Slow Cooker Hunters Chicken (Dairy Free)

Tender, juicy chicken simmered to perfection in a savory medley of tomatoes, mushrooms, and herbs. This slow cooker hunters chicken recipe is a fail-safe staple for busy weeknights!

With fall comes hectic schedules, dark nights, and a craving for comfort food. This slow cooker hunter's chicken helps with all of those.

It’s a set-it-and-forget weeknight dinner that’s ready when you walk in the door.

As a Certified Nutrition Coach, I love the wholesome ingredients of this slow cooker recipe. But as a busy mom, I love how simple and versatile it is.

Serve it over rice, with a side of oven-roasted root vegetables, or mixed into noodles for all-out comfort. This hunter's chicken is a modern take on a classic recipe.

What Is Hunters Chicken?

In my experience, there are two kinds of Hunters Chicken recipes. The traditional one focuses on using foods you’d gather or have on hand and simmering chicken in a savory wine sauce.

The more modern one references chicken smothered in bbq sauce and topped with grated cheese.

This hunter's chicken recipe is more similar to the traditional one in the sense that it uses items you’d already have in the fridge- kinda like this crock pot beef rump roast. It’s an easy, healthy, dinner recipe that comes out comforting (just like gluten-free Salisbury steak!).

If you're looking for a rendition of the modern one, here is a tasty air fryer hunter's chicken you'll enjoy.

Ingredients You Need

Chicken Thighs: boneless skinless chicken thighs are what I use most in this gluten-free slow cooker hunters chicken. It keeps the meat tender and you can't overcook it.

Chicken stock: I like to use bone broth powder for this chicken as you don’t need much. However, Kettle and Fire has a great pre-made one also.

Vegetables: the recipe calls for tomatoes, leeks, garlic, and mushrooms. However, many of these can be interchanged based on what you have in the fridge.

Seasonings: the savory sauce is lightly seasoned with basil, oregano, and sea salt.

Tapioca starch: this helps the sauce not get too greasy as you coat the chicken in it. However, arrowroot powder does the trick as well.

Salsa: the kind you have on hand will vary the flavor of the hunters chicken a bit but any salsa will work.

How To Make It

In just four simple steps you’ll have dinner waiting for you!

1. Combine the chicken thighs and the tapioca powder in a plastic baggie and toss. Set aside.
2. Add all the ingredients into a 7-quart slow cooker and mix lightly.
3. Add in the chicken and turn each piece once so that it’s coated.
4. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Step By Step Photos

Substitutions And Variations

Many hunter chicken recipes call for the chicken to be wrapped in bacon before cooking. Though this is delicious when pan-fried, I found that the bacon ended up cooked but soft in the slow cooker.

However, you can still do it.

If you’re a bacon lover, coat the chicken thighs in tapioca flour and wrap each with a piece of bacon before cooking. Just don’t expect crispy bacon.

The slow cooker recipe calls for leeks, know that red onion or green onions can work in their place.

Though chicken thighs work well, so do chicken breasts! If you have chicken breasts on hand, use them!

Four large breasts is the same cooking time as six chicken thighs.

Expert Tips

The best part about this slow cooker hunters chicken is that you can’t mess it up. You can sub out almost every ingredient for what you have in the fridge.

Likewise, though it is done after cooking for 5 hours, it can be cooked on low for longer. This is because chicken thighs give off so much juice that the chicken in the slow cooker doesn’t dry out.

Store it: in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. If using the hunters chicken for a salad, do not store it with extra liquid.

If you plan to whisk it into something, make sure t store it with the drippings/sauce as well.

How To Serve Hunters Chicken

This gluten-free, slow-cooker chicken recipe can be served over whatever you like.

Typically, we serve it with:

• A side of steamed rice or cauli-rice
• Overtop of gluten-free noodles because the kiddos love pasta
• On the side of roasted root vegetables

There’s normally enough “sauce” in the slow cooker to mix in with noodles to make a quick pasta dish.

If you are following a paleo, grain-free, or whole30 diet know that spaghetti squash works underneath it as well.

And of course, the leftovers taste delicious the next day on top of a salad.

Other Busy Weeknight Slow Cooker Recipes

• Dairy-free Tuscan chicken
• Slow cooker teriyaki chicken
• Slow cooker chicken pot pie
• Honey mustard chicken in the slow cooker

Frequently Asked Questions About Slow Cooker Hunters Chicken