Slow cooker chicken and artichoke melts are so simple but incredibly gooey, cheesy, and tasty. You can throw this meal in the slow cooker in minutes!
Really, the slow cooker is a useful appliance all year long, because it is so handy when you don’t want to heat your whole house up in the summer by turning on your oven. The thing is, winter is when I really crave the types of foods that you prepare in the slow cooker…foods like soups, chilis, and roasts. I’ve been a little bit obsessed with my slow cooker lately, but that’s just because (a) I recently got an Instant Pot (⬅️affiliate link) and I can’t stop using it to cook all the things (I’ll review it for you all eventually); and (b) because I’ve been working on an article for WHISK Magazine about slow cooking. It’s definitely gotten my slow cooker creative juices flowing.
There was a time when I thought that you could pretty much just throw whatever in the slow cooker, turn it on, and walk away. No matter how long you left it, it would be perfectly falling apart when you came back to it. I learned a couple of things. First of all, some things will burn in the slow cooker; baked goods are a good example-they need to be watched closely. Second, chicken breasts are not a super slow cooker friendly food. The fat content is so low that they will dry out if you overcook them by 1.2 seconds. Third? If you put vegetables in the slow cooker and leave them all day, there’s a good chance that they will be straight-up mush by the end of the day.
My advice to you? Use chicken thighs instead. They have more fat, so they are far less likely to dry out. And while, contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to add liquid to your slow cooker when cooking meat, it will create a juicy sauce that will help to keep your chicken from drying out. Adding delicate vegetables toward the end of cooking will keep them from completely disintegrating. You could add the cheese in this dish to the slow cooker and mix it all up with the chicken and vegetables, but I prefer the uniformness of the cheese melted over the top of the chicken and artichoke sandwich.
What’s your favorite slow cooker tip?
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Yield: 4 sandwiches
15 minPrep Time:
8 hr, 5 Cook Time:
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds) - trimmed
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 medium onion - thinly sliced
- 1 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts - thawed OR 1 can quartered artichoke hearts - well drained
- 4 hoagie rolls - split
- mayonnaise and/or mustard (optional)
- 4 slices Provolone cheese
Instructions
- Sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper on both sides. Place into the slow cooker and sprinkle the Worcestershire sauce over the top. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- Place the onions and the artichoke hearts into the slow cooker. Cover and continue to cook on low for another two hours.
- Turn off the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the chicken.
- Turn on the broiler. Place the split hoagie rolls onto a baking sheet and spread with mayo and/or mustard if desired. Divide the chicken among the rolls and top each with a slice of Provolone (I break the cheese slices in half to get better coverage).
- Melt the cheese under the broiler. Top with the top half of the hoagie roll and serve immediately.
Click here to print the recipe for slow cooker chicken and artichoke melts!
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