Serve up this easy slow cooker Spanish chicken stew for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner. Tender chicken thighs are slow cooked in a flavorful sauce with olives and peppers to create a flavorful dish, which pairs perfectly with your favorite side dishes.
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This easy dump and go slow cooker recipe requires less than 5 minutes of preparation, making it the perfect choice for easy dinners. Simply add the ingredients to the pot, and leave it to simmer for a few hours until you're ready to eat.
Spanish chicken is such a flavorful and delicious entree, which perfectly combines chicken with olives and tomatoes. This recipe is also really easy to customize if you want to add your own spin on it by adding extra ingredients or adjusting the seasoning.
Why you'll love it
- Easy chicken entree
- The slow cooker method makes this dish easy to make
- Perfect if you love chicken and olives
- Flavorful and colorful chicken stew
- The recipe is easy to customize to suit your preferences
- Gluten free, dairy free, low calorie dish
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Ingredients
Canned diced tomatoes: (UK: tinned chopped tomatoes) This creates the base of the stew. You can also use tomato sauce if you prefer.
Bell peppers: Any color peppers will work well. I like to use a variety of colors, as this makes the stew more colorful, but you can use your favorites or whatever you have on hand.
Chicken thighs: Use boneless skinless chicken thighs. These are really juicy and tender when slow cooked. Alternatively, you can also use chicken breasts.
Olives: Green olives add fantastic flavor to this dish. You can also use black olives if you prefer, or even stuffed olives.
Tomato paste: Adds a deeper tomato flavor to the stew.
Onion: Use a white, yellow, brown or red onion.
Garlic: I prefer to use garlic cloves, but garlic paste or garlic powder will also work.
Seasoning: I use salt, black pepper, paprika and Italian seasoning. You can also substitute these with any spices or dried herbs that you like.
Instructions
You can find full instructions + ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this page
Slow cooked Spanish chicken is incredibly easy to make. Dice the onion, and add it to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine everything evenly. Then, cover the Crockpot with a lid, and slow cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or on LOW for 6-8 hours.
Make sure that the chicken is cooked through by using a meat thermometer. The internal temperature of the meat should be 165 F / 74 C or higher. The dish is ready to serve when the chicken is done.
Top tips
- Make sure to use boneless skinless chicken pieces. The bones and skin will be very inconvenient to eat.
- Avoid removing the lid while the slow cooker cooks. This will ensure that the dish cooks evenly, within the time suggested.
- The exact cooking time required can vary slightly depending on the make and model of your slow cooker, as well as the size of the chicken thighs.
- Always use a meat thermometer to make sure that the meat is cooked through before you serve the dish.
- If your slow cooker has a WARM setting, you can leave the cooked Spanish chicken to keep warm for a few hours after it is cooked.
Serving suggestions
This Spanish chicken stew is an excellent entree to serve for lunch or dinner. It's really versatile, and pairs perfectly with a variety of side dishes.
You can serve this dish as a stew, or drain off the excess liquid to serve the chicken and olives as a traditional entree.
I love to serve this with mashed potatoes with almond milk, crispy roast potatoes, turmeric rice, or dill rice. You can also pair it with air fryer garlic bread, bread rolls, homemade bagels and more.
If you want to pair it with vegetable dishes, I recommend air fryer mushrooms, roasted tenderstem broccoli or garlic parmesan brussels sprouts.
Variations
Added vegetables: You can add any vegetables that you like to this dish. Try adding green beans, black olives, capers, shallots, fennel, zucchini, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach or kale.
Other seasoning: Adjust the flavors by adding smoked paprika, dried herbs, turmeric, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, sun-dried tomato pesto or other flavorful ingredients.
Extra ingredients: To make the dish more filling, try adding cannellini beans (white beans), pinto beans, diced ham, bacon or chorizo.
Equipment
To make Crockpot Spanish chicken, you will need a 3 quart or 6 quart Crockpot, or any other slow cooker. I don't recommend using a smaller size, unless you choose to make a smaller batch.
If you use a larger slow cooker, for example a 10 quart pot, you should double or even triple the recipe to make a much larger batch. Slow cookers work best when they are almost full.
Additionally, you will need a sharp knife and a cutting board to dice the onion and prepare the ingredients.
Storage
You can store any leftover slow cooker Spanish chicken in a sealed container in a refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months.
Reheat the dish in a microwave, on the stove or in a slow cooker, and serve it warm. If you freeze the stew, you should thaw and defrost it in a refrigerator overnight before reheating.
As this keeps well for a long period of time, this is the perfect Crockpot chicken freezer meal or meal prep recipe. If you have a large slow cooker, you can even make a double batch, and freeze it down in portion sized containers for quick and easy future meals.
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Frequently asked questions
Spanish chicken is chicken cooked in a Spanish style sauce with ingredients like smoked paprika, tomatoes, olives or chorizo.
Yes! Slow cooking chicken makes it fall-apart tender, juicy and delicious.
Depending on the Crockpot, and which cut of chicken you use, it takes between 2 and 8 hours to cook chicken in the slow cooker. Avoid cooking it for longer than 8 hours, as this could result in dry meat.
You might also like these recipes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
- Instant Pot Chicken Stew
- Spanish Chicken Stew
- Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas
- Crockpot Cowboy Casserole
If you make this recipe, make sure to post a photo to Instagram with #hintofhealthy!
Recipe
Slow Cooker Spanish Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 (15 oz) can canned diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 onion
- 1 cup olives
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Remove the seeds from the bell peppers, and dice them. Peel and dice the onion, and peel and grate the garlic cloves.
- Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker, and stir to combine them evenly.
- Cover the Crockpot with a lid, and slow cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or on LOW for 6-8 hours.
Video
Notes
- Make sure that the chicken is cooked through by using a meat thermometer. The internal temperature of the meat should be 165 F / 74 C or higher.
- Refrigerate leftovers for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 6 months. Reheat in a microwave, slow cooker or on the stove.
- Use a 3 quart or 6 quart slow cooker to achieve the best results.
- Feel free to add extra ingredients, like additional seasoning, chorizo, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, kale, shallots, capers or other vegetables.
Nutrition
Food safety tips
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
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