3-Meal Crockpot Recipes for Nurses — Chicken
In our first “3-Meal Crockpot Recipes for Nurses” blog post, we introduced the idea of cooking strategically. Instead of using the crockpot to make a lot of one meal, we use what we call a “Foundation Recipe” to make 3 entirely different meals that can be enjoyed in the same week without boring your spouse and kids.
And because we nurses are so incredibly busy taking care of everyone in our lives, we’ve made these recipes fast and easy so you can finally have some time to take care of yourself for a change!
In this month’s Foundation Recipe, we are going to cook affordable, versatile chicken thighs and breasts and turn them into 3 deliciously different meals.
Foundation Recipe #2: Chicken Thighs or Breasts
For this recipe, chicken thighs or breasts work equally as well. I tend to choose whichever is on sale at the grocery store that week. Obviously, breast meat is less fatty than thigh meat but thigh meat tends to be more flavorful. Feel free to mix the two together! You can also substitute boneless versions of either if you prefer.
For this foundation recipe, we’re actually going to use Meal #1. It is so flavorful and yet so basic that you can easily repurpose it into Meal #2 and #3.
Meal #1: Greek Chicken and Orzo
This rich, one-pot meal is so easy to make that you’re going to love it. And this recipe is super easy to scale up or down depending on the size of your crockpot because you can just “eyeball” the ingredient amounts — you can’t hurt the recipe by adding too little or too much of anything.
Heat a frying pan on med high heat. Season 8 chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts with salt and pepper and then sear on both sides until lightly browned.
Coat your crockpot with cooking spray. Add in 1 sliced yellow onion and 2 sliced bell peppers (again, scale up or down depending on your crockpot.) Layer 8 chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts atop the bed of sliced onions and peppers. Sprinkle with oregano, rosemary and garlic powder. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Once the chicken is fully cooked, transfer the chicken only to a separate plate. Turn the crockpot to high and stir in 8 ounces of uncooked orzo pasta and the juice of 1 lemon. Add the chicken back on top and cover. Let cook for 30 minutes or until the pasta is done.
Garnish with feta cheese and chopped parsley. Serve with a steamed veggie like broccoli and you’re all done.
Meal #2: Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice
For this meal, you’re going to cook the rice of your choice — minute, rice, brown, jasmine, etc. — and then we’re going to stir in chopped chicken, some shredded cheese, and healthy vegetables for a quick and easy meal that’s hearty and wholesome.
If you used chicken with the bones, you need to pull the meat from several pieces of chicken and just roughly chop it. (Save the bones for Meal #3.)
For the vegetables, you can use a bag of frozen vegetables or you can cut up a crown of broccoli. Either way, pre-cook the vegetables in the microwave.
When the rice is done, stir in the chicken and vegetables. Add salt to taste. Last step is to stir in the shredded cheese of your choice. My kids prefer the Mexican blend of 4 cheeses you buy at the store but you can use your family’s preferred cheese. I don’t recommend using mozzarella because it doesn’t have enough flavor; you want a sharper taste to complement the chicken, vegetables, and rice.
Once the cheese is melty, you serve and enjoy. It’s a great, casual meal to eat from bowls while watching a fun movie together.
Meal #3: Chicken Soup
Okay, you can have chicken soup straight from the can and have dinner ready in a few minutes. But between the preservatives and the sodium, you turn a healthy, wholesome meal into something rather blah.
Now, we don’t have time to make it the way grandma used to make, so we’re going to take some simple shortcuts.
Take the remaining chicken and bones and add them to the crockpot. Add cut up carrots, celery, and green onion (scallions) You can use a regular onion instead but I find green onion to be more mellow and pleasing when cooked slowly.
Fill with water or low-sodium chicken broth. If your chicken is boneless, then you definitely want to use ready-made chicken broth. But if you have bone-in chicken and some extra bones, then you’ll have plenty of time to create your own broth with just water. Set the crockpot to cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Right before you are ready to serve, cook a bag of egg noodles separately. Some cooks like to add the egg noodles right into the crockpot 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, but I find they soak up too much of the broth. So I prefer to cook them separately and add directly to the bowls, pouring the soup right over them.
Serve with a fun, crusty bread and you’ve got a great meal for cold nights. Leftovers keep well and freeze beautifully — but remember to always leave space in the container when you freeze because the liquid will expand.
NursePower Empowers Nurses!
We’re all nurses over here. We’re all dedicated to taking care of people. And that usually means we’re not great at taking care of ourselves.
NursePower works very hard to give our nurses a better work/life balance. We created this blog series to help not only our nurses achieve better balance but to help all nurses achieve better balance.
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post and we hope it helps. We hope all our blog posts can in some way make your life a little better. At the very least, we hope that just knowing we’re here, thinking about you and praying for your well-being will help you carry on.
Check back next week for our newest blog post on Top Exercises For Nurses.