This recipe for Crock-Pot Tangy Raspberry Chicken N’ Spinach is a flavorful combination of tangy chicken, nutritious baby spinach, mandarin oranges and a delicious raspberry vinaigrette that ties the whole dish together. Easily made gluten free for a great dinner the whole family will love!
Crock-Pot Tangy Raspberry Chicken N’ Spinach
A bit of adversity has landed in our home that has caused me to change how I have been cooking. My oldest daughter (16) out of the blue began to have some serious allergy symptoms. We had to quickly get her tested and got a bit of a bombshell.
She’s allergic to wheat, corn, peanuts and walnuts.
Trying to figure out how to cook meals without wheat AND corn has been a challenge. But we are slowly figuring it out. This recipe was the first meal I made in the slow cooker that she was able to eat. She was SO excited because it is wheat/gluten and corn free.
For those that only need to avoid gluten/wheat you can be less picky with the vinaigrette that you use. We were able to find a vinaigrette that was also HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) free and had no corn starch or other corn derivatives from Maple Groves Farms of Vermont. They make both a Fat free Raspberry Vinaigrette and a Sugar Free Raspberry Vinaigrette.
If you just want to just make the meal and have no concerns with being gluten, wheat or corn free, you can use any good raspberry vinaigrette of your choosing. This dish will be excellent with whichever vinaigrette you choose.
I served with dish with rice but if you don’t need to be gluten free, noodles will work as well,
One last tip, when you begin cooking the dish your slow cooker will be overflowing with spinach. Do not panic. As spinach heats it cooks down (which is why it’s a favorite for crocks, so easy to sneak in) thus your family will barely notice that it’s there and it won’t have an overpowering taste.
Recipe Collections:
| Chicken Crock-Pot Recipes | Chicken Breast Slow Cooker Recipes |
| Easy Slow Cooker Recipes | 5 Ingredients Or Less Crock-Pot Recipes |
| Chicken Thigh Crock-Pot Recipes | Spinach Slow Cooker Recipes |
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| Servings | 6Servings |
| Prep Time | 20Minutes |
| Cook Time | 5Hours |
- 8 ounces Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
- 4 pounds Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or thighs (see note)
- 1/8 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 3 ounces Fresh Baby Spinach
- 15 ounces Canned Mandarin Oranges drained
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Ingredients
Servings: Servings
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- Lightly spray a 6 quart or larger slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray if desired to make clean up easier. Pour a small layer of salad dressing dressing at the bottom of slow cooker. Place chicken pieces on top of that layer and then season the chicken with salt.
- Add all of the fresh spinach to the top of the chicken and push it down so that it all fits in the slow cooker.
- Pour the remaining salad dressing over the spinach and chicken.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours or until the internal temperature of the chicken reads 165° F on an instant read thermometer.
- When it has cooked, and you've checked the temperature of the chicken, add the drained mandarin oranges to the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker to the WARM setting, recover and let the dish stay warm while you cook rice or pasta on the stove-top to serve with the chicken.
- Serve the spinach, mandarin oranges and chicken over the rice or pasta.
This recipe uses frozen chicken breasts or thighs that are put in the slow cooker still frozen. If you would like to use thawed chicken, reduce the cooking time to 4 hours on HIGH. We do not recommend cooking on the LOW setting for a longer period of time. Nutritional information based on using boneless skinless chicken breasts and the sugar free Maple Farms raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing.
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