crockpot beer chicken

Okay.  Bear with me on this one.  Sounds weird, right?  Beer with chicken?  And in the crockpot?

The answer is yes. Yes yes yes.

When we got married, my beautiful and wonderful mother gave us a fantastic crockpot that I have been dying to use.  I've had a miniature crockpot (1.5 quarts) for a while, but it was always hard to find or adapt recipes.  Everything I made in it was fairly simple.  Now, I don't have that problem.  I have 6 whole quarts to work with!

So I made a plan.  It involved chicken and chicken stock and -- yes -- beer.

The rest of the plan will show up in posts, I'm sure.  But, basically, the idea was to make the crockpot beer chicken one day, make chicken stock (for the first time!) in the crockpot the next day, and use the leftover chicken in enchiladas the next day!  And the stock could be used for all sorts of soups and meals.  Most of it will be frozen first, then used more creatively later.

First!  The crockpot beer chicken!

Ingredients:

Chicken.  Whatever kind you like: a whole chicken, a cut up chicken, chicken breast, I've even seen other types of meat like pork.  Since I am planning to use the bones and bits for stock, I bought a cut up chicken that came in a pack thing.  The other option I would have gone with was split chicken breast with the bone in.

Beer.  Again, choose your poison.  I went oatmeal stock because it just seemed tasty.  It was also raining when I cooked the chicken, so the full flavor was pretty tasty and appropriate.

Spices.  Whatever kind you like that you think goes with your flavor.  I went with things like garlic, basil, a touch of oregano, cumin for spice, and salt and pepper.

Directions:
Load the chicken into the crockpot.  I rinsed mine first because it was organic chicken and I like to rinse things quickly most of the time. Just a quick pass under water for me.

After the chicken is in, pour in the beer then add your spices.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until done.  This is one of those great recipes to leave while you're at work and come home to the hard part of dinner already complete.

Easy enough, right? Right.

In case you were wondering, the alcohol cooks out, so it's safe for everyone.  If you don't like the smell of yeast or beer, this is probably not the recipe for you.  Crockpot cooking always means aromas in the house, which I think is half the fun of cooking in a crockpot.  The other half is split between having dinner already made after work and not having to have a hot oven on for a long time.

If you try it, let me know how it works out!

I saved the chicken bones and bits for making stock the next day (post coming soon!) and the chicken we didn't eat that day I shredded to use in chicken enchiladas.  So much potential use for a whole bunch of cooked chicken.

xoxo Susannah