Easy, Cheesy Chicken Alfredo You Can Make in the Crock Pot

Crockpot chicken alfredo
The Spruce
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 8 hrs
Total: 8 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 6 servings

This easy, cheese-flavored Chicken Alfredo recipe can be cooked in any slow cooker. It combines chicken thighs with lots of vegetables and cheesy Alfredo sauce, served with tender fettuccine to soak up the saucy goodness.

When you make it in your slow cooker, you can come home to a delicious dinner without having to do much work. All you need to complete the meal is a few minutes to boil the fettuccine, toss a simple green salad, prepare some toasted garlic bread or crisp breadsticks, and pour a nice glass of white wine.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed

  • 1 dash salt

  • 1 dash freshly ground black pepper

  • 2 onions, chopped

  • 4 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

  • 1 (16-ounce) jar four-cheese Alfredo sauce

  • 4 cups broccoli florets, frozen

  • 1 (9-ounce) package fresh fettucine, refrigerated

  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt and pepper to taste.

    season chicken
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  3. In a 4-quart slow cooker, place the chicken, onions, garlic, and red bell pepper.

    add ingredients to crockpot
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  4. Pour the Alfredo sauce over. Do not stir.

    add alfredo sauce
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  5. Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours or until the chicken reaches 165 F (make sure to test with a reliable thermometer).

    cook recipe in crockpot
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  6. Thaw and drain the broccoli, and add it to the slow cooker along with the fettuccine.

    add broccoli and noodles
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  7. Stir well, cover the slow cooker, and cook on HIGH for 30 to 40 minutes, until the broccoli is hot and the fettuccine is tender, stirring gently to make sure the pasta doesn't stick together.

    cook noodles
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  8. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve.

  9. Enjoy!

Tips

  • Choice of chicken: If you prefer white meat, you can make this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts—just be sure to reduce the cooking time to 6 to 7 hours on LOW (and check the internal temperature of the chicken before serving).
  • Al dente pasta: If you use fresh pasta from the refrigerated section of your supermarket, and if you are a fan of al dente pasta, you might be disappointed. The cook time on refrigerated pasta tops out at 2 minutes (great for a dinner in a pinch), but you will get a softer finished pasta—not al dente. For al dente pasta, opt for dried linguine in your boxed pasta aisle, and follow the box instructions for al dente, it is usually a few minutes less than fully cooked pasta.

Recipe Variations

  • Add different vegetables: You can use other vegetables in this recipe; think about adding sliced mushrooms in place of the broccoli, but add them at the beginning of the cooking time, not at the end. You could also include sliced zucchini or actually any frozen vegetable you have in your freezer.
  • Bump up the cheese: If you cannot find four-cheese Alfredo sauce (some stores consider it a specialty item), just before serving, stir in 1/2 cup each of grated Havarti, Colby, provolone, and Swiss cheeses. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese, then stir again and serve.

The History of Fettucine Alfredo

The history of fettuccine Alfredo has a somewhat modest beginning. In Rome in 1914, restaurant owner Alfredo di Lelio made his pregnant wife, Ines, plain pasta with butter and Parmesan to settle her morning sickness. Ines continued to eat this dish regularly for years with whatever was the house pasta that day. In 1920, on the pasta night that was fettuccine, two American silent film stars—Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford—visiting the restaurant tasted this simple dish and asked for the recipe, taking it home to the States. It was more than 50 years later when Alfredo opened a restaurant in New York City bearing his name and serving pasta with "Alfredo sauce." Interestingly enough, the dish never caught on in Italy and can only be found at the two "Alfredo" restaurants, while it is a staple on Italian restaurant menus in America.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
748 Calories
48g Fat
32g Carbs
53g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 748
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 48g 61%
Saturated Fat 25g 126%
Cholesterol 287mg 96%
Sodium 1223mg 53%
Total Carbohydrate 32g 12%
Dietary Fiber 5g 18%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 53g
Vitamin C 105mg 527%
Calcium 390mg 30%
Iron 3mg 19%
Potassium 962mg 20%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)