One of my main food goals lately is to pack in a lot of vegetables, and not just any veggies. I am trying to increase veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, mushrooms, and garlic. One thing I’ve noticed is that when I buy broccoli, the stalks are huge. I decided I would no longer throw them out!
I’ve added them to soup, stir fry, and a few other things, but I have to admit this dish is the most amazing one yet!
Creamy Crockpot Broccoli and Chicken
4 small heads of broccoli (or 3 medium)
broccoli stalks, cut into chunks
1 1/2 lb chicken, cut into chunks
1 whole red onion
4-6 cloves garlic (how much do you like garlic?!)
8oz mushrooms
2 cups reserved broccoli stalk water
3tsp Better than Boullion
4oz cheese (I used mozzarella, but use cheddar or whatever you want!)
Directions: Steam the broccoli tops and refrigerate for later. With the water you used, boil your broccoli stalks until they are soft (fork tender). Set them aside for a few minutes so they will cool down.
Chop your chicken into chunks and put it in the crockpot. Dice one whole red onion, and mince 4-6 cloves of garlic. You can use less garlic if you don’t love it as much as I do (I used 6 cloves). Chop 8oz of mushrooms. Add to crockpot. Dump in 2 cups of the water you boiled the broccoli stalks in. Turn the crockpot on to Low. Slice the hard outer peel off of the broccoli stalks (you don’t have to do this, but I prefer it this way—then the stalks kind of dissolve into the mixture as it cooks. Add 3 tsp Better than Boullion (please don’t use regular boullion cubes–they are full of gross stuff!). If you don’t have Better than Boullion, you can leave this out. You’ll probably want to add some salt later on if you leave that out.
Leave this in the crockpot for 5-7 hours, stirring every once in a while if you want to. If you need to add sea salt and pepper near the end, go ahead. A few minutes before you’re ready to eat, add cheese and stir in to melt. Next, add your steamed broccoli to heat it up (doing it this way will prevent the brocc from getting too mushy!).
Serve this over rice or cauliflower rice. There will be some liquid—I recommend you add some of that to your rice!
I also ate this the next day for lunch. I ate it cold, and I swear it was better than chicken salad!
Do you use your broccoli stalks?!
This looks deliicous and I love love love anything that uses the crockpot! I can’t wait to give it a try!
Yes! I like to use the stalks, too, and I also like to peel them. I save whatever veggie peels, fresh herbs I may not use in time, etc. I’m not using in a freezer container and use them for making flavorful broths – chicken, beef or veggie broths.