If you want a healthy but hearty meal that’s perfect to warm you up on cold winter days, then this slow cooker casserole is perfect for you.
It’s is healthy but packed with flavour and also involves minimum fuss because, after a bit of simple prep, you can simply put all the ingredients in the slow cooker and allow it to work its magic.
The comes from and cooking star Poppy O’Toole (Poppy Cooks). She has been teaching children how to cook with a slow cooker as part of the campaign – a £4 million project to give children a healthy, nutritious boost thanks to daily fruit and veg and slow cookers.
Here she shares a wholesome for chicken soup that’s packed with vegetables. Big enough for six people, it’s ideal for large families or to enjoy the next day for leftovers.
“It’s about getting everyone a bit more inspired to see how easy and accessible cooking in the slow cooker can be. It’s also a great way of utilising those yellow label foods that are close to their best before date. Just pop them all in the slow cooker and you have a delicious meal.”
As it’s made up in large part with bulky and cheaper vegetables, it’s a way of making a large meal to feed your family which you can even batch cook and keep or freeze for following days too.
Poppy O’Toole has more than a million followers on social media (Image: Poppy O’Toole)
Poppy Cooks’ slow-cooker hearty veg and chicken soup
- Serves 6
- Takes 3 hrs 20 mins – 6 hrs 20 mins
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 white large potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thick slices
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 leek, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 500ml stock, made with 1 chicken stock cube
- 3 small corn-on-the-cobs, halved
- 2 thyme sprigs
- 100g sugarsnap peas
- 100g broad beans
Method
1. Season the chicken all over with black pepper and put it in the slow-cooker. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, leek and garlic. Pour the stock around the chicken. Put the lid on and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours, turning the chicken half-way through, until cooked through.
2. Remove the chicken from the slow-cooker and shred with two forks.
3. Add the chicken back to the slow-cooker. Add the corn, thyme, peas and beans and cook on high for 20 minutes until the veg is tender. Season well with black pepper and serve.