This slow cooker 4-ingredient chicken and hominy is my kind of weeknight comfort food: humble, hands-off, and built from pantry staples. It’s inspired by Depression-era cooking, where stretching a few simple ingredients into a filling meal was the norm. You literally pile raw chicken legs into the slow cooker, pour canned hominy right over the top, add just two more basic ingredients, and let it all simmer into something cozy and satisfying. It’s not fancy, but it’s the kind of meal that always gets a yes at my table, especially on busy workdays when I need dinner to basically cook itself.
I usually serve this chicken and hominy in shallow bowls so you get a little of everything in each bite. A simple green salad or steamed green beans on the side helps balance the richness. Cornbread, biscuits, or even buttered toast are great for soaking up the flavorful broth at the bottom of the slow cooker. If you want to bulk it up, spoon it over plain white rice or mashed potatoes. A sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley or green onion on top is nice if you have it, but not required for a satisfying, stick-to-your-ribs meal.
Slow Cooker 4-Ingredient Chicken and HominyServings: 4
Ingredients
2 to 2 1/2 pounds bone-in skin-on chicken legs (drumsticks or a mix of legs and thighs)
2 (15-ounce) cans hominy, drained
1 (10.5-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Directions
Place the raw chicken legs in an even layer on the bottom of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. It’s fine if they overlap a little.
Sprinkle the kosher salt evenly over the chicken legs.
Pour the drained canned hominy over the raw chicken legs, spreading it out so it covers the chicken as much as possible.
Spoon the cream of chicken soup over the hominy. Use the back of the spoon to gently spread it so it mostly covers the top. Do not add extra liquid; the chicken will release juices as it cooks.
Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, until the chicken is very tender and pulls easily from the bone.
Once cooked, taste the hominy and broth and adjust the seasoning with a bit more salt if needed. Serve the chicken legs with plenty of hominy and the creamy cooking juices spooned over the top.
Variations & Tips
If you like a little extra flavor without adding more main ingredients, you can sprinkle black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or smoked paprika over the chicken along with the salt before adding the hominy. For a slightly lighter version, you can use cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup instead of cream of chicken. If skin-on chicken feels too rich, you can remove the skin from the legs before placing them in the slow cooker; the dish will still turn out tender and comforting. To stretch the meal for more people, add an extra can of hominy and a splash of water or chicken broth (2 to 4 tablespoons) to loosen the sauce a bit, then taste and adjust the salt at the end. Leftovers reheat well in the microwave and can be pulled off the bone and chopped, then served over rice or tucked into warm tortillas for an easy next-day lunch.
