I purchased this fancy All Clad Slow Cooker for a Chili cook-off this past Fall (which we won), but have not used it since – to be totally honest I have never been a huge fan of the Crock Pot. The thought of just throwing raw chicken (or any meat) in with a bunch of ingredients and just letting it all cook kind of grossed me out and made me a little nervous regarding food safety. Plus, I am a huge proponent of browning chicken and any aromatics I plan to cook with, and if I am going to have to dirty my Dutch oven for this step, I might as well just use the Dutch oven on the stove top for the whole dish. Major downside to this is that if you have your gas range fired up, you really can’t just leave your house 🙂
Anyway, a huge selling point for me on this All Clad Slow Cooker was that it had an “All in One Browning Function” – upon further research I discovered that you can simply switch the cooker to “Browning” mode, let it heat up, add a little oil and brown your chicken and aromatics right in the slow cooker! I was a tad bit skeptical about how this would work, but it worked PERFECTLY, was incredibly easy and my chicken turned out DELICIOUS!
This soup is so so so quick + easy to make and was a definite hit with my husband and his brother. Oh, and it is uber hea;thy – low cal, low carb,…ENJOY!
Ingredients
- 1½ – 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 – 3 chicken breasts)
- 1 white onion, small dice
- 4 stalks celery, small dice
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1½ tablespoons cumin
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
- ½ tablespoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper (more if you like heat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- A little extra salt + pepper to season chicken with
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 16 ounces salsa Verde – I used Central Market’s Hatch Green Chili Salsa Verde
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 ounces canned diced green chilies
- 15 ounces canned white navy beans, rinsed very well and drained
- Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
If you like extra heat you can seed and dice a few jalapeno peppers or Serrano peppers and add them during the last hour of cooking
Directions
- Stir together the cumin, oregano, onion powder, Cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper, set aside
- Wash chicken and pat dry, trim any fat
- Lightly brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
- Add about 1 tablespoon of oil to your slow cooker and switch to “Browning” mode – wait for cooker to preheat – once it is heated (to about 350 degrees F) add the chicken
- Brown for about 8 – 10 minutes per side
- Remove chicken and set aside
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil
- With your slow cooker still in the “Browning” mode, add your onions and celery and sauté for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly
- Add the garlic and seasoning mix and stir well to combine
- Switch your slow cooker to low
- Add the chicken stock, salsa verde, green chilies, white navy beans and the chicken
- Cook on low for about 5 hours or on high for about 3 hours
- Test your chicken with a thermometer to make sure it has reached 165 degrees F
- Remove chicken, shred and return it to the soup
- Garnish with fresh cilantro
Makes 6 servings
