Chicken Bacon Crock Pot Chowder

This recipe comes from the Peace, Love and Low Carb Blog

The recipe with the modifications that I made is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 12 oz. Turkey Bacon (1 package)
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock - Divided
• 3 Tbs. Butter - Divided
• 4 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Ribs Celery
• 1/2 Large Onion
• 1 tsp. Parsley
• 1 tsp. Pepper
• 1 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp. Thyme

Directions:

1. Turn crock pot on low setting
2. Chop all of your veggies.  Add the veggies, 2 Tbs. butter, 1 cup of chicken stock, pepper to the crock pot, cover and allow the vegetables to sweat for about an hour
3. Chop up your bacon and cook it until it is nice and crispy - Set aside
4. At the same time, pan sear your chicken breasts in the remaining 1 Tbs of butter until they are a nice caramel brown color on both sides (They will not be fully cooked at this stage)
5. Remove the chicken from pan.  Cut into cubes.  De-glaze the chicken pan with the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock. 
6. Add the chicken stock, heavy cream, cream cheese and seasonings to the crock pot.  Stir until well combined.  
7. Add the chicken and the bacon to the crock pot.  Cover and let cook for 6-8 hours. 

Thoughts About The Dish:

This was tasty and good, with a cheesy flavor that combined with the bacon to almost seem reminiscent of a cheese steak sandwich. That said, it could have gotten by with half the bacon and would probably have been tastier with 2 or 3 times as much pepper.

There are two directions you could take with modifying this dish:

• Keeping the same flavor: Without changing things too much, you might enjoy adding more celery and/or onion (as both break down very well in the crock pot). Other options for additions include peas (not for the whole cooking time), diced tomatoes (not for the whole cooking time), and possibly green peppers. If you're a mushroom fan, they would go great here too!
• Embrace the Mexican: This dish would lend itself well to developing into a Mexican flavor by adding green peppers, jalapenos, diced tomatoes (not for the whole cooking time), green chiles (not for the whole time), and Mexican spices (perhaps cumin).