Slow Cooker Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
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Slow Cooker Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli is perfectly easy to make yet it’s so deliciously satisfying! Includes lots of protein and vitamins. A great meal any day of the week!
Fresh and Flavorful Slow Cooker Chicken Recipe with Veggies
This recipe makes a slow cooker full! As in once you add the broccoli it will be nearly filled to the top. So it’s the perfect recipe to feed a hungry family on a busy day.
And I love this combination of chicken sweet potatoes and broccoli. Not only a great flavor combo but a good color combo too.
I seasoned the chicken and sweet potatoes with a sort of rotisserie/ cajun-style seasoning . So it’s got plenty of spices with a kick of sweet and spicy. But if you don’t do spicy just omit the cayenne pepper.
Then if you’ve got fresh thyme and/or rosemary on hand you can definitely use those in place of the dry like I used. I went with dry to save time but fresh would make it just that much better.
Ingredients Needed for This Recipe
- Sweet potatoes
- Chicken broth
- Garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Seasonings including paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, cayenne pepper
- Herbs including thyme, rosemary, and optional fresh parsley
- Chicken thighs
- Olive oil
- Frozen broccoli
Scroll below for a full printable recipe.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chicken and Veggies
- Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place sweet potatoes in slow cooker, pour over chicken broth then sprinkle with half of the garlic and season with salt and pepper.
- Whisk together paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, thyme, rosemary and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture evenly over potatoes, set remaining aside.
- Sear chicken in 2 batches in olive oil in pot to brown skin.
- Transfer to slow cooker. Repeat with remaining 3 pieces of chicken.
- Sprinkle remaining spice mixture and garlic evenly over chicken.
- Cook on low heat until chicken registers 165.
- Add broccoli either during the last 30 minutes of cooking or steam in bag as directed on package.
And for simplicity, plus a time saver, you can just steam the broccoli in the microwave in the bag (as directed on the package) or if you’d rather you can add them to the slow cooker near the end of cooking.
Just be sure they are fully heated through (for food safety, plus no one likes semi-thawed cold broccoli with a warm meal).
Can I Use Chicken Breasts in This Recipe?
- If preferred boneless skinless chicken breasts will work as well. It just won’t be quite as flavorful.
- If doing so, I’d skip the browning step because you’ll end up with dry chicken breasts if you do.
- And use smaller chicken breasts so they cook through by the time the sweet potatoes are done.
- Then also you’ll want to add in a a few tablespoons of butter or olive oil to the slow cooker along with the broth since you won’t get the fat from the chicken thighs.
Note that those first few photos were rearranged from the layers that are listed in the recipe, that’s just so you could actually see everything that went into this recipe and not just the broccoli layer on top :). So stick with the layering directions listed below.
More Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes You Might Like
- Slow Cooker Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Rotisserie Style Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
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Slow Cooker Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (1 1/2 Tbsp)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh minced
- 3/4 tsp dried rosemary or 2 1/2 tsp minced fresh
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste for desired heat level)
- 6 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 (16 oz) pkg. frozen broccoli florets
- Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish, optional)
Instructions
- Spray a 6-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place sweet potatoes in slow cooker in an even layer, pour over chicken broth then sprinkle with half of the garlic and season with salt and pepper.
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, thyme, rosemary and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture evenly over potatoes, set remaining aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Dab skin side of 3 pieces of the chicken dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper. Sear in oil, skin side down, until golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker over sweet potato layer. Repeat with remaining 3 pieces of chicken.
- Sprinkle remaining spice mixture and garlic evenly over chicken, the cover slow cooker and cook on low heat until sweet potatoes are tender and center of chicken registers 165 on an instant read thermometer, about 4 1/2 - 5 hours.
- Add broccoli either during the last 30 minutes of cooking or steam in bag as directed on package, season with salt. Plate chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli and serve with a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the slow cooker (which you can skim off a little of the fat first if preferred).
- Recipe source: Cooking Classy
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- Kd Like to save recipe to make at home later. October 21, 2025 Reply
- Susan-b Williams My mini crockpot only has .high setting . I have small sweet potatoes and sliced with skin on. Using skin less chicken breast. How long to cook. I normally use pork. September 6, 2025 Reply
- Italian Bob I’m part Italian, and can cook the paints off anyone. This recipe is incorrect, I used sweet potatoes, I don’t hate my dog enough to inflict him with what came out of my crock-pot! Obviously you must have used Yams, not sweet potatoes. August 4, 2021 Reply Jaclyn They are sweet potatoes, there’s so much confusion around this because of they way they’ve previously labeled them. You can see the difference here . August 6, 2021 Reply Sharona But obviously you can’t spell the “paints” off anyone! October 22, 2023 Reply
- Diane Wish there had been a footnote in recipe about using boneless, skinless chicken. As that’s all I had, I used boneless and seared them although only for Only about 3 minutes and followed rest of the recipe. After reading comments after they had been cooking in crockpot for about 2 hours I put butter and a little water on top. Hope this tastes okay later. March 25, 2020 Reply
- Renee Hiatt I too was wondering about using fresh broccoli instead of frozen. October 30, 2018 Reply Jaclyn I did also test this recipe with fresh broccoli and by the time they’d cooked through their color was unappealing (that dingy green). So if using fresh I’d just cook separately. November 9, 2018 Reply
- Laura This was great! Thank you for sharing! If you have young kids, you might want to omit the cayenne pepper. My daughter found the seasoning too spicy on the potatoes. I will be making this again! July 20, 2018 Reply Jaclyn Glad you liked it Laura! Thanks for the tip, I agree sometimes the cayenne can be too much for kids. July 20, 2018 Reply
- Alaina Should this cook on low or high? If low, any suggestions on how to make it a 10-11 hour recipe because I don’t work 4.5 hours a day. March 18, 2018 Reply Emma Slow cooker with a timer to delay cooking. Your chicken would turn to mush after that amount of time. May 4, 2018 Reply
- Denise What about fresh broccoli instead of frozen? December 9, 2017 Reply
Slow Cooker Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (1 1/2 Tbsp)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh minced
- 3/4 tsp dried rosemary or 2 1/2 tsp minced fresh
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste for desired heat level)
- 6 large bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 (16 oz) pkg. frozen broccoli florets
- Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish, optional)
Instructions
- Spray a 6-quart slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place sweet potatoes in slow cooker in an even layer, pour over chicken broth then sprinkle with half of the garlic and season with salt and pepper.
- In a small mixing bowl whisk together paprika, brown sugar, onion powder, thyme, rosemary and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture evenly over potatoes, set remaining aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Dab skin side of 3 pieces of the chicken dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt and pepper. Sear in oil, skin side down, until golden, about 4 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker over sweet potato layer. Repeat with remaining 3 pieces of chicken.
- Sprinkle remaining spice mixture and garlic evenly over chicken, the cover slow cooker and cook on low heat until sweet potatoes are tender and center of chicken registers 165 on an instant read thermometer, about 4 1/2 - 5 hours.
- Add broccoli either during the last 30 minutes of cooking or steam in bag as directed on package, season with salt. Plate chicken, sweet potatoes and broccoli and serve with a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the slow cooker (which you can skim off a little of the fat first if preferred).
- Recipe source: Cooking Classy
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