Crock Pot “Rotisserie” Chicken, II

January 11, 2009

090110rotischick Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken, II

I decided to try this recipe from Menus4Moms.com (scroll down to “Roast Sticky Chicken”) because of one line in the recipe: “Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before carving.” I’d actually be able to carve the chicken? Was there something magical about allowing the chicken to sit overnight in the fridge that would keep it from falling apart when it was removed from the crock pot? Because my experience with cooking whole chickens in my crock pot is that it’s super-easy and convenient, but not anything like an oven-roasted bird. Crock pot cooking is so moist that the meat is falling off the bones, whether you cook it for 4 hours or 8. Indeed, there was no magic here. A well-seasoned chicken, but one better suited to pulling apart with a fork than carving with a knife.

On Thursday night, when I was cooking the Skillet Gnocchi with Spinach & White Beans, I chopped up some extra onions and put them in a Ziploc in the fridge. I also rubbed a mixture of dry mustard, paprika, garlic powder, ground pepper, and thyme into the skin and cavity of the chicken. On Friday, I just stuffed the chicken with the pre-chopped onions and threw it in the crock pot for 8 hours on low. I was pretty much done with making dinner by 8 AM.

I’ve experimented with a slow cooker rotisserie-style chicken before, and this one turned out similarly — yummy, worth repeating. I do make three small balls of aluminum foil to support the chicken — this keeps it from sitting in its own juices as it cooks, creating more of a roasted feel at the end. Overall, like so many crock pot recipes, this is just not as good as a chicken property roasted in the oven. But knowing I have a great dinner already cooking by the time I leave the house in the morning is too good to dismiss. I’ll continue to use my crock pot to cook whole chickens this way, but will take the time to use my oven if I’m going to be home early in the afternoon.