
Step Six: Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
My Serving Ideas
We make this pasta often. Here is how we serve it:
- This slow cooker meal can be served as-is because it provides plenty of heartiness with the pasta, chicken, and cheese.
- You can also serve it with garlic bread or another bread of your choice.
- This pasta also pairs well with a small side salad or another green vegetable, such as steamed broccoli.
- As for toppings, you can’t go wrong with adding extra shredded cheese or going for some shredded Parmesan cheese.
Featured Comment
“Just made it again for the umpteenth time. A crowd pleaser!“
– Kent
Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne
How to Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 21 oz cream of chicken soup , (two-10.5 oz cans) Don't add water
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. dried leaf tarragon, can substitute oregano, thyme or Italian seasoning here.
- 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 small sweet yellow onion, diced
Add at the end
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 lb. penne pasta, cooked according to package directions on the stove-top
Instructions
- Add the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth to the slow cooker, stir until smooth.
- Add the tarragon, pepper, mushrooms and onions, stir.
- Add the chicken breasts.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- After the cooking time is up, start cooking the pasta according to the package directions to Al dente on the stove-top, do not over cook!
- Shred the chicken with 2 forks.
- Add sour cream and half of the cheese, stir.
- Add the cooked and drained pasta and stir again.
- Sprinkle over remaining cheese. Cover the slow cooker and cook for an additional 20 minutes on low.
- Serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
- If you have extra picky eaters and want to omit the mushrooms and onions add an additional 1/2 cup of broth. This will replace the moisture from the mushrooms and onions.
- You could always add more vegetables such as peas, corn, broccoli, bell peppers, green chiles and the like.
- Rotini pasta is another go-to pasta that can be used to substitute the penne pasta. If anything, use whatever you have in your pantry. Egg noodles can be used, though you have to be EXTRA careful not to overcook.
- You can use Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, or even dried basil! Make the dish your own with your favorite spices.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Recipe adapted from the oven recipe at Food.com
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Hi, all. I really need some help! I made this a couple of months ago and it was excellent. I got thru the slow cooking step and then split that in half. I took one half of it, before adding sour cream, cheese, and pasta, and froze that. I finished the rest off, adding 1/2 c. sour cream, 1 c. of cheese, and made 8 oz. of penne to go with it. Like I said, this was excellent. Well, this week, I unthawed the remaining sauce, made some more penne, added the 1/2 c. of sour cream and 1 c. of shredded cheese to the pasta and then added thawed sauce to that, heated it thru and served it. Well, my husband did not like it and I found it seemed to have lost something. I see that, according to the directions, I should have heated up the sauce and then added the sour cream and cheese to that and then added that to the noodles but it doesn’t seem to me that the minor change I made in mixing it should have changed it so drastically. Any ideas on how I can rejuvenate my sauce? I thought maybe adding additional cheese or maybe cream cheese might help it out but looking for any suggestions asap! I still have about half the sauce without the added sour cream, cheese, or pasta. I felt there was plenty of sauce in the pasta I cooked up and I didn’t want to add more of it as it didn’t seem to need it. Thank you for your help.
Can you freeze leftovers?
I think it should be fine.
Family loved it!
Made this a couple times and everyone loved it. Great as leftovers next day too. Very easy as a non kitchen person.
Tried this one the other night. Success ! My 10 year old and 1 year old enjoyed it. I used boneless skinless thighs because we prefer that over breast. I also had to use canned mushrooms, but they held up well! Didn’t have taragon , so used oregano and pepper. Leftovers were bomb !
Can I use canned mushrooms ? I forgot to get fresh ones this weekend!
Yes! Those will work fine.
Yes, cube up your chicken, add a bit of oil to the inner pot and sauté the chicken up a bit with onion and mushroom, add in seasoning. Pour in the broth, add the uncooked pasta, do not stir, add the soup on top of the pasta, do not stir. Manual high pressure for 6min and do quick release. Once pressure is released, add in the cheese and sour cream and mix together!
Can I substitute boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of the chicken breast
Yes, that always works great in my recipes.
Can I use frozen chicken? I completely spaced on taking my chicken out of the oven, but my whole family is pretty set on me making this tonight♀️
I am making this right now and I have frozen chicken breasts. How did yours turn out?
Frozen chicken will turn out fine in recipes. They only issue is food safety. 🙂
I saw a YouTube video a while back about thawing chicken breasts quickly and safely.. I believe she was a professional chef, and she based her info on FDA safety standards… fill a pot w enough water to cover your chicken breasts, bring to 140 (F), and turn off the heat. Place the frozen chicken breasts in the water (I think they have to be in a ziplock or something but maybe not? Can’t remember) Insure they’re fully submersed; and they should be thawed in about 10-15 mins or so. I do this all the time and we have never been sick! You just can’t leave them in there a long time…. like idk, I probably wouldn’t go any longer than maybe 30 mins(?) but that’s just a guesstimate! Hope this helps someone out there! But I will say, in the past I have used frozen chicken breasts for crockpot recipes with no problem…
Bitter and there’s no fixing it. I had to throw it out.