This creamy Slow Cooker 5-Ingredient Chicken Pot Pie delivers tender shredded chicken, vegetables, and crisp biscuit pieces without a pile of dishes. Add the chicken, soup, broth, and frozen vegetables to the slow cooker, then bake the biscuits separately before serving. You’re going to love this easy, cozy dinner when you want pot-pie flavor with minimal prep.
Why You’ll Love It
- Minimal prep — layer in the chicken, stir together the soup and broth, add frozen peas and carrots, and let the slow cooker do the work.
- Tender shredded chicken — the chicken becomes soft enough to shred right in the crock with two forks.
- Crisp biscuit topping — baking the biscuit pieces separately keeps them golden and crisp instead of soggy.
- Feeds six — it stretches nicely with cranberry sauce, applesauce, or a simple salad on the table.
Ingredient Notes
Boneless skinless chicken breasts work beautifully here, but chicken thighs are just as good—maybe better, honestly, because thighs stay so juicy in the slow cooker. I go back and forth. Breasts look tidier on the grocery list, but thighs have more forgiveness in them, and I need forgiveness from my dinner more often than I’d like to admit.
Use fully thawed chicken. Don’t toss frozen chicken breasts into the slow cooker and hope for the best; it can spend too long warming through at an unsafe temperature. This is one of those mildly annoying kitchen rules that is, unfortunately, not optional.
For the soup, two cans of cream of chicken soup keep the flavor classic and cozy. Any standard 10.5-ounce can works. Low-sodium chicken broth gives you a little more control, since the soup already brings plenty of salt to the party.
The frozen peas and carrots go in straight from the freezer. No thawing, no extra bowl. I keep a bag tucked behind the frozen waffles most of the time, assuming nobody has shoved an open bag of tater tots in front of it again. And the large refrigerated biscuits—those are baked separately, then scattered over each serving. Please don’t put them in the slow cooker. I know it seems tempting. I tried something similar once and got pale, damp dough pillows. Not our finest hour.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, fully thawed—I use whichever looks better that day
- 2 (10.5-ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 (12-ounce) bag frozen peas and carrots, straight from the freezer
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 (16-ounce) can large refrigerated biscuits
- Butter or cooking spray for the slow cooker, just enough to make cleanup less of a nuisance
- Salt and black pepper, if needed at the end; I go easy because the soup can be salty enough already
Instructions
Lightly grease the inside of a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with butter or cooking spray. You can skip this if you enjoy scrubbing dried cream soup off ceramic later, but I do not recommend that particular character-building exercise.
Lay the 2 pounds of fully thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs across the bottom of the slow cooker in as even a layer as you can manage. A little overlap is completely fine. Life is short and chicken does not need to be arranged like tile.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and the 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth until most of the big lumps are gone. It will not look elegant. It never does at this stage, and that is perfectly all right.
Pour the soup-and-broth mixture over the chicken, aiming to cover it as evenly as possible. The chicken should be mostly nestled down in that creamy mixture.
Sprinkle the frozen peas and carrots over the top. Do not thaw them first; that is part of why this recipe is so handy. Just spread them around a little so the vegetables are evenly distributed.
Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken reaches at least 165°F in the thickest part and shreds easily. Try not to lift the lid while it cooks. Every peek lets heat escape, and slow cookers are already slow enough without us meddling.
About 30 minutes before you plan to eat, heat the oven to 400°F. Open the can of refrigerated biscuits and cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. That pop from the can still makes me jump sometimes. Spread the pieces on an ungreased baking sheet with a little breathing room between them.
Bake the biscuit pieces for 10 to 14 minutes, until they are puffed, deep golden brown, and crisp around the edges. Set them aside to cool slightly while you finish the filling. The kitchen will smell wonderfully cozy.
Remove the slow-cooker lid and use two forks to shred the chicken directly in the pot, stirring it into the creamy sauce and vegetables as you go. If the filling seems thicker than you like, stir in a small splash more broth. If it seems thin, leave the lid off and cook on HIGH for another 10 to 15 minutes to let it reduce a bit.
Taste the filling and add a little salt and black pepper only if it needs it. Then spoon the hot chicken mixture into shallow bowls or onto plates and top each serving with plenty of warm biscuit pieces. Serve it right away while those biscuit tops are still crisp and doing their job.
Variations
Boneless skinless chicken thighs have more flavor and shred especially nicely while staying very tender, so use them if dark meat is preferred.
You can replace one can of cream of chicken soup with a can of cream of mushroom soup for a slightly earthier flavor. I’ve done that when I had one can of each in the pantry, which is how most “variations” happen around here—not culinary inspiration, just poor inventory management.
If you want more vegetables, use a frozen mixed vegetable blend instead of peas and carrots, or stir in a cup of frozen corn during the last 30 minutes of cooking. A teaspoon of dried thyme or poultry seasoning can be added with the soup and broth, too. It’s good, though I’ll be honest: plain is a popular choice.
One version that did not work for me was adding the biscuit pieces directly on top of the filling near the end. They looked like soggy dumplings and tasted like regret. Bake them separately. Trust me on this one.
For a change from slow cooking, KFC Original Recipe Chicken (Copycat) rests before a deep fry at 350°F.
For a 40-minute chicken dinner made on a sheet pan instead of in the slow cooker, try Baked Chicken Parmesan.
Storage & Reheating
Store leftovers in shallow containers in the refrigerator within 2 hours. Keep the biscuit pieces separate if you can, because they soften overnight—and they will, no matter what you tell yourself. The filling keeps well for about 3 to 4 days.
To reheat, warm the chicken filling on the stovetop over low heat or in the microwave until steaming hot, stirring once or twice. It thickens quite a bit in the fridge, so add a spoonful of chicken broth or milk to loosen it up. Reheat biscuits in a 350°F oven for a few minutes if you want them crisp again. The microwave will warm them, certainly, but “warm” and “pleasant” are not always the same thing.
It is still good cold from the refrigerator standing at the counter late at night. Not proud, exactly. But it was still good.
Final Notes
There is something comforting about a meal that doesn’t demand much from you. You put it together, walk away, live your day, and later there it is—soft chicken, creamy sauce, vegetables, golden biscuits. Dinner waiting without any fanfare.
Make this when the day has been too long, when the weather turns ugly, when everyone is hungry and you are about one inconvenience away from ordering takeout. Put a bowl of cranberry sauce on the table if you’ve got it. Or don’t. Some nights, the biscuit pieces are plenty.
Slow Cooker 5-Ingredient Chicken Pot Pie
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs Fully thawed
- 2 10.5-ounce cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 12-ounce bag frozen peas and carrots Use straight from the freezer
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 16-ounce can large refrigerated biscuits Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces
- butter or cooking spray For greasing the slow cooker
- salt Add if needed at the end
- black pepper Add if needed at the end
Instructions
- Lightly grease the inside of a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with butter or cooking spray.
- Lay the fully thawed chicken breasts or thighs across the bottom of the slow cooker in an even layer.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth until most of the large lumps are gone.
- Pour the soup-and-broth mixture over the chicken, aiming to cover it as evenly as possible.
- Sprinkle the frozen peas and carrots over the top without thawing them first.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken reaches at least 165°F in the thickest part and shreds easily.
- Remove the slow-cooker lid and use two forks to shred the chicken directly in the pot, stirring it into the creamy sauce and vegetables.
- About 30 minutes before serving, heat the oven to 400°F, cut each refrigerated biscuit into 4 pieces, and arrange the pieces on an ungreased baking sheet with space between them.
- Bake the biscuit pieces for 10 to 14 minutes, until puffed, deep golden brown, and crisp around the edges.
- Taste the filling and add salt and black pepper if needed, then spoon the hot chicken mixture into shallow bowls or onto plates and top each serving with warm biscuit pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
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Nutrition values are estimates based on the listed ingredients and serving count. Actual values vary with brands, cuts and portion sizes.
