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!
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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
Can I use canned cream of chicken soup instead?
I think you should be fine subbing in canned cream of chicken. Let me know how it goes or if you have anymore questions! 🙂
this was delicious! i am going to make it again (since i have the homemade cream of chicken soup – w coconut milk and leftover rosemary) at my house – but will add in some apples and use pork instead of chicken. So excited!!
★★★★
Apples and pork sounds amazing, I’ll have to try that out soon!
Did you use boneless, skinless chicken thighs?
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. I made a note in the post, but I just added some more notes to the actual recipe. I hope you enjoy the recipe, and be sure to let me know how it goes, or if you have anymore questions! 🙂
This was absolutely delicious (and neither my husband nor I are big squash fans). I did add chopped green onion and crumbled bacon to the toppings just because I had them, and sprinkled smoked paprika on the chicken before putting the lid on the crock pot.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking the time to write about your additions – they sound so good and since I make this often I love to try new variations of it!
This recipe was very bland. Not a good combination. Look at another recipe.
★
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy it. This recipe depends entirely on the quality of ingredients used, so that could have been the problem – it’s also really important to use fresh rosemary because that’s where most of the flavor comes from.
This came out great! Even my picky kids loved it! I found it be a very versatile recipe! But even from the things I changed, I know as is, it would be great! I used 1 lb butternut squash and 1 medium yellow squash. I also added Kale at then end for added nutrition! And I used only 1 tsp salt as opposed to 1 TBSP. It was perfect for us. I used 2 frozen chicken breasts.
★★★★★
Adding kale is such a great idea, I’m going to try that out next time, and I’m so glad your kids loved it! 🙂