Does it make sense to cook chicken in a slow cooker? I've taken internet advice on how to cook chicken breasts in slow cookers but they always turn out mushy and dry. Are chicken thighs a better choice?
I got a slow cooker as a gift and want to use it to make a lot of food at once that I can freeze and eat throughout the week.
thighs are always a better choice especially when the fault is that the meat is dry
breasts are lame and depend on the sauce and other parts of the meal, white meat is never going to carry a meal
Nothing looks that good coming out of a slow cooker
I think that's before it's even turned on.
>breasts are lame and depend on the sauce and other parts of the meal, white meat is never going to carry a meal
sucks because breasts are so damn cheap
I cook it in there. Makes it way more juicy, I normally don't like chicken much because everyone always makes it so dry. You also collect all the nice drippings so you can fry it with rice or whatever.
Dry?
You're using the slow cooker wrong.
any suggestions for recipes?
Man I don't know, rub it in whatever spices you like and throw it in there. Add a bit of water at the bottom, like just enough to line the bottom. personally I don't even remove the fat most of the time since so much drips off while slow cooking. I mostly make chili-ish goo in mine to eat on rice, pretty good.
One piece of advice is fucking never put garlic in there. Only exception is if you pre-cook it. Garlic tastes nasty in a slow cooker.
>chili-ish goo
go on
Thighs ALWAYS I the slow cooker. They don't get dried out like breasts.
I like teryaki it's basically just ketchup, soy sauce, honey, and garlic.
>Get a whole chicken
>Get some root veggies/carrots/onions and chop em up in large chunks
>use those to cover the bottom of the slow cooker
>throw in spices/flavoring shit you want and/or cover the chicken with em
>place chicken on top of veggie bed, breats/legs side down
>pour in a bunch of broth and something acidic like lemon or apple cider vinegar
>slow cook that bitch
It's just a mish-mash of a few different things. A ground meat, preferably something reasonably fatty but whatever, some dark greens, I usually use brocc and bell pepper but I've used cabbage, zucchini, even kale. [spoiler]Black beans[/spoiler]. Spice the meat and beans like chili, then spice then mix like red curry. Can of tomatoes, whatever hot stuff you like. I was just calling it chili for a long time but then I started adding [spoiler]pumpkin[/spoiler] so now I don't think I can call it that any more. It doubles how much food I get, it's dirt cheap, and it gets some nice orange veg in there with the greens. Onions, garlic, whatever man. It's super standard honestly. I can write out details if you want but you probably don't need them.
Oh, and add a good amount of pic related to it. It's not mandatory but it's delicious, I add it to pretty much everything.
Eat it on rice, preferably whole grain. The whole dish is dirt cheap and super nutritious.
Dark meat is cheaper, no one wants it because "eww it's unhealthy and I have to skin it myself and debone it I'll just go buy boneless skinless breasts for $300 a pound instead"
>Dark meat is cheaper
it's not though, once you remove the bones and re-weigh it, the price is basically the same as breasts with much more work
I dunno but I've found that better quality chicken (no antibiotics, grain fed, free range whatever) stays juicier while cooking
if only.
just watch sales and use your head.
pork is always cheaper, i get queasy about pork though due to fundamentalist christian old testament believing upbringing
>pork is always cheaper
Not in the midwest and south. Chicken breast is still the cheapest compared to everything except an actual whole chicken. Even chicken quarters end up more expensive once you remove the bones and skin.
what? thighs are like the cheapest part of the chicken you can buy in bulk
Chicken white meat should be cooked to 165, dark meat to 175.
A slow cooker reaches about 210 and stays there for many hours, so chicken will be very overcooked no matter what you do.
You can make stock from bones in it I guess. Soup might be okay. Dark meat has a chance of surviving the extreme overcooking, white meat is ruined.
But then again some people like overcooked meat. Do you?
not in any grocery store I've ever been to
No he's not, breast meat will dry out in a slow cooker, that's why you should use thigh instead
More connective tissue, the better it will slow cook. I've made chicken cacciatore in the slow cooker using bone-in, skin-on pieces and it turned out well. Make sure you sear it before putting in the slow cooker.
Take a whole chicken
Put it in breast side down
Add no liquid
Cook it slowly for hours
Moist fall off the bone chicken
Slice up an onion, don't chop; layer the bottom of the cooker. Rub chicken with any spices you want and tuck crushed garlic and fresh herbs under the skin. Top with carrots or parsnips. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken and veggies, set aside. Strain the liquid into jars for chicken broth (you can't really use slow cooked carcass, it's better from a roasted chicken) and freeze (or use immediately with chicken and rice for soup).
Shred the chicken. Portion it up for however you would like. I enjoy using it in soups or on sandwiches.
Crock Pots seem to be perfect for producing dry chicken. IMHO.
In direct liquids, thigh will work far better. If yr set on using breasts on a low cook, use supremes (knuckle in) with skin on and sear in an oil with garlic, bang it in a ratchet sous vide (plastic bag with with air removed, pop in a pot with hot water) with a little thyme and rosemary. Check googles for Temps and times.