This Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken recipe is the perfect one-dish meal for fall. It’s freezer-friendly so you can prep it ahead of time. In the morning, just dump it in the crockpot and dinner will be waiting when you get home.
Hi friends!
Have no fear. Bean Bytes will be here tomorrow. I had to do a little switcharoo because today is Recipe Redux day. This month’s theme was freezer meals, which was perfect for me because you guys are always asking for easy dinner ideas.
To me, freezer meals and crockpot meals go hand in hand. It’s so easy to fill several ziploc bags with raw ingredients, freeze them and then simply dump a bagful into the crockpot and have dinner waiting when you get home!
This dish is fall-inspired and features apples and cranberries. I also used carrots because I like the way they retain their texture in the crockpot…but you could easily use sweet potatoes or butternut squash instead (or in addition to). I also experimented with adding an uncooked grain to my freezer meal and it worked great!
Another thing I realized is that if you’re planning to add your meal to the crockpot when it’s frozen, it’s better to freeze without any liquid. This recipe calls for chicken broth and usually I just throw it in the bag. If you’re going to let it thaw overnight before cooking that’s no big deal because it melts and you can just dump into the crockpot…but if you try to add it from frozen, the broth makes everything freeze into a big square block that doesn’t fit into the oval crockpot. So, if you freeze it flat without the liquid, you can just smack it against the counter a couple times and everything breaks up enough to dump easily.
A final note- I would add the farro to the very top, not to the middle like I did. That way, when you dump it in, the farro will fall to the bottom of the crockpot where it can get covered in broth and cook well. If you don’t do this, you’ll probably need to stir halfway through to help submerge the farro.
So anyways, here’s how you make it:
Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken
This Slow Cooker Apple Cranberry Chicken recipe is perfect for fall. Plus it's freezer friendly. Just pull it out, dump in the crockpot and dinner cooks itself!
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 large apple, chopped (approx 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 pounds chicken, chopped
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- 3/4 cup farro, uncooked
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1.5 cups chicken broth **only needed when cooking, not freezing**
Instructions
- Add all ingredients, except broth to a large ziploc bag.
- Be sure to add the farro last so it stays at the top of the bag.
- Freeze.
- When ready to cook, smack the bag against the counter a few times to loosen. Dump contents into slow cooker. Add 1.5 cups chicken broth. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours.
You can peel the apple if you want to. I was too lazy. And like I mentioned above, feel free to add some extra veggies like squash or sweet potato!
I really liked this because it’s simple and the ginger really shined. The apples add some sweetness and the cranberries add a pop of tartness. Feel free to play around with the seasonings. If you don’t like ginger you could try curry powder!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
For more freezer meal ideas, check out the linkup below!
I LOVE this idea!! And I need knew recipes to try with my kids so thank you!
((whispers)) I just bought an insta-pot!
I can do this in there too yes?
This us perfect! I’m all about my slow cooker right now.
Love farro, love make ahead freezer meals–this screams weeknight meal to me!
Sounds like the perfect combination for fall!
Yum! Now that we are getting into the fall season I’m definitely craving apple recipes and fall flavors! I am excited about the addition of ginger sounds so good!
That is clever, Lindsey. Hadn’t thought of doing an ingredient freeze rather than freezing the finished dish. Makes perfect sense for the crockpot.
I freeze chicken stock in ice cube trays that are 1/4 cup size. When I package this for the freezer, I add 6 cubes, so I really can just dump everything together in the crockpot, stock and all. This is a delicious fall recipe with the apple and cranberries.
im all for makeahead meals so this is definitely a GO 🙂
I can only imagine how good this would make my apartment smell. Great idea!
this just screams fall! This is the perfect one pot meal 🙂
I want to steal your photography food holding props…is there a word for them? Keep the content in those too 😉
What a great dish for fall!! Definitely testing this out.. just went apple picking and I have a ton of apples to cook with 🙂
This sounds so delicious and I absolutely am going to make it! Do you think it’d work with another grain like Quinoa? I have a lot of it on hand already so I was wondering. Thank you!
i think so!! i’ve never done quinoa in the slow cooker but worth a shot!
I LOVE farro and everything about this slow cooker meal…DELISH and thanks for sharing!
Love the flavor combos. For those of us without a slow cooker, what’s your recommended way to prep this?
you could try in a dutch oven in the oven at like 275 for 4 hours or so?
Such a pretty dish! And I love how easy it is to throw together. Think it’s time I broke out the crockpot!
Oh, yum! I am always looking for quick meals to make during the week and this one sounds so perfect for fall. I’ll be adding this to my list for next week 🙂
Where have you found cranberries already??!
Just put this in the crockpot overnight (except with white rice)…Can’t wait to wake up and pack my lunch tomorrow! 😀 THANKS!
Hello. I put all ingredients in my slow cooker. But the meat is sitting on top of everything not covered by liquid. Will it still get cooked or do I need to add more liquid? Thank you.
It will still cook just fine.
I made this last night, my family felt it was lacking in flavor and kind of bland….so to save it I ended up adding some stevia to sweeten as the cranberries made it quite tart as well. I’m thinking next time maybe add more spices? or honey for the sweet?
sorry to hear that! hopefully more spices will do the trick next time!
Very tasty – but cranberries plus red carrots I used turned the broth pink, making it a great dish for Valentine’s Day! (I’ll use a bit less broth next time.)