A super easy and moist crockpot chicken and dressing, made using a packaged stuffing mix like Pepperidge Farm, adding in sauteed onion and celery, cooked chicken and cream soup, blended with chicken stock.

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Dressing

The concept of slow cooker dressing certainly isn't unique to me - you'll find a multitude of recipes online and at other blogs and websites, all slightly different from one another.

This method actually dates back to the late 70s in my recipe box, a time when convenience products and crockpots were all the rage with us working women. I used to rely on my crockpot a lot back then, but then fell away from it for years because I got bored with the way they cooked. Then I started blogging, finally upgraded my slow cooker, educated myself a little bit better on slow cookery and slowly started to build up my collection of recipes again.

This is a great shortcut recipe because it uses cream soups and packaged stuffing mix, but don't scoff at that, because they are both great time savers. Using them makes this not only super easy to make, but also results in a wonderfully tasty and moist dressing, whether you use it with chicken or turkey added in, or not.

You can certainly make up your own cornbread and bread for this recipe, breaking it up and toasting it, or even use my recipe for homemade chicken and dressing and layer that in the crockpot too, but this version just saves a few of those steps. Now.... there is one very important thing to note.

As with any packaged product today, you do need to take into consideration the seasonings that are included, and the higher sodium levels of a packaged product - which frankly, seems to have gotten a lot more salty to my taste-buds the past few years.

Everything packaged - from boxed convenience meals to chips - all taste so highly salted to me, and I'm guessing that the salt is replacing some of those nasty preservatives that consumers demanded be removed. Luckily, I've experimented with the cream soups and discovered that while the reduced sodium and fat versions may not work as well with some casseroles, they do seem to work well with this slow cooker dressing. I also recommend using a lower sodium chicken broth.

I had a package of Pepperidge Farm cornbread stuffing in my pantry that needed to be used, so that's what I used today, but the herb bread stuffing is just as good, if you prefer that. A combination of the two is also very good. Like so many other products today, the large bags of stuffing have also shrunk, but the recipe still seems to hold its own, despite the loss of a few ounces. If you want a higher stuffing ratio, use a full 6 quart cooker, and double everything.

Like my regular oven baked stuffing, I use a bit of the Bell's seasoning in place of plain sage. Bell's is a mixture of several seasonings, including rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, and marjoram, and really adds a nice flavor punch to any dressing. If you don't have access to Bell's, or you don't feel like making up a copycat batch, just use plain sage, or add a couple tiny pinches of some or all of those seasonings, and remember - always season lightly first, then taste and adjust.

I've written this from the way that I used to do it years back in my 3-1/2 quart, round slow cooker, and still do for just The Cajun and me. To make it for a holiday, double the ingredients and cook it in a larger 6 quart slow cooker. This really is the easiest dressing ever, it's always well received, and there's nothing to it. Frankly, nobody but you needs to know just how easy it was.

While a lot of folks rely on their slow cookers for dressing on the holidays when the oven is otherwise occupied, you really don't have to wait for a holiday to enjoy a nice chicken and dressing supper. Let the slow cooker do the work for you, add a green vegetable and a salad, and some sweet tea, and you've got a nice and easy meal anytime of the year.

Here's how to make it.

First I do like to saute the veggies, so add 1/2 cup of chopped onion and 1/4 cup of chopped celery to a  skillet with a half stick of melted butter, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soups and chicken broth; set aside.

Add the stuffing mix, poultry seasoning and sage to the sauteed veggies and toss. Taste and adjust for seasonings.

Start layering, in a 3-1/2 quart round slow cooker, with 1 cup of the stuffing mixture, topped with 1 cup of the cooked and shredded chicken.

Top that with 1 cup of the soup mixture. Repeat, placing half of the remaining stuffing as the next layer, followed by the rest of the chicken, then half of the remaining soup, remaining stuffing and finally ending with remaining soup.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, high 3 to 4. Transfer to serving dish if desired.

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Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken and Dressing

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 10 min |Cook time: 7 hours |

Yield: About 4 to 6 servings

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion
• 1/4 cup of chopped celery
• 1 large (14 to 16 ounce) bag of a commercial cornbread or herb seasoned stuffing (like Pepperidge Farm)
• 1/2 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon of sage
• 1 can low sodium cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can low sodium cream of chicken soup
• 1-1/2 cups of low sodium chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups of cooked, chopped or shredded chicken

Instructions

Melt butter in a large skillet and saute the onion and celery until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the stuffing, poultry seasoning and sage and toss. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Whisk together the soups and chicken broth; set aside.

Spray a 3-1/2 quart crockpot with cooking spray and layer as follows: 1 cup of the stuffing mixture, topped with 1 cup of the chicken, topped with 1 cup of the soup mixture. Repeat, placing only half of the remaining stuffing as the next layer, followed by the rest of the chicken, then only half of the remaining soup, and ending with the remaining stuffing and topping with the remaining soup.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, high 3 to 4. Transfer to serving dish if desired.

Cook's Notes: I substitute Bell's seasoning or make a copycat, for the sage. Since this recipe is using a pre-packaged stuffing, I do recommend lower sodium products. Healthy request soups work well too. Don't be tempted to put in any additional salt, until you taste the mixture. If you prepare a chicken for this, omit the salt in your stock and reserve the broth to use some of that here. Can also use leftover chicken or turkey.

You may also substitute homemade, day old cornbread, and/or day old rolls or other breads, or use a combination of the two, crumbled and toasted. You'll need about 4 cups total of crumbs. Double for a party, potluck, for the holidays, or hardy appetites, and use a larger slow cooker, approximately 6-quart in size.

Tip: Anytime that you make cornbread, or have leftover biscuits, rolls, or bread, crumble any leftovers you have and freeze them in a zipper freezer bag or container to use in dishes like this.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Posted by Mary on December 23, 2012

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