Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne
315 Comments Oct 10, 2022
Updated Nov 11, 2023
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This Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne has features of mac and cheese but with chicken added too! A great meal to come home to that the entire family will enjoy.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
I was on
Anytime you can prepare a “one-pot” meal that takes minimal ingredients and still yields a delicious flavor is a winner in my book. This is one of those busy night meals because the prep time is short, and the cooking time is reasonable.
You can start it, continue your day and finish up minutes before serving. This cheesy chicken penne is an excellent idea for any time of year and is sure to become a new family favorite.
Ingredients:
- Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are the perfect size and yield quite a bit when shredded at the time.
- Cream of chicken soup: You’ll use two cans without adding water; you can use mushroom soup if that is what you have on hand.
- Chicken broth: Or chicken stock helps create the cream sauce texture.
- Seasonings: Pepper and dried leaf tarragon; you can substitute oregano or Italian seasoning.
- Mushrooms: These will be sliced. I know many kids (and adults) don’t like mushrooms; you can leave them out and add additional broth, for they do add moisture to the recipe.
- Onion: Sweet yellow onion is diced and aads a nice flavor.
- Sour cream: Added toward the end to help provide a creamy texture.
- Shredded cheddar cheese: You sharp cheddar or medium cheddar, depending on your preferences.
- Penne pasta: You’ll cook this according to the package directions on the stove. I also use penne pasta in my Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo Recipe
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Add the cream of chicken soup to the slow cooker with the chicken broth.
Step Two – Mix until smooth.
Step Three: Add the mushrooms, diced onion, tarragon, and pepper and mix again.
Step Four – Place the chicken breast on top of that. Cook on LOW for 6 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
Step Five – Just before the cooking time is up, boil your water, then cook the pasta to Al Dente.
Step Six – Shred the chicken with two forks right in the slow cooker.
Step Seven: Add the sour cream, half the cheese, and the cooked and drained pasta.
Step Eight – Stir.
Step Nine – Sprinkle over the remaining cheese.
Step Ten – Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
How to Serve
- 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.
Recipe FAQs
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.
Since sour cream doesn’t freeze very well, this is a recipe that you’ll want to freeze in parts and then cook it according to the directions. You can combine everything up until the sour cream, freeze, and then defrost and cook according to the directions.
Any leftover pasta can be put into an airtight container and kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days.
You could always add more vegetables such as peas, corn, broccoli, bell peppers, green chiles, and the like.
You can use Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, or even dried basil! Make the dish your own with your favorite spices.
Heaven on a plate! Plenty of sauce to coat all the noodles. I highly recommend this meal for an easy weeknight meal.
More pasta recipes:
- Slow Cooker Cajun Chicken Fettucine
- Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
- Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken Mozzarella
- Slow Cooker Baked Spaghetti
- Chicken Spaghetti (recipe from Southern Bite)
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tetrazzini
- Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce (add your favorite pasta shape!)
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Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Penne
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!
How to Video
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.
- Any pasta can be used. Though if you use egg noodles, be extra careful not to overcook, they tend to break apart easily.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
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.