Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes takes just a few minutes of prep and five ingredients. Crisp chicken thighs, buttery red potatoes and shaved Parmesan cheese make the perfect easy weeknight meal.
There are a few slow cooker hacks that come into play with this recipe that you’ll find in most of my slow cooker meals that are crispy meat dishes.
- Brown your chicken/meat first before putting on the slow cooker. By browning the chicken on both sides here you’re creating a crust thats full of flavor and you’re rendering enough fat out of the chicken to coat and cook the potatoes.
- Don’t add any liquids. This method helps prevent your chicken from swimming in a bunch of watery liquids.
Looking for more crispy slow cooker meals?
- Crisp and Juicy Slow Cooker Chicken
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
- Slow Cooker Bacon Garlic Pork Loin
- Crispy Slow Cooker Turkey
- Crispy Slow Cooker Corned Beef
- Crispy Cracklin’ Pork Shoulder
Tools Used In This Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes:
Slow Cooker: Love this slow cooker and how programmable it is, it has been a workhorse for me… until…
My New Slow Cooker: This recipe was made in this slow cooker. I browned the chicken in the cast aluminum insert before cooking the chicken on low, so I didn’t have a second pan to clean. For larger roasts I also brown the meat in the insert and not lose a bunch of the flavor by transferring the meat and leaving the browned bits behind. If you’re thinking of a new slow cooker, consider it if your budget is open.
Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes
Slow Cooker Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes takes just a few minutes of prep and five ingredients. Crisp chicken thighs, buttery red potatoes and shaved Parmesan cheese make the perfect easy weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 5 in chicken thighs , bone-in and skin-on
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 6 red potatoes , quartered
- 5 cloves garlic , chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme , chopped
- 1/2 cup shaved Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- In your slow cooker aluminum insert (do not heat a ceramic insert, use a skillet instead).
- Heat the skillet/insert on medium high heat.
- Season the chicken to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper (I used 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper).
Add the chicken thighs skin side down and brown for 5-7 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Add in the potatoes and stir amongst the chicken fat in the pan.
- Add in the chopped garlic and thyme and season as desired with salt and pepper (again I used 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper).
Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
Add half the Parmesan cheese and cook on high for 15 minutes.
- Serve and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
If your slow cooker runs hot or you use inserts and the chicken steams instead of crisps, finish it in the oven at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes to crisp up the potatoes and the chicken.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Delish.
I’m thinking about getting that slow cooker you describe with the aluminum insert – but I’m having trouble deciding what size. We are a family of 4, and don’t usually like leftovers. Do your recipe sizes usually cater to the larger slow cooker? I just made your pot roast and it was delicious!
I use a 6 qt slow cooker for all my recipes. Here is the link to the one I have and love.
https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-MSC-600-Central-6-Quart-Multi-Cooker/dp/B008YEXC22/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1486361994&sr=8-6&keywords=slow+cooker+aluminum&linkCode=sl1&tag=dinnthendess-20&linkId=415b38951328560a6681275df5308fc7
Can you make this recipe in the oven?
If you want to make this in the oven, I would recommend preheated the oven to 425. Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes. Lower the temp to 400 and add the chicken. Cook for another 15-20 minutes. Hope this helps!
Hi! I’m attempting this recipe for the first time this weekend. Do you think it would be okay if I threw in an onion and couple of diced carrots too? If not, I can always throw those in the oven instead.
Also, I couldn’t get fresh thyme at the grocery store – do you have a dry spice recommendation?
Thank you 🙂
Sure, go ahead an add it. 🙂 Enjoy!
Clearly I’m not a big cook because you just blew my mind there was an aluminum insert! Where can I purchase?! Will recipes that recommend the aluminum insert be a flop without?
I love my slow cooker with the aluminum insert but you can certainly make it without them! I would just recommend browning in another pan then transferring to your slow cooker. Honestly the flavors you’re creating in the searing process are so valuable it is worth the extra dirty pan and extra prep time. Without searing slow cookers have a tendency to boil or gray meats that have more liquids. So when I have recipes that will have exposed portions I always recommend a sear so you end up with delicious looking and tasting food.
Alternately you can cook in the slow cooker without the sear then when you finish you can transfer to an oven safe dish and cook under a broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the skin. Just make sure you don’t allow the sauce to get onto the skin when you’re removing it from the slow cooker. If it gets wet as you remove it the broiling will be a wasted effort.
Hope that helps! 🙂
What if I wanted to bake this recipe in the oven instead of close cooker? What temp and how long? Thanks 🙂
I would recommend preheated the oven to 425. Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes. Lower the temp to 400 and add the chicken. Cook for another 15-20 minutes. Hope this helps!
My immediate family will not eat dark chicken. It is so appreciated when a recipe mentions whether it can be made with breasts or, perhaps, both light and dark meat.
I know everyone has specific tastes so I’ve found it helpful to give options. 🙂
Can you use chicken breast’s for this?
I usually don’t recommend using chicken breasts in the slow cooker because they tend to dry out a bit. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how they turned out.
I’m wondering if this would remain crispy if I prepped it the night before. Thoughts?
I don’t think it’ll remain crispy, sorry.
In step #8, it’s “cheese” not “chicken, right?
Haha, yes! Thanks for catching that! I’ve edited it to read correctly….hopefully it sticks.
This looks so good, I can’t wait to try it!!!
But, where can I find your slow cooker hacks, because I don’t understand the aluminum insert??, are you talking about aluminum foil? And wouldn’t the foil be on your plate with the chicken and potatoes when spooning it out??
Some slow cookers come with an aluminum insert. If you click on the link in the “tools used” section, it will show you a picture to help clear up any confustion.
Is there a substitute for this? I don’t have aluminum inserts. BTW…I just cooked the honey garlic chicken the other day…the family loves it! I’m doing the crispy juicy chicken now. Wish me luck!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! Just saw your other comment too. 🙂
Nevermind. I saw the comment above about using a skillet for the browning. Then I can just dump it in the slow cooker after that?
Yep!
i don’t have that slow cooker so do I just do the chicken in the skillet and then put the rest of the ingredients in the slow cooker or do I had everything in the skillet and then put it in the slow cooker. Couldn’t do a comment as I haven’t made it yet
You can absolutely cook everything in a skillet (browning it) and finish it in the oven at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. The slow cooker is just to make this a set it and forget it meal.
If cooking in the oven would you cover it?
Yes 🙂
I need to cook more chicken thighs instead of our go to chicken breasts. This looks great
Thanks Lauren! It’s nice to switch it up every once in a while!
These have such a beautiful brown color, you can hardly tell they were done in the slow cooker 🙂 I can’t wait to try this. yum yum yum <3
Thank you Jess!
OMG what a winner winner chicken dinner! I’ve been all about my slow cooker lately, so trying this ASAP!
That parmesan! Such an inviting meal!
Oh my, what a wonderful dinner!! Looks so delicious!
Thank you Katerina!
I’m loving this crispy skin, and I love that you can use the slow cooker for the entire recipe. I need to upgrade!
This looks glorious! And that chicken skin! Oh my word. Yum.
Thank you Des!
I am obsessed with slow cooker meals! This looks absolutely incredible! I can’t wait to try this for dinner!
Thanks Michelle!