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!
How to make Slow Cooker Chicken with 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 the liquid and I will be adding the 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.
Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon Gravy
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker Size: 3-quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 6 slices bacon sliced and cooked
- 1.74 oz. chicken gravy dry mix packets (2 PACKETS that are .87 oz. each)
- 1¼ cup water
- ⅔ cup heavy cream ADD AT THE END
Instructions:
- 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 or on LOW for 6 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!
How to Video:
Nutrition:
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes:
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy (without bacon)
- Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken
- Slow Cooker Seasoning Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- Slow Cooker Full Chicken Dinner
- Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken and Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken and Veggies
- Slow Cooker No Peek Chicken
- Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken with Rice
- Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Fajitas
- Slow Cooker Alpine Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Casserole
I have made this recipe many times, and it is is a favorite at our house! I’ve made it exactly as written, I’ve made it and subbed 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup for the cream, I’ve made it with the addition of Portobello mushrooms and onions ( our favorite way), we’ve eaten it over rice, over mashed potatoes, and over noodles, but our favorite way to eat it is with the addition of onions and Portobello mushrooms, and using a slotted spoon, serve it on sturdy onion Kaiser buns, then serve the gravy over rice or potatoes alongside the sandwich. AMAZING! Thank you so much for the recipe, Sarah!
Is there a substitute for chicken gravy as we don’t get them here. Can I make it from scratch? If yes,how?
I did everything word for word. It hit 5 hours and it burned on sides and all dried up!
So sorry Annabella, maybe your slow cooker runs hot.
Is the nutrition info for one serving?
yes, one serving.
LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!! I ADDED FRESH MUSHROOMS AND IT WAS DELICIOUS . IM MAKING A PIE WITH LEFTOVERS. HUBBY LOVED IT AND IT WAS SO EASY . WILL BE A REGULAR ITEM ON OUR MENU
Do you have to cook the bacon before putting it in the slow cooker?
I recommend it. The browning of the bacon is what gives it flavor. It’s just a greasy taste otherwise.
i am making this as i type my question is can i add the bacon later so that it doesnt get to soft or does it?
It will get soft but still tastes good. You can add it later if you want it crisp.
Since I can’t find gluten free chicken gravy mix, I’m gonna have to make my own gravy. Since it won’t be powered form, how much gravy should I use?
About 2 cups
Can you please advise how long you then leave it for when adding the cream, i assume you wouldnt serve straight away as the dish wouldnt be warm?
Hi Chloe, if your slow cooker didn’t switch to warm it isn’t enough cream to make it cold. But if you want to warm it more you can put the lid back on for 15 more minutes on high.
Carb and calorie information would be helpful. My pet peeve when people have these websites with incomplete information.
Hi Barbara, I am slowing adding it on each of my older recipes. The new recipes on my site have them and eventually all will. Takes a few hours to convert each recipe. Keep in mind these are free recipes from one person, I do not have a team of people who work for me.
If youre capable of looking at this website, then youre capable of looking up the calories for this recipe.
Is it 1 &1/4 cup of water for the two packets of gravy total or 1 & 1/4 cup of water per packet?
Only 1 1/4. The chicken will release juices and the cream at the end will be the rest of the liquid needed.
I’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.
I 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
Could yu double the recipe
I 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
That’s great! Thanks for letting us know that tip!
Thank 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! 🙂
I’m so glad to hear this Jessica, glad to have you here!
My 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!
So glad you two enjoyed it and I love your serving suggestions.
I 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?
I want to make about 8 servings do I just double everything?
Yes! that should work fine
How would you time this too cook in an instant pot? 20-25 minutes.
I have not tried, sorry. But that seems right if I was going to test it out.