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This creamy Slow Cooker Chicken and macaroni uses just five ingredients and cooks right alongside the dry pasta. This easy, cozy dinner has tender shredded chicken in a creamy sauce and is simple, filling, and ready to spoon straight into bowls.
Why You’ll Love It
- Just five ingredients — chicken, macaroni, condensed soup, broth, and salt.
- True Slow Cooker meal — raw chicken and dry macaroni cook together in one crock.
- Creamy and cozy — shredded chicken blends into a sauce that lands somewhere between chicken noodle soup and a Casserole.
- Makes four servings — serve with peas, bread, or applesauce to stretch the meal.
Ingredient Notes
Use regular dry elbow macaroni here, nothing fancy or oversized. Corkscrew pasta can cook unevenly, with some pieces perfect and some having the texture of little rubber hoses.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are best. If the breasts are enormous—the kind that look like they came from a chicken with a gym membership—cut them in half first so they cook evenly. Three or four small breasts should get the job done.
The condensed cream of chicken soup is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Store-brand soup works well, although cream of mushroom or cream of celery can work if that is what is on hand. The chicken soup is the most familiar-tasting version.
Low-sodium chicken broth is useful because the soup already has salt in it. More can always be added at the end, but a slow cooker full of macaroni cannot be un-salted.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 3 to 4 small breasts
- 2 cans (10.5 ounces each) condensed cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt, or a little less if salt-sensitive
Instructions
Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker crock with a little oil or nonstick spray. Do not skip this if possible; macaroni has a way of welding itself to the sides when it feels neglected, and scraping dried pasta off a crock is not much fun.
Place the raw chicken breasts in a single layer along one side or down the center of the slow cooker. They can touch, that is perfectly fine, but try not to stack them in a pile. This is not a beauty pageant.
Pour the dry elbow macaroni into the slow cooker beside the chicken, keeping it mostly on its own side when possible. A few elbows will scoot under the chicken or land wherever they please—that is fine. This is not a beauty pageant.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, and salt until the mixture is fairly smooth. It will look thin and a little questionable at this point. The pasta starch works its magic later.
Pour the soup mixture evenly over the chicken and macaroni. Make sure most of the pasta is covered by liquid, and gently press down any dry pieces with the back of a spoon. A few noodles peeking up are not a disaster. Press them down, put the lid on, and move along.
Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the macaroni is tender. Resist lifting the lid during those first few hours. Every time the lid comes off, heat escapes and dinner takes longer.
About 30 minutes before serving, remove the lid and shred the chicken right in the slow cooker with two forks. Stir the shredded chicken into the macaroni and creamy sauce.
If the chicken and macaroni seems thicker than desired, stir in extra broth or water 2 to 4 tablespoons at a time. For a thicker consistency, keep it as is.
Taste and add a little more salt if needed. Replace the lid and let it sit on WARM or LOW for 10 to 15 minutes, just long enough for the sauce to settle and cling to the macaroni.
Give everything one final, good stir and spoon it into bowls while it is hot and creamy. Serve it straight from the slow cooker with frozen peas, mixed vegetables, a green salad, or buttered toast if available. Buttered toast is especially good.
Variations
Sprinkle shredded cheese over each bowl after serving, usually cheddar, along with plenty of black pepper. Crushed crackers on top add a nice finish.
For a creamier finish, stir in 1/2 cup milk or a small splash of cream at the end and let it warm through for a few minutes. If vegetables are wanted in the actual slow cooker, add 1 to 2 cups frozen peas and carrots or mixed vegetables during the last 30 to 45 minutes. Earlier than that and they can get a little too soft.
Cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup can replace one or both cans of cream of chicken soup. Using both cans of mushroom soup works well, but tastes less like the old-fashioned chicken-and-macaroni dinner. Not bad. Just different.
Storage & Reheating
Leftovers keep well in a covered container in the refrigerator for a few days. The macaroni will soak up more sauce as it sits, so do not be alarmed when it looks much thicker after refrigeration. Add a splash of water or chicken broth before reheating, then warm it gently on the stove or in the microwave.
If microwaving, stop halfway through and stir it. The outside can get steaming hot while the middle stays cold.
It is not quite as silky after storage, but it is still very good tucked into a bowl with a little extra pepper.
Final Notes
This is a simple meal for busy, noisy evenings, when the last thing needed is another decision.
There is something comforting about food that does not ask much. Chicken, macaroni, soup, broth, salt. Put it together, let the slow cooker hum in the corner, and suddenly the house smells softer somehow.
Warm bowls, a quiet table, and no requests for anything else to eat make for a small miracle.
Slow Cooker 5-Ingredient Chicken and Macaroni
Ingredients Â
- 1 1/2 cups dry elbow macaroni
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts About 3 to 4 small breasts; cut enormous breasts in half so they cook evenly.
- 2 cans (10.5 ounces each) condensed cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt Use a little less if salt-sensitive.
InstructionsÂ
- Lightly grease the inside of your slow cooker crock with a little oil or nonstick spray.
- Place the raw chicken breasts in a single layer along one side or down the center of the slow cooker without stacking them.
- Pour the dry elbow macaroni into the slow cooker beside the chicken, keeping it mostly on its own side when possible.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, and salt until fairly smooth.
- Pour the soup mixture evenly over the chicken and macaroni, making sure most of the pasta is covered, and gently press down any dry pieces with the back of a spoon.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the macaroni is tender.
- About 30 minutes before serving, remove the lid and shred the chicken right in the slow cooker with two forks, then stir it into the macaroni and creamy sauce.
- If the chicken and macaroni is thicker than desired, stir in extra broth or water 2 to 4 tablespoons at a time.
- Taste and add a little more salt if needed, then replace the lid and let the dish sit on WARM or LOW for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Give everything one final stir and spoon it into bowls while hot and creamy, serving with frozen peas, mixed vegetables, a green salad, or buttered toast if desired.