Slow Cooker Rosemary Chicken Breasts

Slow Cooker Chronicles

October 31, 2011 at 12:40 pm
by Heather Eng

Our friends at the diet and weight loss site Sparkpeople.com have just released The Sparkpeople Cookbook. Subtitled “Love Your Food, Lose the Weight,” it features hundreds of healthy recipes from Meg Galvin, the site’s recipe developer and a World Master Chef.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m all about eating well, so I was excited to get my hands on the book. I found several delicious-sounding recipes I wanted to try, including one for Slow Cooker Rosemary Chicken Breasts. That sounded appealing because the chicken cooks in wine and I wanted to try a crock pot dish made with that instead of beer. Plus, I was coming off two dubiously successful dessert attempts and making a savory dish seemed like a nice change of pace. I was quite happy with the results. The chicken had a nice flavor and I’d happily make again.

The recipe required very little prep. We just put the chicken breasts in the slow cooker and poured a mixture of white wine, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes over it. Then, we set the slow cooker for 2.5 hours on HIGH.

chicken in slow cooker

While the chicken cooked…

tomatoes and rosemary

…we sliced tomatoes and cleaned a few sprigs of rosemary.

chicken and tomatoes in slow cooker

We added them to the pot and set it on LOW for another 30 minutes.

chicken, potatoes and brussels sprouts

Once it was done, we served it with roasted Brussels sprouts and rosemary potatoes. Yum–and super-healthy, too.

Slow Cooker Rosemary Chicken Breasts (tweaked slightly from The Sparkpeople Cookbook)

Makes: 4 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Slow Cook: 2.5 hours on HIGH and a 1/2 hour on LOW

Ingredients
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon plus another 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine (we used a sauvignon blanc)
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
2 tomatoes, thickly sliced

Directions
1. Place the chicken in the slow cooker in a single layer.

2. In a glass measuring cup, mix together vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and wine. Pour the mixture over the chicken.

3. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2.5 hours. Once time is up, stir in additional 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, rosemary and tomatoes. Cover and cook for 1/2 hour on LOW.

Note: I felt the chicken could have benefited from a slightly shorter cooking time. The next time I make this recipe, I think I’ll try cooking the chicken for 2 hours on HIGH and then a 1/2 hour on LOW.

Readers, what are your favorite healthy slow cooker recipes? I’d love to hear about them, so please share in the comments below.

Plus, join us for our next slow cooker chat with Michael Tyrrell, Family Circle‘s resident slow cooker guru, on Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Craving slow cooker chicken? Check out our recipes here.

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