Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Rice Dinner—a simple chicken and rice dinner with carrots and spinach. It’s creamy but doesn’t have any “cream of” soups in it and takes just a few minutes to dump everything in and go.
Get the INSTANT POT Creamy Chicken Rice Dinner recipe here

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Rice Dinner
Greg was working late the other night and we had dinner without him. When he got home he microwaved himself a plate of this chicken rice dinner. I asked him what he thought of it and he said, “It’s a quintessential Karen Petersen dinner.” So I guess that’s a good thing?! Haha! He did say it was “delicious.” So that’s definitely a good thing.
I liked this meal because it was an all in one pot meal. You got some rice, chicken and veggies all in one pot and you don’t feel like you’re needing to make a side of broccoli or something else to go with it. These are personally my favorite types of dinners because who’s got time for that?
Related: 25 One Pot Dinners for the Instant Pot
Chicken: I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You can use boneless skinless chicken breasts as well. They won’t be quite as tender.
Half and half: This is just a product sold in U.S. grocery stores that contains half cream and half whole milk. Alternatively you can use heavy cream.
Can I use a different vegetable besides spinach? Sure! Get creative. Broccoli would be tasty. Another idea is green beans, cauliflower, kale, mushrooms or peppers.

You might also like…
Slow Cooker White Chicken Enchilada Bowls
Slow Cooker Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken and Rice
What Slow Cooker Did You Use?
For this recipe I used my small 3 quart slow cooker.* I love this little slow cooker because it’s super cute and it’s just the perfect size for side dishes, drinks or small meals. It fits into my sink so I can easily hand wash it and it fits in the bottom or top of my dishwasher so I can easily stick it in there to get clean. I try to use this 3 quart slow cooker any time I can!

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Rice Dinner
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2-3 hours on high
- Total Time: 38 minute
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A simple chicken and rice dinner with carrots and spinach. It’s creamy but doesn’t have any cream of soups in it and takes just a few minutes to dump everything in and go.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups boiling chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
- 8 oz peeled and chopped carrots
- 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup half and half
- 2 cups coarsely chopped spinach
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add boiling broth to the slow cooker. Sprinkle in the rice. Add in the carrots. Place chicken on top. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, garlic powder on top of the chicken.
- Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-6 hours.
- Remove the lid. Stir in the half and half and the spinach. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Slow Cooker

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
How can I get such a mushy substance with undercooked rice? Not a great recipe
★
I made this last night. It was delicious! The problem I had was that the brown Rice was a little crunchy. I cooked it on high for three hours. I also doubled the recipe and used my smaller crock pot. It wasn’t big enough to add the half and half so maybe in a bigger crock pot the rice would get tender?
That would probably help!
Do not recommend. Rice turned to porridge consistency in just an hour, way less then her recommended time. And there is no flavor. Just don’t even try this one.
★
For calorie counters like me….what is a serving? A cup? 1/2 cup? It’s important to know. A lot of recipes online leave this information out of the nutrition section.
Thank you
About about cup is a serving. For more accurate info divide the recipe into four equal parts and that will be the nutrition info stated in the recipe card.
This was so bland. I added some ground sage and rosemary. It’s “creamy” bcz the cooking process destroys the rice. Was more like mashed potatoes. I also added some frozen peas and carrots. Not what I was looking for. Will not make again. I’ll stick to my tried and true arroz con pollo recipe.
★
We made this tonight and it was a hit. My husband and toddler couldn’t get enough. We left out the garlic powder as it doesn’t agree with me. I added extra seasoning and will probably try real garlic next time. Thank you for adding an easy delicious recipe for a busy mom.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Alicia!
Very bland. Needs some major flavor help.
★
Although I usually love your recipes, and don’t often leave a negative review, we just made this dish tonight in the slow cooker and it was a major dud for the 4 people eating it. Absolutely NO flavor whatsoever. Used chicken legs and added spinach and broccoli. Someone said it tasted like “hospital food.” Followed the recipe exactly, so not sure what went wrong.
★★
Sad! Sorry you didn’t like it.
Is anyone willing to try this without the diary? Coconut cream? Or can you just skip the diary and it be a chicken and rice with vegetables.
You could do it without dairy. You could also try coconut milk or almond milk perhaps.
This looks amazing and I plan to make it tonight. None of the people in this household (except me lol) like brown rice so would this work with long grain white rice?
Try it! I bet it’s be okay. You’ll only need 2 hours on high I bet though.
Yum…this looks sooo good! Do you think the recipe be doubled to make it an a 6 quart slow cooker?
yes for sure.