MY WEEK OF CHICKEN ENDS WITH….MORE CHICKEN!?! Oh yes!
I could not decide if I should make the title of this post: How to cook chicken in a crock pot, or how to get the most chicken off the the bone. Either of these titles works for this one.
Frugal Table mommy, Sarah Anderson, told me the other day that you could cook a whole chicken in a crockpot on low for about 8 hours and it would come out super moist. I thought I would give it a shot. Happy to report: I’M TOTALLY SOLD! This is definitely THE BEST way to cook chicken. Most efficient and easiest way to cook the chicken. Thank YOU Sarah!
Since then I have been told that you can also do skinless, boneless chicken and add stuff. Kristen Herrett shared this tip on facebook: “… if you use boneless it shreds with a fork perfect for enchiladas or other Mexican dishes. I put either enchilada sauce, salsa, picante and/or canned cheddar cheese condensed soup.”
Julie Van Dam shared this tip: “I do this all the time, then save the juice and make gravy out of it, cook some noodles and mix together. chicken n noodles for around $5.”
Thanks to both of you for your insights. Keep them coming. :0)
I happened to use my leg quarters chicken because it was what was on sale this past week at my grocery store. Because I did this method, I got every last bit of chicken off the bone and for about $2, I have enough chicken for 3-4 meals. LOVE IT!
Cook your chicken in the crockpot in water that covers about half the chicken. Use tongs to pull chicken out and let cool on your cutting board (although you really don’t need a cutting board, since you don’t need a knife.)
Another option, that might make pulling the chicken out a little easier, is to drain out the chicken stock first using a pot drainer or a cooling rack.
The skin peels, correction, falls off the chicken! NO work involved. You could not keep the skin on this chicken if you tried! It started falling off the chicken as I tried to pull it out of the crockpot with my tongs. Check out how the chicken just fell right off of these bones.
LOTS of chicken all shredded up and ready to be used in some more chicken recipes!! Love it! (can you tell I am excited, to say the least) Going to go freeze some of the chicken to be used for later. Have a blessed day!
Carmen says
Yep, I love cooking chicken in the crockpot. 🙂 A turkey breast is also good. So moist and tasty.
busy mom says
I hae cooked both chicken and turkey this way. Even a turkey for thanksgiving – it works great and doesn’t heat up the house. I did a ham the week and it worked great too.
Just one guestion, I have never keep the juice,afterward, becuase it looks so greasy. Is there away to get passed that – I don’t want to feel like I am eating a lot of grease.
MommaHughes says
Busy mom,
Great question. I have wondered myself. The truth is that I have not for the same reason, but I know I have heard from enough people to know that it is possible. In my quest for answers on the internet I was surprised to find that there weren’t a lot of people out there talking about it. I posted the question on “wikianswers”. I’ll come back to you later and let you know what I find. In the meantime, anyone out there know that answer to this question? If you do, drop us a message.
busy mom says
I have to say that I am sorry for the misspelled words above. My whole family has had or going through today the 24 virus that it is like the flu but crammed into 24 hrs.I am sorry about that.
Thanks for posting the question, I will feel better knowing what it is.
swissarmywife says
i’m with carmen – i put boneless turkey breasts in the crock pot with lots of water for stock and it is DELISH! makes for some excellent egg noodles and is my hubby’s favorite dinner.
Elizabeth says
I realize this post is old, so it may be that no one sees my response, but since it was linked in a more recent recipe I thought I’d give it a shot.
You can either wait for the liquid to cool a bit and the fat will start to solidify on top and you can skim off as much as possible, or you can get one of these handy gadgets
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Separator-and-Strainer-2-CUP/dp/B0000DE4G0
I’m sure you can find a less expensive one than this, but both my mom and grandma use one of these religiously to separate out the broth from the fat for sauces and such. Fat goes to the top, broth stays at the bottom and is able to be poured out of the spout that comes from the bottom. A very handy item to have around 🙂
MommaHughes says
Elizabeth, Thank you so much for your response. New people hit our site everyday…many of them by doing a google search, which could potentially bring them to this very post, so it is never too late to offer a helpful hint to our posts! Thank you, thank you!
Nikki Weissenegger says
I realize that this is old however just in case I agree with Elizabeth you can spend the money on a gadget however what I do is take the juice and stick it in the fridge for a few hours. The fat will rise to the top and solidify then I take a spoon and remove the fat. If you don’t have time to wait then let it cool first then spoon it off the top. It is easier to get the majority of the fat off if you let it solidify.