Made with chicken breasts, crispy bacon, and chicken gravy mix, this Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon Gravy is a delicious, one-pot substitute for a restaurant-style dinner. It’s packed with so much flavor, that your family is sure to request this comfort food more often.
Serve this delicious meal alongside a generous helping of Slow Cooker Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes and Slow Cooker Green Beans.
Why you should try this chicken with creamy bacon gravy recipe
You may have seen my other recipe for slow cooker chicken and gravy. It has always been a great basic recipe for adding extra ingredients to, 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.
Although I can’t do crispy chicken in the slow cooker, I sure can do the chicken and bacon gravy! I’ve found this chicken and gravy recipe to be super easy to make, especially with minimal ingredients. The prep time is quick and the cooking time is perfect for yielding fork tender chicken. My family loved this restaurant-style rendition of smothered chicken with creamy gravy – yours will too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken Breasts: Boneless skinless chicken breasts are the best option to use for this recipe both for cooking evenly and shredding easily.
- Chicken Gravy: You’ll need two packets of chicken gravy dry mix.
- Bacon: Sliced and cooked.
- Seasonings: Pepper, dried thyme, and minced garlic (or garlic powder) are the only seasonings you need for an amazing taste.
- Water: Mixed with the chicken gravy.
- Heavy Cream: This is added at the end as a thickening agent. You can use light cream or even half and half.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Add the chicken to the slow cooker. Sprinkle over the pepper, thyme, garlic, and cooked crispy bacon.
Step Two – In a small bowl mix together the gravy mix packet and the 1¼ cup water until smooth.
Step Three – Pour the gravy over the chicken.
Step Four – 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, shred the chicken with 2 forks.
Step Five – Add the heavy cream.
Step Six – Give everything a good stir and serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or a side of your choice. Enjoy!
How to serve
- This delicious chicken and gravy can be served over a bed of rice, mashed potatoes, or egg noodles.
- If you want to pair it with sides, I recommend green beans, roasted carrots, or a baked potato.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Just make sure they are boneless and skinless for the best results.
Yes. The gravy thickens during the cooking process. If you want it thicker, you can make a thickening slurry with flour and water or milk. Add the flour mixture after or with the heavy cream.
Place any remaining chicken and gravy in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. When ready to re-enjoy the leftovers, they can be warmed up over medium heat. This meal can also be frozen.
I don’t advise on frozen chicken for some studies suggest that it isn’t safe.
I have not personally tried it, but a reader did, and this is what she said: “I did the recipe as normal, on high pressure for 7 mins, and it came out fine! Not quite as flavourful as when done in the slow cooker but definitely a great option for when you need it in a hurry!”
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes:
- Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken
- Slow Cooker Seasoning Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans
- Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- Slow Cooker Italian Chicken and Gravy
- Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken and Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken with Rice
- Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Fajitas
- Slow Cooker Alpine Chicken
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Slow Cooker Chicken with Bacon Gravy
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 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)
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 2/3 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:
Sarah’s Notes:
- Place any remaining chicken and gravy in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. When you’re ready to re-enjoy the leftovers, they can be warmed up over medium heat. This meal can also be frozen.
- Chicken thighs can be used instead of chicken breasts, just make sure they are boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Courtney says
This 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
I love the idea of doing sour cream! I do that with a similar dish with beef. Thanks for the tips.
MommaLala says
Hi! 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
Either would work fine!
Kathy says
I 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
ASHLEY says
How much salt and pepper? Just enough to taste?
Sarah Olson says
1/4 tsp. pepper, no salt needed in this recipe. Plenty in the gravy packets.
Patrick M O'Donnell says
Made this with Country gravy instead of chicken gravy, Came out good but I will add probably a 1/4 cup more water next time.
Christina Henning says
I 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
Thank you so much for letting us know!
Erin Cofield says
I 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.
Bette Lyons Lorman says
I 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.
Ashley says
Oh. 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.
Ron says
We 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!
Jerri says
I 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 🙂
Julie says
Very yummy!! The only change I made was I added some sun dried tomatoes. Tired out great! Thanks for the recipe!