Cook a whole frozen chicken in crock pot?

[ElFenix]

yes, you can put a whole bird in a crock pot. thaw it first. put it in with a quartered onion and some carrots and herbs. i wouldn't put it on high (not that low and high are much different with modern crock pots) unless you're only leaving it cooking 4 hours.

edit: it's going to be considered stewed chicken at that point. if you want crispy skin, roast it rather than crock potting it.

 

[gotsmack]

I like this idea. Ever since I got a propane torch last year, I've looked for more or less any reason to use it.

Be careful. My experience is that it's only really good for melting sugar and melting cheese.

 

[Imported]

Be careful. My experience is that it's only really good for melting sugar and melting cheese.

If my Searzall ever gets delivered.. I may use mine for more than just sugar and cheese too.

 

[zinfamous]

There's your problem. You don't need to add water to chicken. You're not making soup.

well, what if I am making soup?!

 

[SunnyD]

I do it all the time. In fact we just did a bird in the crock 2 days ago.

Thaw the bird in the fridge for a couple days first. Crock pot on low for about 4-6 hours depending on the size of the bird. Slather with BBQ sauce or season with spices/salt of your choice prior to cooking. The longer you leave it in, the more "fall apart" it will get. if you want something like pulled chicken, leave it in longer, then pull it apart and just start picking it apart right after you pull it out of the crock and shred in a big bowl. If you want more tender "roasted" chicken, you want it in on the shorter end of the clock so it doesn't fall apart so much.

Skin is... well, skin. If you're health conscious, you're not eating the skin anyway.

Best part is after you're done cooking and removing all the meat you can from the carcass, throw the rest of the carcass, skin and whatnot back into the crock, cover it with water (about 8 cups or so), then put the crock on high for a few hours or overnight. The next day strain out all the bits and whatnot and you have yourself some awesome chicken stock for stuff like soup or cook rice in that you can portion out into 1 quart bags and throw into the freezer.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Wow, got 2 pages worth of responses from chicken in a crock pot. ATOT is a fountain of knowledge! lol I'll be cooking it for about 6-8 hours, but my pot doesn't have a poweroff when it's done. Just a warm mode, which sucks because a lot times what's not in the juices gets dried out. Maybe it's time to invest in a new crock pot first.

 

[Ken g6]

Hm, I wonder if this would work with a turkey breast? Just the breast:

I'd also be nervous putting something in the crock pot without some kind of fluid. A little chicken broth maybe?

 

[SunnyD]

Hm, I wonder if this would work with a turkey breast? Just the breast:

I'd also be nervous putting something in the crock pot without some kind of fluid. A little chicken broth maybe?

Most turkeys are brined. No need to add anything. The chickens we get straight from the farm I put in to a bonne dry crock come out with usually 3 to 4 cups of juice just from the bird after cooking. These are about 5 pound whole chickens.

 

[Bryophyte]

I like this idea. Ever since I got a propane torch last year, I've looked for more or less any reason to use it.

:wub:

 

[twinrider1]

Ok I'll set it out overnight tonight to thaw. ....

If you mean set it out at room temperature, I wouldn't do that. I'm not going to look up references, but I'm pretty certain it's a lot safer to thaw it in the fridge. It will take longer, but it will save you time on the can later.

 

[Matthiasa]

Or if he cooks it to recommended internal temps it doesn't matter... Humans survived hundreds of thousands of years before there was refrigeration.

And by a longer you mean days longer... if your thawing something quick in your refrigerator then its set to to high of temperature. The closer to freezing, without actually freezing stuff, the better.
A day in the fridge if it was frozen to begin with will still be a frozen chicken...

 

[PlanetJosh]

Was looking forward to this from reading the thread title. The less work and less bother the better, just put it in the pot, turn it on and when you get home from work it's done. But then in the 2nd or 3rd post came the part about thawing it first.

 

[gotsmack]

Was looking forward to this from reading the thread title. The less work and less bother the better, just put it in the pot, turn it on and when you get home from work it's done. But then in the 2nd or 3rd post came the part about thawing it first.

Thawing is just leaving it in the fridge for 2 days for a whole bird. Not really much effort. If you're so worried about it just pick up a rotisserie at costco or sams club for $5. You spend an extra $2 vs preparing it yourself but you don't have to do any of the work and clean up.

 

[SunnyD]

Thawing is just leaving it in the fridge for 2 days for a whole bird. Not really much effort. If you're so worried about it just pick up a rotisserie at costco or sams club for $5. You spend an extra $2 vs preparing it yourself but you don't have to do any of the work and clean up.

This. Seriously.

Ours goes from farm to chest freezer in the garage.
From chest freezer in the garage to a big pyrex bowl in the fridge for 2 or 3 days for when we think we're going to have chicken that week.
From fridge to crock in the morning slathered with all sorts of yummy goodness that will make people drool all day long (I'm lucky enough to be at work usually during that process).
From crock to "disassembly plate" at around 5pm.
From plate to stomachs around 5:30pm.
Leftover carcass goes back in the crock around 6pm with water and set to high for the rest of the night to make stock.
Next day after it cools off enough I'll strain out the stock, portion it into containers and put it in the freezer.

The thawing part really isn't terribly bothersome. It takes a little bit of prior planning I guess, but seriously, if you're jonesing for chicken you're going to go to KFC or something anyway.

 

[nakedfrog]

Be careful. My experience is that it's only really good for melting sugar and melting cheese.

It's not actually a kitchen torch
I bought it so I could try to bend some wrenches. I was moderately successful (in that I broke one, and bent another, but not to a sufficient angle).

:wub:

Hi there ^_^

 

[Fenixgoon]

thaw it out first

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Yea I'm not too worried about the thawing part. I did mean throw it in the fridge to let thaw. Maybe by Thurs. it'll be ready to cook (I completely forgot to take it out of the freezer last night). No one will be home so the bird will be on it's own cooking. Does the breast part, which will be cooking above all the juices, dry out if I cook it on low for about 6 hours then the pot switches to warm?

 

[DrPizza]

I keep my fridge colder so that food lasts longer. A decent sized chicken wouldn't thaw in 2 or 3 days in my fridge. And, those rotisserie chickens from Sams or wherever are horrible. The container steams the skin long before you can get home, resulting in rubber. I don't eat rubber - why would I eat a rotisserie chicken from Sams? If you want a whole chicken, get your own rotisserie, or get a new oven that has convect roast - and don't leave the chicken sitting in the bottom of a pan; put it on a rack above a shallow pan so it's not sitting in its own juice, getting all rubbery. Use the drippings to make gravy. Alternately, place veggies (carrots, etc.) in the pan below the chicken. A 3 pound chicken doesn't take long at all - maybe 45 minutes? (A 5 pound chicken takes just under an hour.)

Crockpotting a whole chicken, even though it's a cheap piece of meat, just seems like a waste to me. Funny - places sell rotisserie cooked chickens, but not crockpot cooked chickens; including restaurants. Why is that? My guess: Blahhhhhh.

 

[who?]

Humans survived before refrigeration by either not killing the animal until it was time to cook it or by packing the meat with so much salt that the liquid got sucked out by osmosis. I've had a ham that was salt preserved. It was awful. Maybe we should have soaked it first. Maybe all that salt is why people used to die much younger.

 

[wabbitslayer]

Whole Chicken + crockpot = stewed chicken parts.

My concern about putting it in frozen is how long is all the surface area on the interior cavity of the chicken gonna be 80-120F degrees? Yeah, it will probably be OK, but you're in for a bad night at the ER if it isn't.

I've had a ham that was salt preserved. It was awful. Maybe we should have soaked it first.

LMAO at someone cooking country ham w/o soaking it. That's hardcore.

 

[who?]

It may have been soaked first, I don't remember but it was awful.