Slow Cooker Chicken, Tarragon and Sweetcorn Casserole with Sour Cream Herby Dumplings

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A dreamy, comforting chicken, tarragon and sweetcorn casserole, loaded with additional vegetables, topped with light and fluffy sour cream dumplings all cooked in the slow cooker. I can’t believe it is mid-November and this is my first slow cooker recipe on the blog!

I just love getting on with life knowing that I have a delicious meal on the go in my slow cooker ready for when I get home. An added benefit of this recipe is that you can fiddle around with the ingredients depending on what you like and have available. For example, I have added leek, mushrooms, onion and celery but you could also use carrot, or indeed other root vegetables as well as or instead. I always add onion, but that is up to you. 

Equally you can use either new or old potatoes depending on what you have or want to use up! Although I adore the combination of tarragon with chicken, if you don’t have it or like it, thyme would be lovely in the casserole with some parsley perhaps in the the dumplings.

Sweetcorn is one of the few vegetables we all adore in this house, so they feature a lot. Don’t like them? Don’t add them! You can replace the sweetcorn with more potatoes or increase the other vegetables.

There are quite a few ingredients in this recipe but please remember it is a complete meal. I have also provided a lot of detailed instructions and pictures so don’t be put off by the length of the post – it really is very easy! You can serve a few extra green vegetables on the side if you like and you can even serve the casserole without the dumplings. Make it yours and serve it how you like it best!

How to make Slow Cooker Chicken, Tarragon and Sweetcorn Casserole with Sour Cream Herby Dumplings

Chicken and Vegetables:

Collect all your ingredients together:

• Vegetables:
• unsalted butter
• olive oil
• mixed vegetables trimmed and chopped e.g. onion, carrot, celery, leek, mushrooms, garlic
• potatoes chopped into small squares, roughly 2-3 cm square
• sweetcorn kernels, either frozen, tinned or fresh from cobs – omit if you don’t like sweetcorn
• fresh tarragon, or thyme, parsley
• Meat:
• olive oil
• skinless chicken meat, either breast or thigh, chopped into 2-3 cm squares or mix of chicken and smoked bacon

Prepare the Chicken and Vegetables:

1. Prepare the mixed vegetables: peel if necessary, wash, trim and roughly chop. Place them all in the food processor.
2. Blitz until very finely chopped.
3. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over a moderately hot heat. Add all the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until softened and lightly caramelised.
4. As the vegetables cook, finely chop the tarragon. Set half aside to add to the casserole later.
5. Peel, if necessary, and chop the potatoes into small chunks and add to the slow cooker with the sweetcorn, half the tarragon and the caramelised mixed vegetables.
6. Add a little more olive oil to the frying pan (no need to wash it out) and brown the chicken. There is no need to cook it through, just brown it on both sides.

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The Sauce:

Collect all your ingredients together:

• white wine – add extra stock instead if you prefer
• plain/all purpose flour
• chicken stock
• fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the sauce:

1. Add the white wine to the chicken in the pan and cook on high until reduced by half. Stir well scraping any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan into the sauce.
2. Sprinkle over the flour and stir thoroughly. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the stock and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, and pour into the slow cooker with the chicken and the salt and pepper.
4. Stir everything together thoroughly and make sure that most of the ingredients are submerged in the liquid. If not add a little more liquid.
5. Cover and cook in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

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The Dumplings:

Collect all your ingredients together:

• fresh tarragon leaves
• plain/all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• fine salt and freshly ground black pepper
• unsalted butter
• sour cream
• milk

Make the dumplings:

1. Make these just over an hour before the end of cooking time. Place the tarragon leaves into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped
2. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and pulse to mix.
3. Now add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Add the milk and sour cream and pulse until mixed into a sticky dough.
5. One hour before your stew has finished cooking, stir in the tarragon you set aside and taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to roughly measure out 6 – 8 dumplings, placing them directly onto the top of the casserole.
6. Replace the lid and cook for a further hour on high.

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Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.