This Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken recipe is the perfect one-dish meal for fall. It's freezer-friendly so you can prep it ahead of time. In the morning, just dump it in the crockpot and dinner will be waiting when you get home.
Hi friends!
Have no fear. Bean Bytes will be here tomorrow. I had to do a little switcharoo because today is Recipe Redux day. This month's theme was freezer meals, which was perfect for me because you guys are always asking for easy dinner ideas.
To me, freezer meals and crockpot meals go hand in hand. It's so easy to fill several ziploc bags with raw ingredients, freeze them and then simply dump a bagful into the crockpot and have dinner waiting when you get home!
This dish is fall-inspired and features apples and cranberries. I also used carrots because I like the way they retain their texture in the crockpot…but you could easily use sweet potatoes or butternut squash instead (or in addition to). I also experimented with adding an uncooked grain to my freezer meal and it worked great!
Another thing I realized is that if you're planning to add your meal to the crockpot when it's frozen, it's better to freeze without any liquid. This recipe calls for chicken broth and usually I just throw it in the bag. If you're going to let it thaw overnight before cooking that's no big deal because it melts and you can just dump into the crockpot…but if you try to add it from frozen, the broth makes everything freeze into a big square block that doesn't fit into the oval crockpot. So, if you freeze it flat without the liquid, you can just smack it against the counter a couple times and everything breaks up enough to dump easily.
A final note- I would add the farro to the very top, not to the middle like I did. That way, when you dump it in, the farro will fall to the bottom of the crockpot where it can get covered in broth and cook well. If you don't do this, you'll probably need to stir halfway through to help submerge the farro.
So anyways, here's how you make it:
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 large apple, chopped (approx 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 pounds chicken, chopped
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- ¾ cup farro, uncooked
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1.5 cups chicken broth **only needed when cooking, not freezing**
- Add all ingredients, except broth to a large ziploc bag.
- Be sure to add the farro last so it stays at the top of the bag.
- Freeze.
- When ready to cook, smack the bag against the counter a few times to loosen. Dump contents into slow cooker. Add 1.5 cups chicken broth. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours.
You can peel the apple if you want to. I was too lazy. And like I mentioned above, feel free to add some extra veggies like squash or sweet potato!
I really liked this because it's simple and the ginger really shined. The apples add some sweetness and the cranberries add a pop of tartness. Feel free to play around with the seasonings. If you don't like ginger you could try curry powder!
Stock your freezer with this Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken from @leangrnbeanblog!
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Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
For more freezer meal ideas, check out the linkup below!
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Original Content: Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken
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