Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy
This comfort dish is calling your name! Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy combines a creamy, made-from-scratch sauce with hearty mushrooms and tender chicken. Add some fresh, flaky biscuits and enjoy the perfect home-cooked meal!
What’s To Love About This Recipe
- This is a great dish for the slow cooker since the extra time cooking low and slow allows the flavors to really work together.
- This is hearty enough for a complete meal at any time of the day! You could serve chicken and gravy with biscuits for a brunch meal and then savor the leftovers later over rice, mashed potatoes, or any number of options.
- This comfort food is guilt-free because the homemade sauce uses quality ingredients instead of the preservatives and fillers in canned soups.
- This recipe involves very little prep time! You can let the gravy slow-cook in the background and prep the biscuits right before serving, or serve with any other leftovers.
Ingredients Needed
You might be surprised at the simplicity of this ingredient list. It doesn’t take much to make the tastiest savory gravy from scratch!
- Chicken – Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts. Either option will be chopped into bite-sized chunks. Chicken thighs, due to their higher fat content, will provide a slightly richer flavor.
- Mushrooms – Sliced portobello mushrooms provide a nice depth to the recipe and you can use either fresh or frozen. (Tip: Frozen mushrooms are easy to keep on hand for extra flavor and they won’t spoil before you get a chance to use them!)
- Flour – Use all-purpose flour to coat the chicken and mushrooms and thicken the gravy.
- Seasonings – Combine dried thyme, dried parsley, salt, and pepper for a subtle herbal flavor.
- Chicken broth – Use your preferred broth or stock to create the base of the gravy. Bone broth can add extra protein, or you might prefer a reduced-sodium version.
- Heavy cream – Save the heavy cream for the end to add the essential richness to the gravy.
How To Make Chicken and Gravy In The Slow Cooker
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks.
- Spray the slow cooker with a nonstick spray.
- Add chicken and mushrooms to the slow cooker and toss with flour and seasonings to thoroughly coat them.
- Slowly stir in the chicken broth.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
- After the chicken has cooked, stir the heavy cream into the slow cooker.
- Let the cream heat through, then serve over fresh biscuits, rice, or mashed potatoes.
Recipe Substitutions and Variations
- I recommend only using boneless chicken in this dish (bone-in will alter the cooking time). Chicken thighs deliver the best flavor due to the added fat, but chicken breasts also work for this recipe.
- If you want to make this an all-in-one meal, add frozen veggies to the slow cooker! This adds a little extra nutrition and resembles homemade chicken pot pie. Any mixture of corn, peas, green beans, or diced carrots would be great options.
- Save a few minutes of prep time by swapping out the individual seasonings for an herb and garlic seasoning. Even better if you have a homemade version already mixed up!
- If you like smoky flavors, add some cooked crumbled bacon to the gravy. This addition could also make this a great breakfast dish!
- For a gluten-free option, use gluten-free all-purpose flour in the gravy and serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
What To Serve With Chicken and Gravy
A hearty serving of chicken and gravy is delicious over just about anything!
Biscuits are pretty much a given for any recipe that has “gravy” in it. This is no exception!
Grab a can of refrigerated flaky biscuits from the grocery store and prepare them in the oven according to the package directions. You could also make your own simple drop biscuits from your favorite recipe!
A bowl of Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes also makes the perfect base for creamy gravy, or you could get the same luxury with low-carb Easy Slow Cooker Whipped Cauliflower.
Storing and Reheating
Leftover gravy always makes a delicious meal the next day. Store chicken and gravy in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave in 30-second increments or on the stove on low-to-medium heat.
I don’t recommend freezing the gravy since it won’t defrost well with the cream-based sauce.
Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 8 oz frozen or fresh sliced portobello mushrooms
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup heavy cream for later
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite-sized chunks
- Spray slow cooker with a nonstick spray
- Add chicken and mushrooms to slow cooker and toss with flour and seasonings to thoroughly coat
- Slowly stir in chicken broth
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours
- After chicken has cooked, stir in heavy cream
- Let cream heat through, then serve over fresh biscuits, rice, or mashed potatoes
Notes
- Store leftover chicken and gravy in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat in the microwave or the stove.
- If the gravy is too thin, you can make a slurry from 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water. Stir the slurry into the gravy in the slow cooker.
- If the gravy is too thick, add more chicken broth.
- Add frozen veggies at the beginning of cooking time if desired.
Nutrition
Chicken and Gravy FAQs
- How do you thicken the gravy? Create a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon each of cornstarch and water) and stir the slurry into the gravy mixture.
- Can you use frozen chicken for this recipe? For best results and for food safety purposes, use thawed chicken.
- Can milk be used in place of cream? You can use milk in place of heavy cream, but you will need to thicken the gravy a bit more. Use either flour or cornstarch to create a slurry (around 2 tablespoons of flour or cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water or broth), and stir the slurry into the milk.
Can you use biscuits biscuit dough instead of canned?
sure!
After an hour and a half, biscuits were still not done. Had to put in the oven to bake for another 15 minutes. Followed the directions, but mine was not “gravy”. It was more like soup. Not a hit with anyone in my family.
I’m so sorry to hear it didn’t turn out to your satisfaction.
I found that lightly dusting the biscuits with flour and making them an 1/8 inch thick using a rolling pin that they turned out just fine.
After hour for biscuits, I put crock into oven under HI broil to brown the biscuits…it worked perfectly. This was a really good simple recipe. I didn’t have the thyme or parsley, but S&P worked well. Will definitely be making again!!
Couldn’t you just put the casserole crock in the oven to brown up the biscuits? I make a similar casserole to this where everything is cooked in a pot on the stove, then you pour it into a casserole dish, add the biscuits on top, and put in the oven for about 25 minutes to bake/brown the biscuits. Now that I have the casserole crock pot, I’d like to try my recipe in the casserole crock but since I like my biscuits more crispy, would probably finish it in the oven.
Yes, you can absolutely do that!
Just wondering how the biscuits brown?
They will lightly brown on top but not the same as if they were in the oven. If you let a little airflow in toward the end of cooking time it will help.
Can I use already cooked chicken?
I am afraid it might dry out your chicken if you put it in already cooked. My recommendation is to make it in the slow cooker with uncooked chicken. If you had chicken already cooked up you could modify this for the oven, though I can’t recommend time and temperature since I have only made this specific recipe in my slow cooker.
Could you substitute milk for the cream?
Yes, but you’d need to thicken more with flour or cornstarch (maybe 2 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons of liquid to create a slurry and stir it in with the milk)
This looks delicious, but I do have a question. How do would you make this in a regular crock pot? Thanks so much. 🙂
Hi Joann! You would do everything pretty much the same, the only difference would be in adding your biscuit topping. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you might not fit as many biscuits on top. So, a little less biscuit to filling ration but otherwise, everything should work pretty much the same!
This was SUCH an easy and tasty meal! My husband and I both licked our bowls clean…and I promised him I’d make it again soon. In addition to the mushrooms I threw in some baby carrots, frozen corn and peas and it came together perfectly. I can’t wait to make this again!
Sounds perfect! Love the additional veggies since it makes it such a complete meal. So glad you liked it 🙂