So, I love my crockpot. They are so great. Efficient, slow cooking, set it and forget it (wait, did Ron Popeil trademark that phrase?)! I love chicken. Its fewer calories for the protein than beef. Its usually cheaper. So, I wanted to cook it in my crockpot. A lot of recipes out there say to use boneless, skinless chicken to cut on fat. Well, ok – but you also can cut a lot of flavor that way. And end up with tough, though wet, chicken. Also, in order to save money I bought some whole chickens.
Now the dilemma: how do I cook a whole chicken in the crockpot without getting it super greasy? Vegetable steamer – stainless steel and some of them have removable center posts (like the one I bought). Take the center post out (if you can’t, just spear the chicken – I’ve done this too). Do your normal roast chicken prep, like dry rub or something. Keep the cavity empty for this one, though I suppose since you’re cooking 8 hours you could technically stuff the bird. I put some seasonings on the skin, then cut up some veggies (specifically this time red peppers, onions and carrots) and placed all of this on the steamer in the crock pot.
I cooked it on low overnight. Basically had it in there by 9 pm, stopped it about 7:30 am. All that grease drops to the bottom. There’s still some fat in the chicken, but the meat isn’t sitting in rendered fat. Its tender, fall off the bone kind of chicken. Easy to separate bones from meat (use the bones later for stock). And you have the stock at the bottom for use later (maybe in making rice… i usually cool it off in the fridge first and scoop off the congealed fat before using). So… rice, chicken and vegetables – so good. Take the skin off or your personal trainer will yell at you!
