And the hits keep coming!

That’s right – I’ve got another winner of a slow cooker dinner! Brought to you by the fact that school is back in session and I am old and tired.

This is one of the easiest slow cooker recipes. But it is SO good!

I love that I can put ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning and let it cook all day. When I get home, I just have a few more steps to complete before dinner is served. It is a lifesaver during stressful and exhausting times like these!

Creamy Slow Cooker Lemon Pepper Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 large chicken breasts
  • 1 bottle of Buffalo Wild Wings Lemon Pepper Sauce
  • 1 bottle of milk (use the sauce bottle)
  • 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
  • 6 ounces of shredded Parmesan
  • 1 pound of pasta, cooked according to package directions, but subtracting 1 minute from the cooking time.

Directions:

  • Place chicken breasts in the bottom of your slow cooker.
  • Pour over the entire bottle of wing sauce.
  • Fill the bottle almost to the top with milk. Replace the lid and shake well. Pour this over the breasts as well.
  • Cook on low heat all day (8 hours).
  • At the end of the cook time, put a large stock pot full of water on to boil.
  • Add the cream cheese, cutting into big chunks. Allow to cook for 15 minutes.
  • Shred the chicken.
  • Add the Parmesan and combine chicken, melted cream cheese, and Parmesan.
  • When water is boiling, add a tablespoon of salt and add pasta, cooking as prescribed above.
  • When pasta is cooked, drain thoroughly (reserving a cup of pasta water) and add the pasta to the mixture in the slow cooker. If it appears too thick, add the pasta water.
  • Serve with additional Parmesan on top.

Well Duh #1: You can use either fresh or frozen chicken breasts. If I know in advance that I am going to be longer than 8 hours, I will definitely use frozen.

Well Duh #2: I used cavatelli pasta. You can use any kind as long as it is hearty enough to stand up to a thick sauce.

Well Duh #3: You can absolutely substitute the Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parmesan sauce and then use the rest of the recipe as is. I can’t do that because Michael doesn’t do garlic. At all. I’ve sneaked it into a few recipes – just to be sure there isn’t a vampire issue of some sort. He always detects the garlic. But he still eats it (begrudgingly), so I’m pretty sure there’s no vampire thing to worry about!

Well Duh #4: You can totally add the cream cheese and Parm into the dish at the beginning of your cook time, but in my experience, neither of those things do well for REALLY extended cooking. So I’d rather add them at the end.

Well Duh #5: I always use a slow cooker liner. I use my slow cooker every single day, so the liner really cuts down on clean-up. I just pull it out, dump any remaining liquid into the sink, and throw away the liner. I always rinse out the slow cooker, because there is usually a little liquid in the bottom – either from a tiny leak or just from condensation. But it’s so much easier than having to soak off those cooked-on messes.

Another hit! I did have one tribe member say that all of these slow cooker dinners would be better on a cold day. This person ate a large bowl of this pasta while saying that it would be better on a cold day! But I do agree.

However, these slow cooker meals have really saved me on these days when I am dragging home after a long day at school! So I’ll keep making them!