If you love chicken alfredo but love the flavor of pesto too, you can combine the two into our favorite easy casserole in a slow cooker meal! Paired with cheesy noodles your meat gets fork tender all cooked in one pot just like this.
If you love easy one pot slow cooker meals, you’ll love this crockpot pesto chicken alfredo! Just 5 ingredients is all you need to make this rich cheesy dinner that’s ready in just a few hours. One of our favorite crockpot recipes. 😉
You may have made a “regular” casserole in the oven before but don’t want to heat up your house, I get it. This is a great way to do just that. Right out of the pot it is a feel good comfort meal and the longer it sits the thicker the sauce becomes. Not only is it great that night, but leftovers are amazing too!!
Ready to give this slow cooker casserole a whirl? It is easy to do and you can use any sort of medium size noodles you like. With kids I love using the twisty type because it makes them smile.
It started with a jar of pesto I had in the pantry. I love those flavors but it really needs another richer one to bring it to the next level. Yes you can also make your own but I’m about ready to use sauces when we have a busy day ahead of us. Here we go…….
Do you love crockpot meals too?? As a busy mom of 3 who works full time I depend on anything and everything to make my life easier. Being able to pop these 4 ingredients into my slow cooker and have the meat come out moist, cheesy, with a hint of my favorite pesto is my kind of meal. Comfort food at it’s finest. 😉
Ingredient Notes
To make things easier you can of course use jarred pesto sauce. If you do want to go from scratch and homemade you really can make pesto with pine nuts in less than 10 minutes flat.
I added 3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts that are medium sizes so they cook thru nicely and are able to shred at the end.
Alfredo sauce (1 jar – or make your own from scratch) is the main sauce that will cook all the other ingredients together in your pot.
2 cups uncooked noodles (any variety) should be cooked to al dente and combined with all the others to make this meal we love.
Green onion or chives and parmesan cheese can be sprinkled on the top. For a vegetable side dish if you have two pots, give our slow cooker cabbage recipe a whirl.
Can you use frozen chicken?
I keep frozen chicken breasts in the freezer for “just in case busy days”. The other jarred items are stocked in my pantry so I always know I have a feel good meal ready to go. If I forget to defrost the meat it really isn’t a huge issue. You can use this same sauce(s) and the timing for Crockpot frozen chicken to save the say. Seriously.
How Long to Cook a Casserole in Slow Cooker
There is a range depending on whether you leave the meat whole or diced into large bite size pieces like I prefer to here. If cut up it just takes 2 hours with the sauce. Whole it is about 5 hours until breasts become fork tender (depending on size of course).
This is also a great meal for last minute planning since it is easy to throw together, and something I always have on hand. Serve it with a side salad or frozen rolls in air fryer and you’ve got the creamiest most delicious meal ever!
Easy Casserole in Slow Cooker Recipe
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1 jar Pesto, 4.58 oz.
- 3 medium chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- 1 jar alfredo sauce, 16 oz.
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, more if desired
- 2 cups noodles, uncooked, boiled separately
Instructions
- Cut your chicken into bite size pieces. (if left whole timing will just be longer)
- Pour them into your crockpot and cover with the entire bottle of Pesto, stir well so all pieces are coated.
- Pour 1/2 of your bottle of alfredo sauce on top of that. Stir so everything is nicely coated.
- Put your lid on and set on low for 2 hours for diced pieces or 5 hours for medium whole breasts, or until chicken is nice and tender like you like it.
- On the stovetop cook noodles to al dente, drain water and pour cooked noodles in. Mix well with the rest of your alfredo sauce and parmesan cheese. Put lid on for about 15 – 20 more minutes to warm and then Serve!
Video
Notes
Made with Frozen Chicken
You can make this with medium size frozen boneless skinless breasts. They need to be separated from one another, add, overlapping as little as possible. Coat with sauces. Cook on low for 6 hours or until easy to shred with 2 forks. Then follow rest of instructions above.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
