Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo with Pesto is one of the BEST crock pot recipes – just dump it all together and let the slow cooker do it’s magic! Creamy, flavorful, and delicious – perfect for a busy weeknight.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
This Slow Cooker Alfredo Chicken is one of my family’s favorites and I know that you will love this delicious comfort food too.
- Quick Prep: Have this dinner ready to cook in only 10 minutes.
- Dump and Go Recipe: Throw everything in the slow cooker, perfect for busy days.
- Delicious leftovers: Enjoy this slow cooker recipe for an easy dinner, or a simple lunch the next day.
For a more traditional chicken Alfredo, make our one pot chicken Alfredo or Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo for another way to enjoy a delicious chicken dinner.
Key Ingredients:
For simple slow cooking, use fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts or frozen chicken breasts or thighs cooked in a jar of Alfredo sauce with basil pesto and diced tomatoes for easy added flavor.
Pair the chicken Alfredo with a box of your favorite uncooked noodles
Top the crock pot chicken pesto Alfredo with fresh shredded Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and fresh tomatoes for a delicious yet optional garnish.
See below for a detailed list of ingredients!
Equipment Needed:
How to make Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo with Pesto:
- Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray and place chicken into the bottom of the slow cooker.
- After arranging the chicken, pour Alfredo sauce, pesto, and tomatoes (undrained) on top of chicken to create the easy creamy sauce.
- Cook the chicken on low heat for 5-6 hours (or high heat for 3-4 hours) or until chicken is cooked through. This is for frozen chicken, adjust to 4-5 hours on low for fresh chicken, or 2-3 hours for high heat.
- Near the end of the cooking time, cook the pasta according to the package directions in a separate pan, draining the tender pasta well.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred using 2 forks or throw it into your kitchen aid for a minute or two since it should come apart fairly easy.
- Add the chicken and cooked pasta back to slow cooker. Mix everything together, letting it sit for a minute to let the chicken and pasta absorb the sauce.
- Serve topped with fresh Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and fresh diced tomatoes (optional toppings).
Tips and Recipe Notes
- If you aren’t sure if your chicken is done, use a meat thermometer. Temp the thickest part of the chicken, making sure the chicken is at least 165 degrees F.
- You can use fresh pesto in place of the jarred pesto or add a little bit more at the end as a garnish.
- Use the basil, garlic, and oregano tomatoes for even more simple flavor add-ins.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Storage: Store the leftover pesto chicken for 3 to 4 days in airtight container.
Reheat: Microwave in 30 second intervals and then broil for 1 to 2 min to re-crisp the cracker crumbs.
FAQ’s for Slow Cooker Chicken
You can use either fresh or frozen chicken breasts or thighs for this easy
Use your favorite brand of gluten-free pasta in place of the penne.
To make this pasta extra creamy, drain the tomatoes and use 1/2 – 3/4 cup of heavy cream in place. Or leave the tomatoes as is and add a block of cream cheese to the slow cooker.
Side Recipes to Serve:
Italian Fresh Green Salad or Sheet Pan Breadsticks are our go-to sides for the creamy pasta.
Homemade French Bread or Seven Layer Green Salad can be delicious pairings as well.
Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo with Pesto Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 15 ounces alfredo sauce, 1 jar
- ½ cup prepared basil pesto
- 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
- 16 ounces penne pasta, 1 package, or your favorite pasta
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, optional topping
- 2 Tablespoon fresh chopped basil, optional topping
- 2 tomatoes, diced, optional topping
Equipment
Instructions
- Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Pour Alfredo sauce, pesto, and tomatoes (undrained) on top of chicken.
- Cook on low heat for 5-6 hours (or high heat for 3-4 hours) or until chicken is cooked through.
- Near the end of the cooking time, cook the pasta according to the package directions and drain well.
- Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred using 2 forks (it should come apart fairly easy).
- Add the chicken and pasta back to slow cooker and mix together.
- Serve topped with fresh Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and fresh diced tomatoes (optional toppings).
Notes
- Add pasta, 5 cups chicken broth and chicken breasts to Instant Pot.
- Make sure that all pasta is covered with chicken broth.
- Cook on MANUAL for 6 minutes, then allow for a natural pressure release for 6 minutes before moving the valve over to VENTING.
- Remove lid and then remove chicken from Instant pot and shred with two forks.
- Add in the shredded chicken, jar of diced tomatoes, jar of alfredo sauce, and jar of pesto.
- Turn the Instant Pot to SAUTE and cook until sauce is bubbly.
- Turn off the Instant Pot and serve, topping with your favorite garnishes.
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
Hi. I can’t tell if you are using cooked frozen chicken breasts or uncooked. Please advise,
Thanks.
Susan
We often use frozen chicken breasts, but thawed works great too.
This looks so delicious, I’m definetly going to be making this this week!!!
Hi! Can you tell me approximately how much is in one serving!
The servings for this recipe can totally vary depending on how large of a serving someone takes. With a 16 ounce package of pasta and 5 chicken breasts, it will easily feed 8 people with generous size portions.
Do you have a favorite alfredo pasta sauce?
We often buy whatever is on sale. But Bertolli is pretty good.
Would it work if I cut this recipe half?
It should work fine. Be sure to check often in case it needs less cooking time.
Can I cook the pasta in the crockpot with the chicken and other ingredients?
I’m sure you could. We have not made this recipe adding the pasta to the slow cooker. So we can’t give you exact directions.
Does 497 kcal mean that this meal is 62,125 calories per serving?
No, it means that it’s 497 calories per serving.
This wasn’t a good as I was hoping it would be. Pretty bland, we had to add extra cheese on top to add some falvor. We liked it, but don’t think I will make it again.
Making this tonight, the description of the recipe calls for one can of diced tomatoes, along with the picture of all the ingredients… but the printable recipe calls for 2 cans. Do you use one or two cans for this recipe? Thanks.
Either will work just fine. We have done it with both.
How would you convert this recipe to IP?
Here is our YouTube video on how to convert recipes to the Instant Pot – https://youtu.be/8DKWGgsKY9s
yum! so easy and perfect! I used the instant pot method and wow loved the way it turned out!! so easy and clean up is a breeze! great for when in a time pinch! thanks for sharing
It turned out runny not creamy which was disappointing. I believe I did all the steps correctly, but was it I dumped the entire can of diced tomatoes in? Should I have drained it?
Did you make it in the slow cooker or the Instant Pot? If you made it in the Instant Pot, you will want to make sure that you saute it until the sauce is bubbly and starts to thicken. If you made it in the slow cooker, it should thicken up after adding the pasta – it will thicken as it cools down. I usually don’t drain the tomatoes if I cook it in the slow cooker and haven’t had a problem, but you definitely could drain them if yours was runny. I am sorry that it didn’t turn out as you had hoped!