Slow cooker hunters chicken

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We love a nice home cooked dinner, particularly one made in the slow cooker. The flavours have more time to develop and the meat is always soft, tender and delicious. This slow cooker hunters chicken is one of our absolute favourite dishes.

A slow cooker is a really convenient way to have family meals ready and waiting to be served. Most slow cooker recipes cook in 3-4 hours on high and 6-8 hours on low.

There are lots of delicious meals that can withstand longer cooker times, such as slow cooker beef chilli, and this means you can set it before you begin work for the day. I personally don’t leave my slow cooker unattended usually as I work from home so it’s all good!

If you want to cook this faster then be sure to check out my 25 minute air fryer hunters chicken. This is extra crispy and delicious!

Also, if you’ve got a multi-cooker like me, such as the Ninja Foodi OL750UK 15 in 1, then you could even finish this dish off in the air crisper basket or using the grill function.

Here is my recipe for slow cooker hunters chicken. I’ve tested it a few times, in a few ways, and this is my favourite way of cooking it.

What is hunters chicken?

Hunters chicken is traditionally the same as chicken cacciatore, a dish served ‘hunters style’. In the UK this dish is often a chicken breast wrapped in bacon, covered with BBQ sauce and topped with grated cheese.

This is my own recipe and it is the same as the hunters chicken you will find in pubs. You can use shop bought BBQ sauce, and you can get this ready to place in the slow cooker in just a couple of minutes.

Ingredients for slow cooker hunters chicken

4 chicken breasts (1 per person)

Salt & pepper

8 smoked bacon rashes (2 pieces per chicken breast) – If you want to save some time prepping then just cook the chicken and top with air fryer bacon and grated cheese right near the end.

300ml BBQ sauce (I used 300ml) You’re free to use your own or a pre-made one will work well

60g cheese (Cheddar is our favourite but have whatever you fancy)

Method for slow cooker hunters chicken

If you’re looking for an easy hunters chicken recipe then look no further – this is the one for you!

Season your chicken breasts, wrap them in bacon and then lay in to the bottom of the slow cooker pot.

I like to tuck the bacon rashers underneath, to keep them from unfeeling during the cooking process.

See this photo for how I do it:

Pour the barbeque sauce over chicken. Sometimes I use shop bought but homemade would be even tastier if you have the time! I’ve tested both and found the store bought was almost as good!

These little time saving tricks are what make using the slow cooker so convenient for busy family life.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours. This is what the pot looked like after cooking.

As you can see the juice from the chicken has thinned the sauce a little.

Chicken slow cooked typically stays very soft and tender, and can fall apart really easily.

You CAN add cheese directly when serving up the wrapped chicken breasts but I prefer to grill it. I carefully remove the wrapped chicken breasts from the slow cooker pot and place into an oven proof dish.

Top with grated cheese. Serve here if you want to save time/effort.

Grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese has melted.

I mostly use aged or smoked cheddar for this recipe and it works really well.

A good cheddar brings a delicious, strong flavour to the chicken and smoked bacon. It works really well with the BBQ sauce.

There you have it – the perfect hunters chicken!

We serve ours mostly with air fryer chips. They’re delicious and super tasty.

There is always plenty of sauce left in the slow cooker pot. This is perfect as a dip for chips or for an extra drizzle over the top once grilled.

This hunters chicken slow cooker recipe is so simple and delicious.  It is tender, soft and not dry at all. I feel like the chicken is much more succulent than when you cook it in the oven.

You do have to be careful when removing it from the slow cooker pot but by grilling it you get that lovely crispy top that makes hunters chicken so delicious.

How to make hunters chicken sauce:

A hunters chicken sauce is usually a BBQ sauce. You can either use a jar or bottle of ready made sauce or you can make my brown sugar BBQ sauce.

What to have with hunters chicken / what to serve with hunters chicken:

We love chips or fries, whether homemade or frozen, and here are some of our favourite side dishes for hunters chicken:

• Air fryer frozen potato wedges
• Frozen french fries in the air fryer
• Mashed potatoes in the air fryer
• Air fryer hasselback potatoes
• Bread rolls in the air fryer
• Air fryer green beans
• Air fryer carrots

We personally love air fryer chips. Also, a nice side of vegetables goes down well and is a great way to make this a more balanced meal. I love air fryer broccolini and air fryer baby carrots with mine, but also spicy beans, cous cous and rice all work very well too.

Click here for 25+ great side dish ideas for hunters chicken:

What to do with leftover hunters chicken?

I have seen people making a hunters chicken lasagne, which sounds absolutely amazing! You could also put it in a panini (we often have leftovers from when I make air fryer tuna panini) or a wrap, to make a tasty, simple lunch packed full of flavour.

Want to make hunters chicken in the oven?

Wrap your chicken in bacon and cook at 200C (gas mark 6) for 20 minutes. Pour oven the barbecue sauce, top with cheese and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve! Delicious!

Can you make hunters chicken with chicken thighs?

Absolutely! Chicken thighs are the most flavour packed cut of chicken in my opinion, and would work great. You’ll want to use two thighs per portion, bone out!

Want to add something extra to bring some more flavour?

Chorizo works SO well with this dish. You could buy slices of chorizo, or just add some nice chopped pieces to the BBQ sauce. I suggest sautéing them first, and then using the oil in the bottom of the slow cooker pot for some extra flavour.

ALL of the slow cooker recipes on this website have been cooked using a Ninja Foodi OL750UK, or the previous model, but you can use ANY slow cooker, as timings should be very similar.

How to make hunters chicken:

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