Most Marry Me chicken is a plated dish in a blush-coloured sauce flecked with sun-dried tomato. This is the sandwich version, and it takes the recipe in the other direction: the sauce stays white, the chicken is shredded, and it all goes on a brioche bun.
The sauce is built in the cooker after the chicken comes out. Cream cheese, cream and Parmesan whisked into the cooking liquid turn three-quarters of a cup of broth into something thick enough to hold on bread.
Why This Recipe Works
- Seasoning the breasts before they go in means the broth they release is already flavoured when it becomes the sauce.
- Only three-quarters of a cup of broth keeps the filling thick enough for a bun rather than a bowl.
- Cream cheese emulsifies into the hot liquid and gives body that cream alone would not.
- Shredding before the dairy goes in lets every strand take the sauce rather than sit under it.
Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese, cream and Parmesan
- Four ounces cubed, half a cup and three-quarters of a cup. Together they are the whole sauce — there is no tomato in it.
- Brioche buns
- Six. This is served as a sandwich and the yield is counted in sandwiches.
- Red onion, tomato and lettuce
- The three things that go on top, all raw. They are visible in the finished sandwich rather than optional.
How to Make It
Season and load
Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning; place in a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with broth and garlic.
Cook to 165F
Cook on Low 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the thickest piece reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Shred, then build the sauce
Transfer chicken to a board and shred. Whisk cream cheese, cream and Parmesan into the cooker liquid until smooth and white.
Toss it back through
Return shredded chicken and toss until coated; keep the sauce creamy and pale with no sun-dried tomato pieces.
Build the sandwiches
Pile chicken onto brioche buns with lettuce, tomato and red onion.
What Goes Into One Sandwich
The cooker fills six buns. This is one of them, in the order the recipe stacks it.
What goes into one sandwich
The brioche bun
One per sandwich. Soft and slightly sweet, which is what the pale savoury filling is built against.
The filling
A sixth of the shredded chicken, tossed through a sauce of 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup cream and 3/4 cup Parmesan whisked into the cooking liquid. White and pale, with no sun-dried tomato in it.
The lettuce
One frilly leaf, laid over the hot filling so it stays crisp against it.
Tomato and red onion
A slice or two of tomato and thin rings from half a small red onion. Both raw, and both visible in the finished sandwich.
Serve while the filling is hot and the raw toppings are still cold and crisp against it.
Success Tips
- Cube the cream cheese before it goes in; a block will not whisk smooth into the cooker liquid.
- Shred on a board, not in the pot, so the sauce can be whisked without chicken in the way.
- Slice the red onion thinly. It goes on raw and thick rings overpower the pale sauce.
Serving Ideas
Six sandwiches on brioche buns, each piled with the white creamy chicken and topped with lettuce, tomato slices and thin red onion rings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the sun-dried tomato?
Deliberately absent. This recipe keeps the sauce white and pale.
Can I serve it as cutlets instead?
No. The chicken is shredded and tossed through the sauce, then piled on a bun.
How do I know the chicken is ready?
165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest piece, at 3 1/2 to 4 hours on Low.
