Crockpot Italian Chicken
This Crockpot Italian Chicken is one the whole family loves. Everything is thrown in the slow cooker for an easy, creamy chicken dinner. It’s tender chicken topped with a creamy Italian dressing seasoning. Serve over pasta or rice for those busy weeknights.
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CROCK POT ITALIAN CHICKEN
(Originally posted 2009)
I know, I know…everyone this Crockpot Italian Chicken isn’t a new recipe for most of you but on the off chance that you don’t you must add it to your repertoire. Besides my favorite Baked Ziti, this meal is the next most requested made with simple ingredients and a family favorite.
Picky eaters love this yummy chicken!
My kids call this”Batman Pasta” because of the bowtie pasta I usually serve it over.
I prefer it with white rice but pasta is good too. It’s super easy crockpot recipe…a perfect throw-in-the-crockpot-while-you-are-at-church-on-Sunday meal.
HOW TO MAKE CROCKPOT ITALIAN CHICKEN
You can make this chicken dish with whole chicken breasts or tenderloins.
Once the chicken is cooked you can shred it with two forks or use a mixer to easily shred it.
If the cream cheese sauce is too thick you can definitely thin it out with a little chicken broth or milk to your desired consistency or add another can of cream of chicken.
INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS
- Place chicken in a Instant Pot and pour the cream of chicken soup on top. Sprinkle dry Italian dressing mix on top. Top with block of cream cheese and pour in chicken broth. Make sure lid is in locked position and the knob is in the sealing position.
- Cook on manual, poultry, or meat setting for 15 minutes. Let the Instant Pot natural release or quick release. Once chicken is done you can remove it and shred chicken with two forks or with a mixer. Stir the sauce in the crockpot until the cream cheese is fully combined and then stir in the chicken. If you feel the sauce is too thick you can thin it to your preferred consistency with a little more chicken broth or milk. Serve over pasta or rice. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired.
STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS
Don’t have a slow cooker? You can make this delicious meal on the stove.
- Cook chicken in a pot with some olive oil until no longer pink. Remove from pot and shred with two forks or a mixer.
- In the pot, heat the cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing, and cream cheese over medium heat until creamy. Add milk or chicken broth to desired consistency. Stir in shredded chicken.
- Serve over pasta, rice, or egg noodles.
OTHER SLOW COOKER RECIPES:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
- Easy Crockpot Fiesta Chicken
- Cheesy Bean Chicken Salsa
- Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan
- Crockpot Butter Chicken
Crockpot Italian Chicken
This Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken is one of my favorite recipes. Everything is thrown in the slow cooker for an easy, creamy, tasty dinner on a busy day. It's tender Italian chicken recipe with a ton of flavor. Serve over pasta or rice!
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, (about 1.5 to 2 lbs)
- 1-2 10.5 ounce cans cream of chicken soup, (two if you want a thinner sauce)
- 1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing mix, (Regular is fine but I like zesty better)
- 1 8 ounce package cream cheese
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Place the chicken in a crockpot and pour the cream of chicken soup on top. Sprinkle dry Italian dressing mix on top. Top with cream cheese and pour in chicken broth.
- Cook on low in the crockpot for at least 4-6 hours. Once chicken is done you can remove it from the crockpot and shred it with two forks or with a mixer. Stir the sauce in the crockpot until the cream cheese is fully combined and then stir in the chicken. If you feel the sauce is too thick you can thin it to your preferred consistency with a little more chicken broth or milk. Serve over pasta or rice.
Notes
STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS
Don't have a slow cooker?
- Cook chicken in a pot with some olive oil until no longer pink. Remove from pot and shred with two forks or a mixer.
- In the pot, heat the cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing, and cream cheese over medium heat until creamy. Add milk or chicken broth to desired consistency. Stir in shredded chicken.
- Serve over pasta or rice.
INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the chicken in a Instant Pot and pour the cream of chicken soup on top. Sprinkle dry Italian dressing mix on top. Top with cream cheese and pour in chicken broth. Make sure lid is in locked position and the knob is in the sealing position.
- Cook on manual, poultry, or meat setting for 15 minutes. Let the Instant Pot natural release or quick release. Once chicken is done you can remove it and shred it with two forks or with a mixer. Stir the sauce in the crockpot until the cream cheese is fully combined and then stir in the chicken. If you feel the sauce is too thick you can thin it to your preferred consistency with a little more chicken broth or milk. Serve over pasta or rice.
Serving: 1grams, Calories: 240kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 31g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 104mg, Sodium: 508mg, Sugar: 1g
Has anyone ever made this with a Ranch packet instead of Italian? If so, how did it turn out?
Megan, We always use Ranch to replace the Italian. We LOVE IT that way! Sooooo yummy! 🙂
I am trying this ripcee for the first time for Thanksgiving. Can I make this tonight, refrigerate it and cook it in the morning OR should I cook it tonight then warm it in the morning?I appreciate your thoughts. I pinned this a few months ago and several people have repinned it!
Yes, definitely a family favorite and actually to the point that I will have to double it next time so there will be leftovers. I did have to make a few changes just simply to cater to what I had on hand. with all the snow. I used the boneless skinless breast tenderloins which kept me from having to take it out to mix back in and I also only had 1 can of cream of chicken left so I used another can of cream of mushroom soup instead. I cooked on low for about 6.5 hours and then stired in the pasta once it was almost done with about a 1/2 cup of the boiling pasta water to finish it off. I allowed it to all cook together for about 30 min which helped give the noodles some added flavor.
Thanks for the tips!
Been starting to make crockpot meals and my bf has rated them 5/10 (10 being the best), last week was 7/10 and after making this it was a 10/10!! LOVED IT. So good. I used a can and a half of cream of chicken and a packet and a half of zesty italian. YUMMY! thank you
So glad you approved and your bf!
Can I add broccoli pieces to this at the same time and and cook all together on high for about 4 hours?
I would wait until the last 2 hours maybe so it’s not too mushy!
Oh my goodness. This is one of mine and my daughter’s favorite dishes. It’s cold here so I was craving this. I had all the ingredients except the Zesty Italian Dressing mix. So I made my own Zesty Italian Dressing mix with 4tsps of Italian Seasoning, 1&1/4 tsps Garlic Powder, 1&1/4 tsps Onion Powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper and a pinch of crushed fennel seeds. I mixed it with 1/4 cup melted butter. And poured it over the chicken and cooked on high for 3 &1/2 hours. Then I shredded the chicken while I warmed up the cream cheese and cream of chicken soups put it together in the crockpot on low for 45 more minutes. It came out delicious! I think I might make my own Zesty Italian Dressing mix for now on! 🙂
Great thought! I love it!
would you cook the noodles first then add them into the crockpot when its done?
I would just serve it over the noodles not necessarily add it to the crockpot.
We’ve eaten this for a while, but as sandwiches…yeah you read that right! Hubbys favorite is the sweet Hawaiian rolls. Shred the chicken, throw a little Parmesan cheese on and you’ve got yourself a tasty samich!
Yummy! What size crockpot is this for? Would a 4 quart work?
Yes. I have made it in a 4 quart, 6 quart, and 8 quart. Any size works!
Do you use 1 or 2 cans of chicken soup?
I use one usually.
I’d love to make this in a 5 quart crockpot- I usually make it in a 2 quart crockpot. Would I double the amount of the indgredients to do so??
Brittany,
Hope you got my email. You should be able to make it in a 5 quart fine without adjusting.
Hi I’m struggling to find italian dressing mix over here in Northern Ireland – what is in it? I’m trying to think of what i could use instead, cos all of the comments about this recipe are SOOOO good, I really want to try it!
Hi, most people in the States probably use Good Seasons brand but my Simply Organic brand of Italian dressing mix has garlic, salt, red pepper, black pepper, lemon peel, basil, oregano, thyme, and sugar. I hope that helps!
I made this tonight with the one can on cream of chicken and cream cheese BUT I also added 1/2 of a small block of velveta cheese and a small can of table cream. I heated it up with the cream of chicken and cream cheese and poured it over the chicken and italian seasoning. I also added in some mushrooms at the end. It is AMAZING!!!!
Added extra chicken, used cream of mushroom soup (on hand), diced onion. Served over steamed broccoli – yum! Love your recipes – easy for a limited cook like me 🙂
Yay! Glad you loved it.
I wonder if you could add the broccoli in while its cooking in the crockpot
Is there any way to make this a freezer meal?
Yes, you could definitely combine the sauce ingredients and chicken and freeze!
Love this recipie..i add a large can of sliced mushrooms ( undrained) and it’s an added bonus! It’s wonderful!!
Have you doubled this recipe before?
Absolutely. It’s very versatile.
I love your blog. So many recipes, so little time. I am on a restricted diet and can’t eat tomatoes but love pasta. So a million thanks for this recipe. Can you tell me how much bow tie pasta you use for this recipe?
I want to say I used about 3/4 of a box. Good luck!
Hi Christy I’m a new follower too. I really like your recipes. I will be making this crockpot chicken dish for sure.
don’t put frozen chicken in crockpot. by time it thaws and get to a safe temp bacteria can start to grow.
Do you think this could also be made is a casserole dish?
Yes! I do. I haven’t done it though but I imagine mix the sauce, pour it over the chicken and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.
I made this tonight for my kids, they loved this….they are very picky and won’t eat much – So easy to make as well…This is a keeper.
I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it for dinner tonight. I see this post is a few years old, so I don’t know if you’ll even see my comment lol but I figured it’s worth a try! I’m excited to try this and I’m sure it will be great! I just had one question…even though I took my chicken out of the freezer last night, it’s still a bit frozen. If it doesn’t completely thaw in time, can I cook it for the same amount of time in the crockpot on high, or just cook longer on low? Thanks!
Laura,
It should still be cooked in that amount of time. Good luck and hope you enjoy.
Wondering if anyone has ever added spinach to this, it sounds good to me! Should I add fresh spinach or frozen?
I never have but it sounds like a great addition frozen or fresh.
I made this last night and it was DELICIOUS and so easy! The sauce tasted great and the chicken was so tender that it just fell apart. I used low fat cream cheese and low fat cream of chicken soup and served it over rice. Will definitely be making again!
No one is wrong, this dish was fantastic. I’m obsessed with the sauce. Soooo tasty. I’m one of those pinterest recipe users who stumbled onto this recipe, and it is by far the best I’ve found on that site. I never leave comments re: the success of a recipe, but I just HAD to this time. Thanks so much, and I will definitely be a follower from here on out.
Thanks Alissa for giving your feedback!
It’s a big favorite in our house. I’ve learned a trick if you put the cream of chicken and cream cheese in first you can let it simmer for 30 mins till its all creamy and then put in the chicken. Lazy cooking sure. But it saves pots and pans.
I have this cooking in the crockpot now and it seems very watery/thin. I made the recipe to a T. Anything you can suggest to thicken it up? Its been cooking for about 3 hours now. Thanks 🙂 Btw, it smells yummy!!
I have this cooking in the crockpot now and it seems very watery/thin. I made the recipe to a T. Anything you can suggest to thicken it up? Its been cooking for about 3 hours now. Thanks 🙂 Btw, it smells yummy!!
Did you use dry Italian dressing or the bottled stuff? Did you use 1 or 2 cans of cream of chicken? It’s actually very thick.
I agree… My sauce is a little thin and I made it to a T 🙁 2 cans of cream if chicken and I used the dry mix. What can thicken it up? Milk? More cream cheese?
More cream cheese will thicken it up.
I made this tonight and we all loved it! My 3 year old ate a whole bowl of it! Thanks for the recipe!
Have you ever frozen the leftovers for another meal later?
Yes, I have. It’s great frozen.
Love this recipe and everyone in the family likes it which is a huge plus! Has anyone tried a substitute for the soup? I am trying to cut canned soups out of our diet.
Found this recipe on Pinterest as well and could not wait to bookmark it and share it on FB and Twitter.
Congrats on new baby and on your great food blog!
Jan
Thank you Jan!
Question…I have family coming over to enjoy this in just two hours, is it okay to turn the crock pot on high rather than low?
Hope it’s not too late. Yes, turn it up!!!
I also added a bit of sour cream and it made it very creamy and oh so yummy!
My husband and I love this recipe. But today when I went to make it before church I realized I only had one can of Cream of Chicken soup, so I substituted one can for a can of Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup. It was great too!
I cannot wait to try this recipe!! It sounds fantastic!
I was wondering, how many people does this serve? We’re going on vacation and all of the families take a night to make dinner for everyone else, so I’m probably serving about 12 people (3 of those included are children). I’m just trying to figure out, realistically, how much chicken and such I should use/bring? I have a big crock pot, but I don’t know how many servings this recipe makes (I’ll serve it with white rice or egg noodles), so I’m just nervous I won’t be able to fit enough in my crock pit for everyone. I just want to make sure I have enough food. Thanks!
I would say it serves 4-6 people. If I were you I would double it or put 9-10 breasts in. Your crockpot should be able to fit that…
If you were to double the recipe would you still cook it on low for 4 hours?
Yes, 4 should be good depending on your crockpot. You may have to add an hour.
I’m a 3rd year medical student, so I don’t have a lot of time for cooking and I’m always looking for easy meals to cook on a Sunday that will provide leftovers for the week. This meal was super easy, inexpensive and absolutely delicious! I added 2 packets of the italian dressing, used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and low-fat cream of chicken and it was absolutely perfect. This is definitely staying in my recipe collection!
Would this reheat well? I want to cook it tonight for a dinner i have to make tomorrow night. So was going to cook it tonight in the crockpot, then reheat tomorrow in over. Think it would still be great?
thanks.
Yep! We eat the leftovers and they taste great the next day.
This recipe is amazing. It has become a regular meal with my family. It’s so simple to make and everybody loves it. I love coming home to the smell as well! Thanks for sharing.
I am 35 weeks pregnant and in the midst of moving, so this recipe is right up my “easy cooking” alley, right about now. I had a question , it looks like you put some cheese on top, what kind? and do you have any other easy recipes I can try out?
The cheese is just some shredded parmesan I had on hand. Here are a couple of really easy recipes to try:
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/05/root-beer-pulled-pork-sandwiches.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/06/poppy-seed-chicken.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/05/easy-crockpot-fiesta-chicken.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2008/10/honey-and-pecan-glazed-salmon.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2012/03/mexican-stuffed-shells.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/09/creamy-sausage-and-tomato-pasta.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2012/11/easy-white-chicken-chili.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/07/taco-pasta.html
https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/05/easy-crockpot-pork-carnitas.html
I have a silly question….are these frozen chicken breasts or thawed?
Renee,
It’s better to use thawed but you can use frozen.
This is a staple at our house! I was wondering if you have ever done it in the oven. I totally spaced starting it this morning and have a child hoping to have it tonight.
I haven’t done it in the oven but as long as you have cooked chicken you can mix all the rest of the ingredients on a stove top and it will taste the same.
I love this recipe! It was introduced to me with the bowtie pasta mixed into the chicken and sauce so that’s how I’ve always served it.
Quick question, if add pasta,mushrooms and broccoli would I add those in at the same time? Or would they soften too much?
Kasie,
I’ve never added pasta at the beginning. The mushrooms would be fine cooked for that long but the broccoli would definitely get mushy.
Silly question, when you combine the soup & cream cheese in the pot do you add a can of water as well?
My grocery store didn’t have any packets of Italian dressing, so I got the chicken marinara packet. Do you think it will still taste fine? Because of that I’m afraid to cook it for tonight!
Hmm. I have no idea what chicken marinara packet is? It could be good.
Just found out about this recipe last week! I can’t wait to try it! I went to the store to pick up the items I did not have. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay close enough attention and bought the zesty italian dressing, instead of the seasoning packet.
Has anyone used the dressing before? And if so, how much of that would you use in place of the dry seasoning?
Thanks!
I found this online last week and made it for dinner last night. I have two picky eaters and one of them does not like trying anything new. Everyone in my house loved it! This is definitely a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes, I’m looking forward to trying more.
My mom makes this. Not sure where she got the recipe but it is sooo good and I’m actually going to make it tonight. Instead of pasta though what she does it takes a zucchini and shreds it so it looks like pasta and serves it over that. It is SO yummy that way and its a lot healthier. Well as healthy as you can get with the cream cheese and cream of chicken. 🙂
I make this all the time but add fresh mushrooms!!! this is soooo good
I went to Walmart two days ago and purchased the supplies for this recipe. Those two days I was suppose to make the Crockpot Italian Chicken, I ended up on Pinterest all evening and making frozen food meals instead. Needless to say, tonight I currently have this meal cooking in the slow cooker! FINALLY! I love italian anything so I am so excited to try this meal! I will be using Jasmine rice rather than pasta for two reasons. 1. I LOVE jasmine rice, and two I forgot to pick up the “Batman Pasta” while shopping. (Puts face in palm of hand) The preparation for this meal is EXTREMELY simple, it took me less than 10 minutes. Now time to get back to planing my next dinner quest while I wait on this one!
Can I just add all the ingredient’s in the crockpot together?
Sure. My sister does it that way.
Finally tried this recipe tonight since I knew I wasn’t going to be sleeping and was going to be up for over 24 hours (working mid nights and having 4 kids I have many of these) I loved that it is for the crock pot since I’m 8 months pregnant and really can’t stand for long periods of time. Followed the recipe as listed and it turned out great! It is a rare occurrence that all 4 kids (ranging from 8 to 2 years of age) all cleaned their plates as well as my husband and myself. Will definitely keep this recipe and try different varieties of it, maybe adding some veggies. A keeper!
Hi, I found this via Pinterest a while back and am wanting to make it for a friend. Problem is, I need to freeze it (the whole meal, not just the chicken). I was going to cube the chicken, then add it with everything else into a Ziploc bag. Do you think that will work?
Yes, I totally think that would work!
Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! We loved this at our house and have made several times. I was curious if you had gotten any feedback on how this freezes/reheats from frozen?
It reheats well. I’ve never tried freezing it but others have had success.
Made this for dinner tonight. I did it on the stove instead in the crockpot and used cream of mushroom and 1/3 less fat cream cheese. The hubby really liked it. It will go into my recipes to repeat several times over 🙂 And will definetly use the crockpot next time.
I have a similar recipe, with these differences:
I cube the chicken and put it in the crock pot with 2 TBS of margarine and the italian dressing pack. I cook it on low for 5 hours and then, I add the cream cheese and cream of chicken soup. I let that cook for another 30-60 minutes. A little less time consuming on the cook’s part, I think. Nonetheless, excellent meal and enjoyed by my entire family!
I was wondering if you could do this in the oven instead? My crock pot is full of chili! :/
I’ve never done it in the oven. The crockpot gives it that baked all day taste. Hmm. I can’t say if it would work but I’m sure you could.
Curious these chicken breasts…are they frozen or not? Probably silly huh…LOL
Not silly!
You can use either. You might have to cook it for a little longer if frozen.
I’ve made this recipe before (thanks to finding it on your awesome site) and want to make it again. Bone-in chicken breasts are on sale this week, can I use those?
I don’t see why not?
This sounds allot like the ranch pork chops I make . I’m excited to try it but I messed up and accidentally got the zesty Italian dressing instead of a dry packet . Will it still work and how much should I put if it does?
Never mind just read heathers comment lol
Just made this last night making it my first crockpot dinner ever. It was a huge hit! I also made a few minor changes such as cooking the chicken in a pan until both sides were brown using butter and three cloves of garlic. I also sauteed onions and mushrooms in the same butter with a little olive oil and added that to the mix. Thank you for such a great recipe!! 🙂
Can you use Italian dressing in the bottle if you don’t have the dry??
It’s definitely a different flavor and more on the liquidy side but some people have used it.
How much should you put
I also found that if you put the bowtie pasta in at the same time, it works just fine.
I made this tonight for my family, and they all loved it! They’re already demanding that I make it again! But next time I’m going to use more than one packet of dressing to give it a little more flavor.
Just made this recipe and it was delicious! To lighten it up a bit, I used healthy request cream of chicken soup and low fat cream cheese and ate it with steamed veggies. I even halved the recipe since it’s just me and it gave me enough leftovers for a couple more meals. Love it!
I’ve made this a few times and I love how easy and versatile it is. My favorite way to have it is with mashed potatoes and corn instead of noodles. I basically just mix mine all up in a bowl with some corn, now THAT is some comfort food. I’ve also served it with spaetzle, still yummy! So glad I found this dish!
If I only have 4oz of Cream Cheese … Is there anything I could substitute for the difference??
You could cut the whole recipe in half. You could use just half the cream cheese it just won’t be as creamy. Maybe add some shredded cheese in there. I’m not sure what else would be thick enough to substitute…
I am making this right now! It’s in the crockpot and will be cooking away smelling wonderful so when I return from shopping, I will HAVE to take a taste 😉 I used your suggestion and put in 1 1/2 packs of ZESTY Italian, I also used 2 cans of soup. One 98% Fat Free cream of chicken and one cream of onion. That’s what I had. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!!
So I am trying to expand my cooking skills… I have thawed chicken breasts, do I need to cook the chicken before putting it in the crockpot? Or is the crockpot cooking it for me? Also, when do you pour the soup/cream cheese on the chicken? After the chicken cooked? Or after the 4 hours it cooks before you serve it?
You do not need to cook the chicken before you put it in the crockpot. The crockpot will cook it. Put the cream cheese mixture on right away over the raw chicken and let it all cook for four hours. Good luck!
Do u add milk to the cream of chicken or do u just head the cream cheese and can of soup to stove?
This is so tasty!!! If you like mushrooms throw me in there it’s delish!!! Thank you so much!
I love this recipe! Just made it last night—it’s my son’s favorite and was a definite hit with our dinner guests. I made it with Ranch seasoning packet and a little bit of Italian seasoning and it was fabulous (we were out of the zesty Italian). Thanks for posting this!
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