Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken
10 Comments Jun 14, 2024
Updated Aug 24, 2024
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Bring the flavors of Tuscany into your kitchen with this delicious Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken recipe. Made with skinless boneless chicken breasts, sun dried tomatoes, sliced onion, basil, and a host of other seasonings – this chicken dinner is one the whole family will love.
There’s other ways to add Tuscan flavors in your meal plan, especially with my Slow Cooker Creamy Tuscan Mushrooms and Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean Soup.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Tuscan Chicken Recipe
Making an Italian-inspired dish doesn’t have to be overwhelming and I think that’s what you’ll love most about this recipe. The finishing dish will taste like something purchased from a restaurant but was made in the comfort of your own kitchen. All you’ll need are just a few pantry staples, your crock pot, and 3-4 hours of cooking time.
It boasts of lots of flavor thanks to the variety of seasonings, spices, and herbs. The chicken locks in flavors due to the pre-browning process and everything else is dumped in just before setting the slow cooker temp. I have no doubts that your family will be asking for seconds and to see this cooked more than once!
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken: All you’ll need are 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts for this recipe.
- Seasonings: Dried oregano, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, kosher salt, black pepper, minced garlic cloves.
- Veggies: Sun dried tomatoes (drained and chopped), sliced onion, and baby spinach. We also use sun dried tomatoes in our Slow Cooker Marry Me Chicken recipe.
- Wet Ingredients: Olive oil is used for browning the chicken just before slow cooking, low sodium chicken broth, and heavy cream.
- Garnish: Fresh parsley and freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional).
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – In a small bowl, mix together the dried oregano, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.
Step Two – Rub the spice mixture over the chicken breasts, ensuring they are evenly coated. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.
Step Three – Transfer the browned chicken breasts to the slow cooker.
Step Four – Directly over the chicken in the slow cooker, add the onion, minced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and pour the chicken broth evenly over the top.
Step Five – Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
Step Six – Stir the heavy cream and baby spinach into the slow cooker.
Step Seven – Allow the spinach to wilt and the sauce to thicken slightly.
Step Eight – Sprinkle the freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the chicken.
Step Nine – Cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Serve crockpot tuscan chicken using some of the suggestions below and enjoy!
How to Serve
- This dish pairs wonderfully with al dente pasta, such as fettuccine or penne, to soak up the delicious creamy sauce.
- Serve the Tuscan chicken garnished with fresh parsley and accompanied by your choice of pasta, rice, or crusty bread.
- You can also serve the chicken on a bed of green salad for a refreshing meal. For the dressing, use some of the cream sauce drizzled over the chicken breast.
- Other starch options are serving over mashed potatoes, or steamed white rice.
Recipe FAQs
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and reheated gently on the stove or in the microwave.
Yes! A splash of white wine is great in this recipe.
You can leave out the crushed red pepper flakes and also cut back on the black pepper.
Yes. They will taste great as well.
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes
- Slow Cooker Cranberry Chicken
- Slow Cooker Pizza Chicken
- Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Soup
- Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
- Slow Cooker Mississippi Chicken
Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp, onion powder
- ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the dried oregano, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.
- Rub the spice mixture over the chicken breasts, ensuring they are evenly coated.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Transfer the browned chicken breasts to the slow cooker.
- Directly over the chicken in the slow cooker, add the sliced onion, minced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and pour the chicken broth evenly over the top.
- Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.
- Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the slow cooker and set aside.
- Stir the heavy cream and baby spinach into the slow cooker, allowing the spinach to wilt and the sauce to thicken slightly.
- Return the chicken to the slow cooker and spoon some of the sauce over the top.
- Sprinkle the freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the chicken.
- Cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
- Serve the Tuscan chicken garnished with fresh parsley and accompanied by your choice of pasta, rice, or crusty bread. Enjoy!
How to Video
Sarah’s Notes
- Adding the onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and broth directly to the slow cooker simplifies the preparation process while still infusing the chicken with rich flavors.
- For an extra depth of flavor, consider adding a splash of white wine along with the chicken broth.
- This dish pairs wonderfully with al dente pasta, such as fettuccine or penne, to soak up the delicious creamy sauce.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and reheated gently on the stove or in the microwave.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Your recipe has contradictions in it. In the ingredients it say to slice an onion. In the instructions it says to put chopped onions over chicken. So do we slice or chop the onions?
It is sliced onions, thank you for letting me know.
Excellent recipe!!! The only thing I did differently was add 4oz of softened cream cheese into the crockpot and stirred until smooth, along with some grated Parmesan, as the sauce was a bit too runny for my liking. Served it with mashed potatoes—absolutely delicious!!! This is my second time making it, and it was a hit both times.
This was a delicious meal and so flavorful! I made a few modifications. I didn’t have the sun dried tomatoes so I added baby Bella mushrooms. After the chicken was browned and placed in the crock pot I deglazed the pan with white wine, then added the onion & mushrooms. Cooked until the onions were soft, then added to the chicken. The final modification I made was I used fat free half& half instead of the cream since that’s what I had. The hubs loved it! The short time in the crock pot ensures that the chicken won’t get too dry. This was absolutely delicious and I plan to make it again! Highly recommend! Thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Can I substitute bone in thighs or legs?
Yes, either will work great! You may need to degrease the sauce before serving though.
Hi, in the ingredients it says 1 onion sliced. In the instructions it says to add the finely diced onion. Does it make a difference how the onion is cut?
Thanks
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Excellent flavoring. Next time I will add that splash of wine. This is going in my KEEPER file.
Where is the basil in this recipe? It’s shown as an ingredient in the pictures.
That is actually spinach! I apologize for the confusion.