Crockpot Potato Chowder

It's Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining With Debbie! I am going to be using my Crockpot all this week to test out some new recipes. School starts back again in a few weeks and I'll have night class 3 nights in a row - so my crockpot is going to be working hard!! Very thankful for the recipes I know I can find over on Debbie's website!

The weather has finally turned cold around here and I was in the mood for something to warm us up, and what better than a steaming hot, creamy bowl of potato chowder?? I don’t know why this popped into my head, I’ve never made it before and I thought the recipe looked a little boring… so I decided to make a few changes!! And now we have a new meal in the regular rotation (well, at least the winter rotation)!

Here is what you need:

Potatoes – however many and whatever kind you feel like, chicken broth – around 2 cups, chives – I used freeze dried, a little less than half a regular size onion, some chicken – I used around 6 frozen tenders, a can of cream of chicken, and your crockpot (this is hubby’s from his bachelor days, I’ve had it all this time and never bothered to use it, it’s not bad at all!) Also, at the last minute I sprinkled in a few spices - pepper, celery salt, and thyme.

I forgot to add 3 things in the picture because they are later additions: cream cheese, bacon, and shredded cheese (we used sharp cheddar).

First, chop up your potatoes:

You can see I added in some red, I had 4 of them rolling around my veggie drawer in the fridge and they looked lonely, so I figured it couldn’t hurt anything to chop them up with the other potatoes. After they were all chopped I added them to the crockpot - I had already added the frozen chicken strips and the chicken broth:

You can't tell there's chicken broth in there because it's frozen solid. I had to cut it out of the packaging. That was interesting.

Anyway, go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients pictured - the cream of chicken, the onion (diced up very nicely), and give a good heavy sprinkle of the freeze dried chives - or a few chopped up green onions.

Cover and cook on low for around 6 hours - I stirred this about once every hour, because I was waiting to see how long it took my chicken broth to thaw (around 2 hours or so):

After 6 hours, and about an hour before we wanted to eat, I took out the chicken strips and shredded them:

And then I added it back into the pot and also added some cream cheese. The original recipe I had said to add an 8oz block of it... I had sent hubby to the store to pick up a package of cream cheese - 1/3 less fat. He came home with one of these super large containers:

So instead of measuring I just stuck a spoon in and took out about 6 big spoonfuls to add to the chowder. Mix it all up and cover it, the cream cheese won't take long to melt so you could probably eat whenever it's done melting, but I let it go about an hour:

Now, you can't forget about the bacon, it's essential!! We used turkey bacon:

I microwaved 5 slices for about a minute, cut them into little pieces and threw it in the crockpot for that last hour of cooking.

Finally, have whatever kind of cheese you are in the mood for shredded and ready to go on top of your chowder, along with some chives too! Fill up a bowl, and don't be shy because it's delicious, add the shredded cheese and sprinkle with chives:

I served this with a crusty bread on the side and there was just enough for lunch for two of us the next day! It was delicious and I will definitely be making it again soon!!

Let me know if you try this!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen