This Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon gravy is wonderful served over mashed potatoes!
You may have seen my other recipe for chicken and gravy. It’s always been a great basic recipe for adding extra ingredients to. I’ve had readers add potatoes, carrots and even mushrooms, but never bacon. The idea for this recipe came to me when I had a delicious crispy breaded chicken with bacon gravy the other night at our favorite restaurant, though I can’t do crispy chicken in the slow cooker I sure can do the chicken and bacon gravy!
I start with chicken breasts, pepper, thyme, garlic and of course bacon.
Then I add 2 packets of chicken gravy and water. Note that I do not use all the water that the packets call for, I use 1 1/4 cups instead of the 2 cups. The reason being is the chicken will let off liquid and I will be adding cream after the chicken has finished cooking.
Below is what the chicken and gravy looks like after cooking for 3.5 hours on high.
Then I add heavy cream and shred the chicken with 2 forks.
I serve this with mashed potatoes and green beans. The gravy is very creamy and has a smoky flavor from the bacon.
Here is my YouTube video of the making of this meal, very easy to make! You can follow me on YouTube here.
This would be good over rice too! I hope you like this recipe and give it a try. I will be back on Monday with another great recipe.
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 6 slices bacon, sliced and cooked
- 2 (0.87-oz.) packets chicken gravy dry mix
- 1¼ cup water <<<<< that's all, not the amount of water the gravy packets say
- ⅔ cup heavy cream (ADD AT THE END)
- 3-quart or larger
- Add the chicken to the slow cooker. Sprinkle over the pepper, thyme, garlic and bacon.
- In a small bowl mix together the gravy mix packet and the 1¼ cup water until smooth. Pour the gravy over the chicken.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 3.5 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- When the cooking time is done, add the heavy cream. Shred the chicken with 2 forks and give everything a gentle stir until the gravy and the cream are mixed.
- Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.
- Enjoy!
I used my 6.5 quart Touch Screen Crock-Pot® for this recipe. Though a 3-quart or larger can be used just fine.
You may also like: Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken with Veggies
Julie says
August 20, 2017 at 1:57 pmVery yummy!! The only change I made was I added some sun dried tomatoes. Tired out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Jerri says
August 20, 2017 at 4:08 pmI made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!! My husband is Gluten Free, so instead of using a gravy packet, I used gluten free bouillon cubes and mixed it with corn starch. Turned out great! Ate it over mashed potatoes w/green beans on the side….Yummy 🙂
Ron says
August 20, 2017 at 5:15 pmWe substituted riced cauliflower with fresh parm and sour cream for the mashed potatoes or rice. More carb friendly and just as delicious! Awesome recipe! Thanks!
Ashley says
August 30, 2017 at 4:49 pmOh. My. Goodness.
So I made this a few weeks ago in the crock pot per instructions and it was SO good! I caught both of our cats licking our plates! My husband ate it up and requested it again.
I’m making it again tonight but I’m doing it in the pressure cooker as I’m short on time. I’ve consistently gotten good results when making slow cooker recipes in my pressure cooker.
I like to put the potatoes in with the chicken, let them cook in the delicious gravy, then take them out before adding the cream and whipping them with my hand mixer.
Next to pot roast, pulled pork and good ole fashioned steak, this has become one of our favorite meals.
Bette Lyons Lorman says
September 5, 2017 at 6:52 pmI made this for dinner the other night. It turned out OK, not raving good, like a lot of the comments. It lacked something, not flavorful enough. It took a while to shred the chicken too. My husband did not like the bacon. We had it over biscuits. Not yummy enough to make again.
Erin Cofield says
September 6, 2017 at 10:29 amI don’t know if anyone else has done this (I can’t read all of the comments), but I woke up late yesterday, realized my chicken was still partially frozen, and realized I had no potatoes to make mashed potatoes with. So I came home from work, put the chicken in a 13×9 (thawed now), sprinkled the pepper and thyme over it, poured the gravy mix and bacon over it, and baked it at 375 for 45 minutes (I covered it with tin foil for the first 30 minutes). I made rice but burned it (oops), so I served it over gnocchi. Oh my word. SOOOO GOOD. I probably gained 5 pounds eating it but it was SOOO worth it. My picky eater ate THREE BOWLS. This is going in the rotation for special occasions! (I would eat the whole pot by myself, so I probably shouldn’t have it that often– trying to lose a few pounds.) It was awesome.
Christina Henning says
September 10, 2017 at 7:58 pmI made this with boneless thighs in the oven. 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Turned out fantastic. I also used precooked bacon pieces.
Sarah Olson says
September 10, 2017 at 9:04 pmThank you so much for letting us know!
Patrick M O'Donnell says
September 14, 2017 at 6:12 amMade this with Country gravy instead of chicken gravy, Came out good but I will add probably a 1/4 cup more water next time.
ASHLEY says
September 14, 2017 at 12:09 pmHow much salt and pepper? Just enough to taste?
Sarah Olson says
September 14, 2017 at 1:18 pm1/4 tsp. pepper, no salt needed in this recipe. Plenty in the gravy packets.
Kathy says
October 31, 2017 at 3:08 pmI didn’t have any cooked up bacon,,so I just added bacon grease to the crockpot…also, instead of the cream at the end, I used 8 Oz of cream cheese instead….I will make this again, thank you
MommaLala says
December 22, 2017 at 9:46 pmHi! I’ve had this recipe saved forever and just saw it again! I want to make it for dinner but I never have heavy cream. Any suggestions on a substitute like cubes of cream cheese or sour cream? Thanks in advance! 🙂
Sarah Olson says
December 23, 2017 at 7:34 amEither would work fine!
Courtney says
January 6, 2018 at 1:25 pmThis was super tasty! Used sour cream in place of the cream and topped with a good squeeze of lemon juice. A perfect contrast that had my whole family going back for more. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Sarah Olson says
January 7, 2018 at 2:19 pmI love the idea of doing sour cream! I do that with a similar dish with beef. Thanks for the tips.
Nicole says
January 10, 2018 at 7:25 amI made this on a day that I was sick with a horrible cold and didn’t want to spend much time preparing a meal. I used the bacon pieces in the salad dressing isle so I wouldn’t have to deal with frying bacon and cleaning up that mess. I also used the Bob Evans mashed potatoes that are ready in 5 min. It was quick, easy and we all enjoyed it. I put 4 chicken breasts in and there wasn’t much gravy to go over the mashed potatoes but it was still good. Next time I will use 3 chicken breasts.
Janelle Koerner says
January 22, 2018 at 10:40 amAny idea on nutritional facts?
Cecelia says
March 8, 2018 at 2:31 pmCan I use canned chicken gravy instead of dry powered packets ?! I hope it works lol it’s all in the crock pot already lol…used two can of chicken gravy so we’ll see how it works lol thanks for the recipe!!!! Can’t wait to try it!!!!
Hannah says
March 29, 2018 at 5:08 pmI made this for tonight’s dinner and served it over rice with some mixed veggies on the side. super yummy! my bf cleaned his plate, definitely making again 🙂
Kevin Kelly O'Brien says
April 15, 2018 at 3:34 pmMaybe I missed it in comments, but how is this KETO, if poured over rice or mashed potatoes?
Sarah Olson says
April 15, 2018 at 5:04 pmI never said it was keto. Another website deemed it was and is linking here. Gravy packets are loaded with carbs too.
Diane says
June 10, 2018 at 2:26 pmWould it work the same if I used chicken broth instead of the same amount of water?
Sarah Olson says
June 10, 2018 at 8:18 pmYes! would be fine, but would be more salty
Anonymous says
August 4, 2018 at 8:56 pmWay too much thyme. Half or less would probably work.
Sarah Olson says
August 4, 2018 at 10:23 pmDid you use leaf or ground? Ground would be too strong for this.
SCV says
September 5, 2018 at 4:38 amCan you do this with frozen chicken and if so how would I adjust the recipe and the cooking time?
thank you.
Sarah Olson says
September 5, 2018 at 9:10 amI would do 4 hours on high
Kim says
September 5, 2018 at 11:47 amHow would you time this too cook in an instant pot? 20-25 minutes.
Sarah Olson says
September 5, 2018 at 5:28 pmI have not tried, sorry. But that seems right if I was going to test it out.
Kierra says
September 16, 2018 at 8:34 pmI want to make about 8 servings do I just double everything?
Sarah Olson says
September 17, 2018 at 8:23 amYes! that should work fine
Michele Carver says
September 30, 2018 at 4:48 pmI just had this and it was excellent!! I wouldn’t change a thing. Has anyone tried mixing everything (except the cream) together in the raw state and freezing it for a quick weekly meal?
Patricia M Worrell says
October 13, 2018 at 5:25 pmMy husband is a picky eater. He questioned the the recipe but decided to try it. I did it tonight for our 8 year anniversary and he loved it. We both think this would be good over either rotini or penne pastas. Also he’s suggested taking out the gravy and pouring alfredo over it and pouring over fetuccini, I’ll let you know when we try it that way 😉 We paired it with some sparkling grape juice (white for me, red for him) and corn and poured it over mashed potatoes. 5 out of 5 stars from both of us!
Sarah Olson says
October 14, 2018 at 1:44 pmSo glad you two enjoyed it and I love your serving suggestions.
Jessica Job says
October 21, 2018 at 11:44 amThank you so much for this recipe! My picky 7 year old absolutely loves this and it’s been in our rotation for a few months now. We serve it with green beans and potatoes as well. I like to add mushrooms to it, super delicious! I have a few other recipes of yours that i want to try, I’ve bookmarked at least 6! 🙂
Sarah Olson says
October 21, 2018 at 5:08 pmI’m so glad to hear this Jessica, glad to have you here!
Anonymous says
December 2, 2018 at 7:13 pmI only had one packet of gravy so I substituted 2 cans of cream of chicken soup as suggested with half of a can of water and it came out wonderful! It is now one of my favorites
Sarah Olson says
December 3, 2018 at 12:46 pmThat’s great! Thanks for letting us know that tip!
Nancy says
January 9, 2019 at 8:50 amCould yu double the recipe
Cheryl says
January 24, 2019 at 7:22 amI used black pepper bacon and also put a few tablespoons of some left over apricot preserves I had from topping a cheesecake…..sounds weird I know but I like to improvise……it’s starting to smell really good….thanks for the recipe
Michelle says
February 6, 2019 at 4:46 pmI’ve made this several times and I love it! I did make one small change; I carmelize a small handful of diced sweet yellow onion in the bacon fat and toss that in with the rest of the ingredients. Yum! I plan to try it in the Instant Pot next.