Recipe: Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Rice

After church today, we stopped for lunch at our favorite sandwich shop and while I mowed my way through my sub I was thinking, “Is noon too early to put my pajamas back on?”  Apparently not, because that’s precisely what I did when we got home and a minute later I was stretched out on the carpet on the closet floor, ready for a nap.  Whoops.

Needless to say, I knew it was going to be that kind of drag-my-body-around kind of day.  Since I already knew my lazybones weren’t going to feel like cooking dinner, I decided to start the week with a slow cooker meal and it doesn’t get much easier than this creamy chicken recipe.  I’m loathe to call this cooking since I didn’t do anything.  I merely tossed the ingredients in the cooker.

There are a million (ok, maybe less than a million) variations on this recipe, but I adapted my version from Larson Lingo’s recipe.  As is often the case with slow cooker recipes, you can substitute, eliminate, and experiment.

I wanted to use up some pantry items ( I went a little crazy with coupons combined with a recent “Mega Sale” at the grocery store) so I tossed in canned corn and black beans.  You could easily use frozen or fresh corn (I generally prefer frozen veggies to canned) or a different type of bean.  Being a  Ro*Tel virgin I was eager to test them out, but you could use a jar of salsa or even homemade salsa.   I also rummaged through my spices and decided to add a bit of Mexican seasoning and garlic powder.  Make it your own–that’s the beauty of cooking.

I know many people don’t have any problem starting slow cooker meals with frozen chicken.  More power to ya, but I’m too paranoid to do that.  I always use unfrozen/defrosted chicken.  Place everything in the slow cooker, put a lid on it, and go about your day.

I planned to serve this over rice.  Here are 2 of my favorite appliances doing their thing side by side, partners in crime.   Work it, girls!

After about three hours I stirred the mixture, breaking up the chicken as well, and then let it cook for another hour.  A majority of the recipes I’ve seen for this meal suggest using frozen chicken and I noticed many reviews mention that it turns out flavorful, but soupy.  I didn’t have that problem and I believe it’s because I defrosted my chicken first.  I could be wrong, but after 4 hours it was just creamy…no soupyness:)

I served it over rice with a side of broccoli because my mini sous chef requested it.  The verdict?  Mini Sous ate 2 bowls of it while mommy and daddy cleaned their plates as well.  Just a simple, tasty, unbelievably easy meal. I’ll keep this in mind for any upcoming lazy days.  It had a little kick to it because of the tomatoes and chiles.  And I am now a Ro*Tel believer.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Rice (adapted from The Larson Lingo)

Ingredients

•  2-3 chicken breasts, defrosted
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can Ro*Tel
• about 1.5 teaspoons of Mexican seasoning (to your liking)
• about 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Place the chicken in the slow cooker.  Top with the cream cheese (no need to spread it around or anything, just plop it in there), corn, black beans, and tomatoes.  Sprinkle the seasoning and garlic powder on top.  Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.  At about the 3 hour mark stir the mixture around, breaking up the chicken with your spoon (the chicken should shred easily at this point).  Cover and continue cooking for another hour.  Serve over rice or use as taco filling or tostato topper.