Slow cooker chicken with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes

 

You'll need something to sop up the sauce with this one. I opted for brown rice, but mashed potatoes or pasta would work as well.

Tuscan garlic chicken thighs with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes
Adapted from Eatwell101.com. The recipe did not specify the type of sun-dried tomatoes. You would think it would be dried and rehydrated given the source, but the recipe showed an ingredient link to oil-packed so I used that.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 to 8 chicken thighs, bone-in
½ tablespoon dried oregano
½ tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
⅓ cup chicken broth
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups spinach, leaves torn if large

Method
In a large deep skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Brown chicken on one side. Transfer to a slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in oregano, basil, red pepper flakes and top with sun-dried tomatoes.

In the same skillet, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add cream and broth. Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Pour sauce over chicken in crockpot.

Cook for 3 to 4 hours on high or 6 to 8 hours on the low setting. Remove chicken thighs and set aside. Stir in spinach and cook about five minutes until it wilts. Serve sauce over chicken. (You may be tempted to just mush in the spinach on top of the chicken in the pot. Resist this temptation, since otherwise you’ll cause the chicken thighs to break down completely in no longer recognizable serving units.)

Rating: Great slow cooker recipe. Really nice flavor, chicken is falling-apart tender, nice colors with the red and green. Fantastic for a weeknight supper, and perfectly passable even for guests. Only downside: since we’re home while it cooks, it smells heavenly for hours before and just like these pan rolls that now I clearly need to make again.