Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

I’ve posted a lot of my maternal grandmother’s recipes and my adaptations here, but I haven’t done any of my paternal grandma’s. This has long been a favorite of my family since Grandma Doris first made it. It’s especially nice for those Sundays where you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but like to have a nice dinner in the evening.

Here’s the recipe as she first gave it to me:

¼ cube butter (2 T)
2 onions (minced)
1 T. garlic (pre-minced)
I pkg Italian dressing
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz bar cream cheese

Saute onions in butter until tender. Add Italian Dressing mix (dry). Add garlic. Fill crock pot with boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 lbs). Cook all day on low. One hour before serving add soup and cream cheese. Blend together and pour over chicken. Let simmer 1 hour. Can thicken gravy with cornstarch. Serve with rice. Delicious!

Over the years though, I’ve adapted even this simple recipe to suit my family’s personal taste. First of all, I don’t always have Italian dressing mix in my cupboard, and it’s actually a bit pricy in my opinion. Instead, I substitute pre-made Zesty Italian dressing for both the butter and the powdered mix (about 3 T). I also use fresh garlic (5-6 cloves) rather than the kind in a jar.
My family prefers to have less chicken in their dishes and a lot of sauce. I only use 2-3 lbs of chicken and use two or three cans of cream of chicken soup, then add only 4 oz. of cream cheese. Usually I find it gets really thick, so I thin it down a little with milk.

Once the chicken is soft, I shred it into small pieces, rather than serving up individual chicken breasts. (It also makes it go a lot farther.)

Enjoy!

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