Chicken

Creamy Broccoli Chicken

Cheesy, creamy and loaded with broccoli. Kids ask for this one by name.

Prep 5 min LOW 6–7 hours HIGH 3–4 hours Serves 6

Creamy Broccoli Chicken, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Broccoli and cheddar is one of those combinations that works on absolutely everyone. Kids who won't touch a vegetable will eat broccoli if it's swimming in cheese sauce, and adults quietly feel the same way.

This is that, built into a full dinner. The chicken cooks down until it shreds, the sauce goes thick and cheddar-heavy, and the broccoli goes in at the end so it's still bright green and has some bite.

Serve it over rice and you've fed a family of six for the price of two pounds of chicken.

Why you'll love it

Vegetables that actually get eaten.

Broccoli in cheese sauce is the oldest trick there is, and it still works.

One pot, whole dinner.

Protein and vegetable together. Add rice and you're done.

No canned soup.

The cream of chicken base is already in the packet, dry.

Freezes well.

One of the better creamy recipes for making a double batch and stashing half.

What's already in the packet

Cheddar cheese powderCream cheese powderWhole milk powderDry cream of chicken soup baseOnionGarlicButter powderChicken bouillonMustard powderBlack pepperThickener

Heavy on cheddar, with a cream of chicken base doing the work a can of soup usually does.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 6–7 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 3–4 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Check before you add the broccoli, not after.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
2½ cups Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Creamy Broccoli Chicken
3 cups Broccoli florets

Pick your chicken

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Chicken tenderloins

Cook chicken to 165°F

Add vegetables

Broccoli florets (fresh or frozen)Cauliflower (fresh or frozen)Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)

Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen) and diced onion (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; mushrooms at the start to melt into the sauce, or the last two hours to keep their shape; cauliflower (fresh or frozen) in the last two hours; broccoli florets (fresh or frozen) in the last forty-five minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, or the last two hours	Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)	Mushrooms are a choice. At the start they melt into the sauce and deepen it. In the last two hours they hold their shape and keep some bite.
Last two hours	Cauliflower (fresh or frozen)	Long enough to cook through, short enough to keep their shape.
Last 45 minutes	Broccoli florets (fresh or frozen)	This is the one people get wrong. Broccoli added at the start comes out grey and falls apart. Forty-five minutes keeps it bright and firm.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: sliced carrots (fresh or frozen), diced onion (fresh or frozen) and sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Add cauliflower (fresh or frozen) and broccoli florets (fresh or frozen) when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**Cooked separately.** Stir cooked egg noodles or shells in at the end and it becomes a broccoli cheddar bake. **Do not add dry pasta to the pot for this recipe.** The sauce is cream and cheese based. Pasta cooked in it releases starch that turns the sauce gluey and grainy. Boil it separately and combine at the end.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Whisk the packet into the water before it goes in
Do not sprinkle dry powder onto liquid in the pot. Put the 2½ cups in a jug, add the packet, whisk until there are no lumps, then pour it over. Cheese and cream powders dissolve properly this way and the sauce comes out smooth instead of grainy.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Chunks cook and serve faster than whole breasts. Either works.
2
Pour in the 2½ cups of whisked liquid and stir once.
You dissolved the packet in the water already, so there is no powder to work in and no risk of lumps. One stir to settle everything.
3
Put the lid on.
Set a reminder for one hour before it's done — that's when the broccoli goes in.

When about 30 minutes are left

Creamy upgrade

Stir in the broccoli, cover, and cook one more hour.

Frozen is fine straight from the bag. No thawing.

Stir well and serve.

The sauce thickens as you stir it through the broccoli.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point

Cheese and cream powders settle against the hot crock wall and scorch into a brown ring. That ring then breaks up into the sauce and makes it grainy. One stir at the halfway point prevents it, and one is all you need — every lift of the lid costs about twenty minutes.

Swaps and add-ins

Add rice directly to the pot.

A cup of instant rice in the last 30 minutes soaks up the sauce and makes it a one-dish meal.

Use cauliflower instead.

Same timing, milder flavor. Good for people who don't love broccoli.

Make it a soup.

Add two more cups of broth and skip the reduction step.

Add ham.

Two cups of diced ham at the start turns it into a broccoli cheddar ham dinner.

Tips for success

Broccoli late is not optional. This is the single mistake that ruins this recipe. One hour, no more.
Frozen broccoli is genuinely better here. It holds its shape more reliably than fresh over an hour of heat.
Cut the chicken up before cooking. Chunks mean no shredding step and dinner reaches the table faster.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

A pinch of cayenne or a few dashes of hot sauce.

Cheddar sauce is rich and a little heat cuts straight through it. Nobody will taste heat, only balance.

Fresh cracked pepper.

Cheese sauce and fresh pepper belong together.

A squeeze of lemon.

Sharpens the cheddar and stops the dish reading as heavy.

Serve it over

RiceEgg noodlesBaked potatoesCrusty breadOver toast, diner-style

Tomorrow night

Broccoli cheddar soup.

Thin with two cups of broth, heat through, done.

Chicken divan casserole.

Layer with rice in a dish, top with breadcrumbs, bake 20 minutes.

Stuffed baked potatoes.

Split, fill, extra cheddar, five minutes under the broiler.

Cheesy chicken quesadillas.

Between two tortillas in a hot pan until crisp.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months. Broccoli softens on thaw but the flavor holds.

Reheating

Low with a splash of milk or broth. Cheese sauces tighten hard when cold.

Questions people ask

Recipe card