I love the way the house smells when I have Rosemary Chicken with Butternut Squash in the crockpot. I think it’s the rosemary in particular that really gets me, because it has a certain savory smell with a hint of gourmet sophistication. There’s enough vegetables in there for this to be a one pot meal, but Caesar Salad with Pine Nuts makes a great companion. If you’re having company, add Chocolate Fudge Skillet Cake and you’ve got a simple, crowd-pleasing menu. It’s fancy enough to be a company kind of dish, but easy enough to make for a weeknight.
I’m trying to develop most of my crockpot recipes for an 8 hour cooking time, so that dinner is ready when you get home from work. That being said,there are a number of tricks to cooking chicken for 8 hours without it becoming stringy.
1. Use the biggest chicken thighs you can find (about 5-6 chicken thighs in 1 1/2 pounds).
2. You can also use a bone-in chicken thighs if yours are on the smaller side.
I like to cut the squash into fairly big cubes around 1 1/2 inches. With the 8 hour cooking cooking time, I don’t want the squash to get mushy right away.
Cut both the ends off the onion, peel it, and cut it in half. Make cuts across the onion halves not quite cutting through the end.
Cut across the strips you made to make a medium dice.
Remove the rosemary leaves from the wooden stems.
Coarsely chop the rosemary.
Place the onions and butternut squash in first, then layer the chicken thighs over the top. Pour the Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup over the top and sprinkle with rosemary and sea salt. Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn it to low for 8 hours.
This has been a smash hit in our house and we’ve been loving this taste of fall!
Print
Crockpot Rosemary Chicken with Butternut Squash
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 mins
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Ingredients
- 3 pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, browned (opt step), see notes
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil, for browning
- 1 medium onion, small dice
- 1 cup Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 Tablespoon rosemary, minced
- 1 Tablespoon coarse Celtic sea salt, or to taste – the amount of salt will vary depending on your ingredients and type of sea salt used
- Grated Parmesan for serving if desired
Instructions
- Cube the squash into 1 1/2 inch cubes and place a 4-qt crockpot. Cut the onion into small dice and place it in with the squash.
- If you’re browning the chicken, place a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil and the chicken thighs. Brown for just a minute on each side. Transfer the chicken to the crockpot.
- Pour the Homemade Cream of Chicken soup over the top and sprinkle with sea salt and rosemary.
- Place the lid on the crockpot and turn to low for 8 hours.
- The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the chicken thighs and your individual crockpot. I like to try a new crockpot recipe on the weekend when I’m home to see how it works for me the first time!
Notes
To make this completely dairy free, be sure to use a non-dairy Cream of Chicken Soup.
Browning the chicken adds extra flavor, but it’s not necessary if time is short. I’ve made it both ways and they were both really good.
I’ve used both boneless skinless chicken thighs and bone + skin on as well. If you use bone in and skin on, pan sear them skin side down first to create a browned skin. If you use boneless skinless, try and go for the biggest ones available, or just shorten the cooking time.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours
Does this recipe also cook well at 4 hours on high?
Yes it does, and that’s actually my preferred way of cooking it! There are a lot of variables when it comes to slow cookers, from size to the speed at which they cook, so I always recommend trying the recipe on a day you’ll be home! 🙂
Is there cheese ontop? Like shredded? If so, why is it not in the ingredients list..?
There’s a sprinkling of grated Parmesan over the top! I’ve updated the recipe with a note, and thanks so much for noticing my mistake!
Made this for dinner tonight and was disappointed. I was so looking forward to it, but it came out quite bland (I followed the recipe with the addition of some minced garlic). I cooked mine on low for 5 hours and the squash was very overdone, it mushed when touched with a utensil. Seemed like such a great idea for a recipe, if I did it again I’d add a lot more seasoning (more than just rosemary) and cook for less time.
We’ve had a great response to this recipe so hopefully this will help you in your next endeavor. Your squash may have been overdone depending on the size of your crockpot, I’m adding to the recipe that my crockpot is a 4-qt size. If you thought that it turned out bland, you could try adding more sea salt according to your taste, sometimes things taste bland to different people depending on the amount of salt they like. We really love the flavor of rosemary and butternut together, but sage and thyme would be great additions as well. Hope this helps!
Made this tonight and it was delicious! The house smelled like fall and it had such great flavor!
I’m wondering if you know how much time it would take if I used boneless, skinless breasts and cut the squash cubes smaller? I’m a stay-at-home mom, so I can throw it in anytime during the day.
I’ve done some crockpot dishes with boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half with the vegetables cut into pieces between 1/4″ and 1/2″ pieces and the timing is usually 4 hours on low, sometimes as long as 6 hours depending on how full your crockpot is (mine is a 4 quart). You can always turn it to high if you’re home and it’s not cooking fast enough.
Made this tonight! It’s insainly delicious and so easy!!!! My only issue (probably user error) is that it all turned really dark brown in the crockpot and looked like a French onion soup. It still tasted amazing though. Will definitely make this again.
That’s really strange, I’ve made this several times and it’s never been brown – at least it tasted good!
oh that looks delicious! i love butternut squash so i will have to try this sometime 🙂
Looks amazing, as always. I just bought fresh rosemary for the first time the other day. Having it fresh makes the biggest difference! I couldn’t believe how much more flavor there was with it fresh.
I’m not a big fan of chicken thighs, but I’m sure any part of the chicken would cook well after 8 hours. Thanks!
You can do just squash and onions, it’s really good too as a side dish or with a big salad.
Thank you! I have an onion squash that’s now found a recipe :;)
Looks like I got this recipe out just in time 🙂
we would really love this. I’ll make it for Greg maybe on the weekend. Thanks
I think you’ll love how good the house smells while it’s cooking. If you’re home during the day, check it a 6 hours because it’s often done earlier, (but it will keep on low for the full 8 hour cooking time if you’re not around).