Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Chicken
Bright, tangy, and wildly simple to make, Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Chicken is a no-fuss weeknight dinner everyone will love. Read on for the chicken recipe, plus 3 ways to use it, so you can cook once and eat well all week!
“This is absolutely delicious. Smells heavenly while cooking, too!” Sara
About This Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Chicken
This slow cooker lemon herb chicken is just about the most elegantly simple recipe you can make, yet yields flavorful and delicious results.
My secret for easy weeknight dinners?
It’s all in the sauce!
Whipping together a simple sauce or homemade salad dressing can elevate even the most basic of ingredients — in this case, the humble chicken breast — with very little time or effort involved.
The process gets even easier when you combine the sauce with protein in the slow cooker, as you only need so spend a few minutes on prep and then chicken cook low and slow for ultra yummy results.
This lemon herb chicken is very versatile, too, and I’ve included some ways to use it below.
Simply click below to get more ideas on how to use this herb lemon chicken!
Lemon Herb Chicken Bowls
Top warm quinoa with the chicken, roasted veggies, chopped raw veggies, green onion, avocado, and drizzle generously with the Lemon Herb Sauce.
Lemon Herb Chicken Tacos
Add the shredded chicken to warmed corn tortillas. Top with slaw or shredded raw veggies. Drizzle on Lemon Herb Sauce, salsa, green onions, avocado, or guacamole.
Lemon Herb Chicken Salad
Top your favorite greens with chopped raw and roasted veggies. Pile on the shredded chicken, top with avocado, and drizzle with the Lemon Herb Sauce.
Notes & Adaptations
You can always serve the shredded chicken plain, with the sauce on the side for dipping.
The lemon herb sauce will work with any type of citrus, so feel free to mix things up with lime or orange juice.
This Recipe Is . . .
Dairy FreeGluten FreeNut FreePaleoWhole30
Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Chicken
Ingredients
For the Lemon Herb Sauce
- 2-4 medium garlic cloves, minced or finely grated
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
For the Chicken
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, or thighs
- Lemon Herb Sauce, divided
Equipment
Instructions
Make the Lemon Herb Sauce
- In a medium bowl or jar, whisk or shake together the garlic, lemon juice, mustard and salt. Stream in the olive oil, whisking until smooth. Add the Italian seasoning and stir to combine.
- Alternatively, add the garlic (no need to chop first), lemon juice, mustard and salt to a blender. Blend on high, then stream in the olive oil and blend until smooth. Add the herbs and pulse to combine.
Prepare the Chicken
- Add the chicken along with ½ cup Lemon Herb Sauce to a 6-quart slow cooker. Set the remaining sauce aside.
- Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 4-5 hours, or until the chicken shreds easily with a fork.
- Remove the chicken, shred with two forks, then add it back to the slow cooker, stirring to combine. Stir in the remaining Lemon Herb Sauce, or reserve the Sauce and serve it on the side.
- Serve the chicken as is, or use it in bowls, pasta, tacos, salads, stir-fries or mason jar salads.
Notes
Nutrition Information:
This is absolutely delicious. Smells heavenly while cooking, too! I mixed in some tahini with the leftover sauce to drizzle on our chicken/broccoli/millet bowls and it was tasty. Thank you for these simple and delicious recipes!
Sara, so glad you enjoyed the recipe. LOVE the idea of adding tahini to the sauce. Yum! 🙂
I made this tonight for my family and it was a huge hit! We all had it differently due to allergies and preferences and all asked for seconds! Thank you for providing such delicious recipes that I could throw together quickly and easily.
Jaclyn, yay, so happy this was a hit for the family. Love it when that happens!
Can you substitute yellow mustard instead of dijon?
Hi Rose, yes, yellow mustard will work — it will change the flavor slightly (tangier and sharper), but should still taste good. I hope you enjoy!
I love this sauce. Delicious with chicken and also shrimp!
Molly, yay, so glad you enjoyed! Love the idea of doing the sauce with shrimp. 🙂
Hi! I made this in my Le Creuset in the oven (375/2 hrs) last night. It was amazing! We will use it in salads with roasted root veggies and some quick lunch tacos. Last night, we topped GF pasta with it that had dairy free arugula pesto, pan roasted grape tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts too. It was to die for!
I wanted to share both the gratitude for this recipe and for your ideas too. I have been really implementing them in our family life, and it has helped me to get back on the cooking wagon after a fall/winter of deep illness and just plain food survival. My daughter is dairy/peanut/cashew free due to allergies; I have Celiac plus am allergic to mushrooms and blue cheese. Finding the sweet-spot between our food restrictions–and that she will enjoy!–has not always been easy. Your site has been a balm of gentle wisdom to help me find some new ways to feed my family, and to do it with less time in the kitchen overall! So, thank you from the bottom of my heart and the bottom of our well-fed stomachs!
Jacqueline, thank you SO MUCH for these kind words. They mean the world to me. I am so grateful to know the recipes and tips are helping you and your family. That is why I do this, so thank you for letting me know. Here’s to feeling good! xxoo
Loved this recipe had it with a strawberry and arugula salad and roasted sweet potatoes, will definitely be trying it again!
Do I have to shred the chicken or will the breasts stay intact? This looks delicious!
Terri,
If you carefully remove the breasts they will stay intact. You can reduce the cook time slightly, too, if you’d like the chicken cooked through but not falling apart. Hope you enjoy!
Will frozen chicken work? Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Melissa, there are some food safety concerns with putting frozen chicken directly in a slow cooker (the unit doesn’t heat up fast enough to kill any potential contaminants). That said, if you’re willing to take the risk, just add an extra hour or so.
Forgot to put this recipe In the crockpot earlier. Do you think it’ll work in the instant pot?
Mariana, I do, but you’d need to make some tweaks. I’d add about 1/4 cup sauce and 1/4 cup water, then do high pressure at 15 minutes with manual release. Let us know how it turns out!
So I ended up putting it in the instant pot before I saw your response. I did it as written in your recipe and it turned out so good! It was a bit watery but that didn’t effect the flavor. And it was even better the next day! The kids were devouring the leftovers without leaving any for me! This is on the menu for this week. Thank you for your simple yet delicious recipes!
Mariana, yay, I’m so glad this one was a hit with your crew!
This recipe did not turn out well for me. I followed the recipe, but the oil and lemon juice in my sauce separated, leaving an oily chicken dish. Also, it gives the option to use chicken thighs or breasts, so I used thighs, and the fattiness of the thighs only made it more oily.
I question if any oil needs to be added to the chicken at all in this case.
Hi Abbie, sorry this one didn’t work out for you. This one has had lots of rave reviews over the years, but sound like it wasn’t your taste!
I can’t say enough about this recipe. So simple, so delicious and so versatile. The Lemon Herb sauce is delicious! And because I like to use it on salads that I pack for work, I sometimes make double the sauce, cook it according to recipe, then store it with the extra sauce. The saucier chicken makes a natural salad dressing in the packed lunch–no need to bother with adding anything. I particularly like this with spinach and mixed berries when they are in season. But I will throw mixed greens, this chicken and any available veggies that I think will pair with the lemon flavor. It never lets me down.
Meredith, yay, so glad you enjoy this one! And adding it to spinach and mixed berries sounds amazing. Definitely trying that next time I make this one!
This is always a hit with my family. And it’s so simple! We have tried it each of the ways you’ve suggested and they’re all equally as good.
Michelle, yay, so happy to hear this one was a hit! Thanks so much for the review. 🙂
Simple and delicious!! Equally loved by my 8,6, and 2 year olds. I’ll definitely be making this again!
Julie, yay, so happy to hear you and your crew enjoyed this one! Thanks for your kind note. Cheers!
This has become a staple in our home, I look forward to it every time! So easy and great for company. We usually serve it with brown rice/quinoa and roasted sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts, and sweet onions. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Hannah, yay, so glad this has become a staple for you and your fam. Love it when that happens! Thanks so much for leaving a review. 🙂
This was delicious! I put the chicken over a bed of arugula and spinach, added a little quinoa, avocado, and tomatoes and drizzled the sauce over the top. The sauce makes the whole thing! So easy as well!
Allison, wow, you’re a natural recipe developer! That chicken arugula and spinach salad sounds amazing. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
This was so easy and delicious!! I had the chicken with tacos and the quinoa bowls both so good. Thank you for the easy to follow recipe, saved me lots of cooking time, I’ll definitely be making more often!
Cristy, fantastic, so happy you enjoyed this one, and I love that you were able to use it in multiple ways! Thanks so much for leaving a review!
I made this with OJ and it came out so good (and easy!)! Is it possible to double the recipe by using 4 lbs of chicken? How would that impact cooking time?
Yay, so glad you enjoyed, Lindsey! Yes, you can double it, you’ll just need to add more cook time since it will take longer for the slow cooker to come to temp. You won’t need to double the time, though. Start with an extra 30-60 minutes, and go from there. If you give it a try let us know how it turns out!
Hi Robyn,
Just curious if the oil could be omitted and/or replaced with broth. I’m on a temporary metabolism reset and I can’t have the oil.
Thanks!
Hi Amy, I haven’t tested this one with broth, so I can’t say how it would turn out. It will definitely taste different than if you’d used oil, but it could still work. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
This looks perfect for my growing cooking skills. New to crockpots – could I put uncooked rice in with the chicken, would it cook? Thanks!
Hi Dinah, uncooked rice can be quite tricky in the slow cooker, as sometimes it doesn’t cook all the way through, and sometimes it ends up weird and gummy, so I wouldn’t recommend it. Hope you enjoy this sone!
This was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS (love anything citrusy). Cooked in on high for 4hrs and the chicken almost fell apart picking it up from the crock pot to the cutting board to shred… made this with Quinoa cooked in chickens broth and some green beans, as bummed I’m almost out of left overs!
Jani, yay, so happy to hear this was a hit and love the way you served it as well. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
The chicken did not have as much of a lemony taste as I thought it would have. I made pasta as well, and I must say the dressing was a great topping. Maybe next time I should use thinly sliced chicken breasts? Would that work?
I’m glad you enjoyed the sauce as a pasta topping. I’m not sure I understand your question — are you asking if you can thinly slice the cooked chicken and add it to pasta, or are you thinking you want to skip the step of cooking the chicken in the slow cooker and just use thinly sliced cooked chicken along with the sauce on the pasta?
Can you freeze this recipe?
Julianne, yes, this recipe freezes well. I hope you enjoy!
I made this tonight and it was delicious!! I like a hot dinner, even in the summer time. I put green beans in the crock pot with the chicken and I served it with knorr pasta sides. It made a delicious whole meal with leftovers. I recently discovered your website and printed out a ton of crock pot recipes for the summer. I like how you use whole, real ingredients with the crock pot.
Courtney, yay, so happy you enjoyed this one — I love the idea of adding green beans along with the chicken — thanks for the tip and for leaving a review! I hope you enjoy the other recipes as well. 🙂