This slow cooker chicken breast is simmered in a flavorful garlic and herb gravy until tender. Serve your crock pot chicken breasts over mashed potatoes for a comfort food meal that’s sure to earn rave reviews.
When I’m looking for an easy dinner I know that the whole family will love, I turn to my slow cooker for savory soups and main course options. I regularly make slow cooker chicken marsala, slow cooker whole chicken and these tender and juicy chicken breasts smothered in the best gravy.
This slow cooker chicken breast recipe is one of the most delicious dinners that will ever come out of your crock pot! The chicken comes out tender every time, and the gravy is full of flavor. Best of all, it takes just minutes to put together. You’ll be able to come home at the end of the day with your meal ready to eat!
Slow cooker chicken breast ingredients.
This recipe contains olive oil, chicken breast, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, chicken broth, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, cornstarch, butter and parsley.
How do you make slow cooker chicken breast?
To bring out the flavor of the chicken, first brown the chicken breasts in a pan with a little salt and pepper. The next step is to make a sauce featuring chicken broth, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, garlic and herbs. Put the chicken breasts in a slow cooker with the sauce and let it cook. When the chicken is done, pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a pan and simmer it with some corn starch and a little butter to make a nice thick gravy. Pour the gravy over the chicken and serve it sliced or shredded. The tender chicken with pick up all the flavors from the gravy and will be irresistible.
Tips for slow cooker chicken breast
- I highly recommend browning the chicken before cooking it in the crock pot. Browning the chicken adds a lot of flavor to the dish. If you don’t have time, browning the chicken is optional.
- Don’t worry about the chicken breasts drying out because they will cook up in the sauce and will have gravy on top to keep them tender and moist.
- You can add some vegetables like carrots and potatoes to the crock pot for a one pot meal. Just be sure to cut the veggies in large pieces so that they don’t get overly soft after the long cooking time.
- Serve your chicken with traditional side dishes, or slice it up and put on rolls for amazing sandwiches.
- This recipe will stay fresh in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
- Sometimes I make a double batch of crockpot chicken breasts, and use them for meal prep all week long.
Recipe FAQs
I don’t recommend putting frozen chicken breasts in a slow cooker. Frozen chicken breasts take more time to heat in a slow cooker than thawed chicken. Frozen chicken breasts may take too long to heat to a safe temperature. The best way to cook chicken breasts in the crock pot is simply to thaw the breasts first and then cook them up. In addition, if you brown the chicken breasts as per this recipe, you will want to thaw the chicken before putting it in a pan to brown.
Chicken can be overcooked in a slow cooker. I recommend that you follow the cooking instructions in this recipe for a great result. While you can overcook chicken, this recipe is particularly forgiving as the chicken cooks in sauce and is topped with gravy. Even if the chicken gets a little overcooked, the gravy will help save the meal.
Use a meat thermometer to tell if slow cooker chicken is done. The internal temperature of the chicken should reach 165 degrees F. Properly cooked chicken should not look rubbery on the inside. If you cut into the chicken, the juices should run clear.
Flavor Variations
This recipe is delicious as written, but you can customize the flavors to suit your tastes.
- Protein: You can also make this recipe with chicken thighs or drumsticks. Use whatever cut of chicken you prefer. It also works great with pork tenderloin.
- Gravy: Feel free to add more flavor to the gravy with ingredients such as lemon juice, onion powder, Dijon mustard, springs of fresh thyme, garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, basil or paprika.
- Vegetables: If you choose to add veggies to the slow cooker, I recommend using heartier options such as carrots, onions and potatoes which will hold up well during the cooking process.
This slow cooker chicken recipe makes tender flavorful chicken topped with a savory gravy. This easy recipe will quickly become one of your favorites.
More delicious slow cooker recipes
- Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin
- Barbacoa Beef
- Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Korean Beef
- Slow Cooker Meatballs (Italian Style)
Slow Cooker Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided use
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium high heat.
- Season the chicken breasts on all sides with the salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
- Sear the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side, or until golden brown.
- Place the chicken in a slow cooker.
- In a small bowl, mix together the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, chicken broth, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and garlic.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours, or HIGH for 2-3 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and place on a plate; cover with foil to keep warm.
- Pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a pot. Heat the pot over medium heat and bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of cold water. Add the cornstarch to the pot and bring to a boil.
- Cook for 1 minute, or until sauce has just thickened.
- Add the butter to the pot and stir until melted. Remove the pot from the heat.
- Slice or shred your chicken and pour the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- If you’re short on time, you can skip browning the meat and simply season your chicken and add it straight to the slow cooker.
This was really good! We added carrots and celery half through. Then used the leftovers to top a baked potato.
If I don’t Brown the chicken will still take only 2 to 3 hours to cook and the crock pot
Yes it’s the same
Hi was planning on trying this recipe tomorrow but I’m not crazy about soy sauce. How do you think the flavor would turn out if I omitted the soy sauce altogether or used 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar instead. I love the way a balsamic reduction taste. Also my family is huge gravy people, does this recipe leave a lot of juice at the end for the gravy or should I add more to the recipe? Thanks in advance. So excited to try this tomorrow.
It should be fine, but you may want to add a little more salt to compensate for removing the soy sauce. The gravy doesn’t taste overly like soy sauce, it just adds complexity. It makes a good amount of gravy!
I have two large chicken breast and I was wondering if I can just follow the ingredients for four. I have found when I half recipes that have a sauce that it’s not enough sauce.
I think that should be fine!
This was the most tender chicken I have ever cooked. The gravy and seasonings (I seared in he seasonings as recommended) made this just wonderful. I am cooking for the second time today, with four huge chicken breasts. This will last for several days! Thank you so much for this recipe. I add carrots and potato’s to the slow cooker after about half the time has passed. This creates a complete dinner out of the crock pot. 😊
BTW, I’ve used apple cider vinegar, as that is what vinegar I have had on hand. It has turned out just yummy anyway!
I made this tonight. My only suggestion is that 5 hours on low is too long. The chicken, while delicious and moist, was falling apart. The next time I’ll check the chicken at 4 hours. BTW, I added some leftover pineapple chunks which added additional sweetness.
Will definitely make this again.
Yum!
I made it last night and my family loved it! It was so easy also!
I loved it, however I topped mine with some green onions and served it with lemon garlic green beans and added carrots to the slow cooker. 5 out of 5 would make again!
Amazing. This was the most tender and flavorful chicken I’ve ever had, let alone made.
Searing it just cooked the herbs right into the skin and they stayed on to deliver amazing flavor and aroma.
My substitute: Agave nectar because I had no brown sugar. I also used soy paste since it was on-hand. I tossed in some golden potatoes cut in cubes. Honestly, it was so good I didn’t even reduce the sauce—just at it as liquid and mopped it up with bread. Will definitely make again.
Quick correction: I rubbed the herbs into the chicken and then seared it, instead of putting the herbs right in the sauce.
Just made this tonight and oh my goodness, it is delicious! I also seared the chicken breasts before putting them in the slow cooker because I’ve cooked chicken in the slow cooker before without searing it first and found it bland. regardless of sauce or seasoning. This recipe on the other hand is amazing and going into our dinner rotation. The gravy is sooo good! Full of flavor. The only chicken stock I had in the pantry had white wine in it. I doubt it made a significant difference to the overall taste of the dish. Just wow. I can’t say enough about how yummy this was. Thank you so much for sharing. I absolutely love this site and find so many delicious recipes that the whole family can enjoy. If I’m not browsing it here, I’m scrolling through it on Facebook. Love it.
Thank you so much Nancy! Happy New Year!
In the crockpot now and it smells soooo good!! I did have to substitute the balsamic with red wine so I’m hoping it won’t mess it up too much! Thanks for the great recipe for a super busy (and tired) momma 🙂
Will low sodium soy sauce make a difference in taste? That’s what I have on hand, but wondering if I should just go buy regular if it will change the flavor? Thank you in advance for any feedback!
That should be fine!
Can the sugar be left out?
That should be fine although I haven’t tried it that way myself!
So easy and so delicious! My second time making this, in 2 weeks 😉
If I’m only doing 3 chicken breast, do I just half the recipe?
Yes that’s correct, you can also reduce the cook time by an hour to 3-4 hours on low.
Easy and so delicious! I took time to sear the chicken breasts and it was worth the few minutes of extra time. The gravy is so savory and has a wonderful flavor! The only problem I had is that after 5 1/2 hours cooking on Low, the chicken was so tender it fell apart when I tried to slice it, and it was a bit dry (though as she says, the gravy really takes care of that so it was a non-issue). Next time I’ll skip trying to “slice” and just cut it into portion-size pieces. I think I could also get away with cooking on Low 4 or 4 1/2 hours.
Now at the end of my life, I discovered crockpot cooking this last year. My crock pot from Salvation Army cost me $5!!! My crock meal lasts me 5 day’s. My only complaint is that none of the big companies have not created a crockpot spice envelope for chicken. The only thing I have found was a beer can receipe of which I am not fond of. So here I am. Let you know how it goes. 🙂
I was searching for something new, and this was perfect! Even my picky eater 4 year old loved it!!!
Excellent ! Every one said to make it again !
Thanks
I made this tonight! So simple and so so so flavorful. Thank you again for this great recipe . I will be making this again. 😊