Twist on a Classic: Slow-Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

I love the slow cooker. It’s perfect for any time of year: when you’re trying to keep the kitchen cool in the summer, when you need a warm, hearty soup in the winter, and even now, when we are transitioning from winter to spring and want easy, comforting meals that aren’t quite as heavy. Enter this Slow-Cooker Chicken Stroganoff recipe. It’s still homey and creamy like traditional stroganoff, but swapping chicken for beef helps lighten things up a bit. Did I mention it’s also super easy to make?

For this recipe, you’ll need: chicken breast, Progresso chicken broth, sour cream, cooked egg noodles, butter, flour, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, an onion, some sliced mushrooms, a bit of milk and some salt and pepper. Notice there’s no condensed cream of chicken soup on this list—this recipe is scratch all the way!

To start, place the chicken into the slow cooker and season it well with salt and pepper. Next, make the sauce on the stove by melting the butter in a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, beating constantly, and then whisk in chicken broth, milk and a bit of Worcestershire sauce. Continue cooking for about 3 minutes or until the mixture is thickened up, just like a gravy. Remove from the heat and pour over the chicken breasts in your slow cooker.

I cook this on high heat for 2 hours, but you can alternatively cook on low heat for 4 hours. Once the chicken is completely cooked through and tender, shred it with a couple of forks and mix in the sour cream.

Cover the slow cooker back up and turn it up to high and let it cook for about 10 minutes, or just enough time to give the sour cream a chance to warm up a bit. Meanwhile, drizzle some olive oil in a skillet and cook some sliced mushrooms and diced onion on medium heat until tender.

Stir the mushroom-onion mixture in with the chicken mixture. Toss some cooked egg noodles into a serving bowl, ladle a bit of the chicken mixture over the top and sprinkle with diced parsley.