Complete Chicken Dinner in the Crockpot
178 CommentsUpdated Jan 31, 2026
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This Easy Chicken Dinner has tender chicken thighs, Yukon gold potatoes, and green beans in a savory herb sauce. A cozy meal that hits the spot.
Featured Comment
Hi Sarah, we loved this recipe! I used frozen green beans and they worked fine. Thanks for such a delicious meal. I would serve it to company.
– mt
I love it when I find a complete meal for the slow cooker — no worrying about making side dishes for this meal since everything is prepared at once. This full chicken dinner is so flavorful and tender that many of my viewers say it’s good enough to serve to company!
It’s a Sunday meal, set this up after lunch, and no worries about dinner at all, scoop and serve when the timer goes off.
Key Ingredients
Chicken Thighs – Bone in, skin on thighs will cook down and help create the sauce for these thighs.
Green Beans – These hold up well to the long slow cooking.
Potatoes – We use Yukon gold potatoes because they have a great buttery flavor.
Sauce – A blend of tomato sauce, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and fresh garlic – yes, a from-scratch sauce.
How to make a Complete Chicken Dinner in the Crockpot
- Quickly brown the chicken to build flavor.
- Add potatoes and green beans to the slow cooker.
- Layer the chicken on top, then add garlic, tomato sauce, and seasonings.
- Cover and cook until the chicken is tender and the veggies are perfectly cooked.
Tips & Variations
Cut Swap: If you use any other cut other than bone in, skin on thighs, add a cup of chicken broth. (Thighs are ultra juicy compared to other cuts).
Tomato Swap: Don’t have tomato sauce? You can use any type of spaghetti sauce in it’s place.
Other Veggies: You can add carrots, onions or mushrooms to this meal (along with the other vegetables or take some out)
Potato type: Though we love yukon gold potatoes, you can use any potato in this recipe. Just be sure to cut them into small cubes.
The Beans: You can use fresh, frozen or even canned green beans if you are in a pinch.
What should I serve with this dish to round out the meal?
If you’d like to add more to this meal, consider adding dinner rolls, butter, and a side salad. Or if you’re busy like me, this complete chicken dinner is all you need for a fully rounded meal.
Complete Chicken Dinner
How to Video
Ingredients
- 2 ½ lbs bone-in chicken thighs
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 1 ½ lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, diced
- 1 lb. green beans, ends snipped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce , (not paste)
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- ½ tsp. dried rosemary
Instructions
- Set a pan on the stove top and set to medium-high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken on both sides, you don't need to cook the meat through.
- Add the diced potatoes and green beans to the bottom of the slow cooker, toss them together to combine them.
- Add the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes and green beans. Add the garlic. Drizzle over the tomato sauce, then sprinkle over the salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary. Take a spatula and smear around the sauce trying to combine the seasoning into the sauce.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4.5 hours. Do no open the lid during the cooking time or the potatoes will not get tender.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More chicken slow cooker recipes:
Crockpot Tuscan Chicken and Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy are both rich and creamy dinner options that never disappoint. Try my Crockpot Cornish Game Hens for a unique twist.
For a full meal, try Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans or hearty Chicken Tater Tot Casserole.
Slow Cooker Chicken Tenders, Fiesta Chicken with Rice, Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo, and Chicken Enchilada Casserole are easy favorites packed with bold flavor.
Would I be able to sear the chicken the night before and assemble in the morning?
Also could I substitute pasta sauce for tomato sauce? Thanks!
Yes you can sear it the night before (I do it often!) Yes pasta sauce would be great on this, you could even add a little more than what I add.
Can I cook it on low? If so how long do you think?
I think 7 hours on low.
Delicious, very handy as it’s pretty easy. My kinda cooking. I make this often. My friend doesn’t like the bones but I can’t understand why because the meat falls right off. This is also tasty, I was nervous about the tomato sauce but that is what adds the flavor.
can i use a whole chicken
Yes, you may have different results though. I would cook for a few hours more. Whole chicken always take longer than expected.
Total hit in our household! I cooked this in my IP. I used the sauté mode and browned the chicken for a few minutes on each side, added the rest of the ingredients with a tiny bit of water and ran it on the poultry setting. I let it NR for 10 minutes before venting the rest of the pressure. Chicken came out like falling off the bone and potatoes were perfect. Thank you!
How long to set it to cook in your instapot initially?
I’m prepping for our feast tomorrow… Can I brown the chicken today, stick everything in the crockpot, and then cook it tomorrow morning? Thanks for sharing this!! We can’t wait to try it!
Can I use canned green beans?
yes!
I made this tonight and my kids gave it a 10/10. Thank you it was delicious
This is very delicious and easy to make. Thank you. This recipe really comes in handy.
Can you use frozen chicken breasts?